The Generic Stylus brand styli

vwestlife said:
Pfanstiehl has some current styli marked as "Manufactured in USA". Can this actually be true? If so, who is making styli in the USA?

793d7m.jpg
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needlestein said:
I can't see the photo, though. If that's a ceramic stylus with a sapphire tip, those are made in the US at Pfanstiehl's factory in Waukeegan.
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The 793-D7M is for the infamous CZ800 ceramic cartridge and has a diamond 0.7 mil stylus on a metal cantilever (that's what the D7M stands for :) ).
 
62vauxhall said:
This is only a question from idle curiosity.

Years ago and I'm guessing more than twenty-five, I somehow acquired a Shure M95ED with a broken cantilever.

I have a feeling it's been in my possession from before the cartridge and don't know where I got it either either, but I have a brand new generic stylus for an M95ED. As a matter of fact, the box is embossed with the brand name "The Generic Stylus" and the price tag of $36.95 is still on the back. Also on the back, the script says "A product of Japan Manufactured for Pfansteihl, Waukegan, Illinois".

My idle question is does anyone know what Japanese manufacturer would have made styli for Phansteihl in say the late 1970's or early 1980's?

I'm about to mount this cartridge today and seeing again it prompted me to make this post.

The cantilever is nice and thin so to me it seems there is some evidence of quality about it.

View attachment 1234901 View attachment 1234902 View attachment 1234905
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There's no need to overthink or speculate about the origins of the stylus. There are basically two types of after-market styli for Shure cartridges. Those that are built like the originals and those that are not.

If your stylus has a square magnet, extra bushing, extra mushy stuff around the cantilever, and presence of a tie-wire, then you have a quality stylus. Who made it...?, doesn't matter.

If your stylus has a round magnet, no extra bushing, no extra mushy stuff, and no tie-wire, you have a cheap after-market stylus. Again, it doesn't matter who made it, it's still a cheap knock-off.

That said, I have a "The Generic Stylus" N91ED and it is identical to the JICO N91ED I purchased a couple of years ago. Both are built like the originals and sound and track excellently!
 
There's a *little* issue with the tip too. The classic stereo-dynetic series of 'ED' carts used a .2X.7 mil tip. For some reason most after-market Shure's can't seem to cope with it and are sold as .3X.7 mil
 
tnsilver said:
There's a *little* issue with the tip too. The classic stereo-dynetic series of 'ED' carts used a .2X.7 mil tip. For some reason most after-market Shure's can't seem to cope with it and are sold as .3X.7 mil
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The same parts are used for as many models as possible. The tracking force ranges for a .3 x .7 are somewhat wider than for a more severe .2 x .7. So the .3 x .7 can be used in many more models.
 
needlestein said:
The .3 x .7 elliptical that Jico includes with their name brand styli is polished to a higher level than most. The Jico Pickering D1200 I have sounds as good as the nude .2 x .7 elliptical of the original. I was astonished. Normally, .3 x .7 elliptical Pickering copies tend to sound a little dull, but not the Jico from Jico.
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Neeldestein,
Do you have any opinions on the wear factor comparing a .2 x .7 to a .3 x .7 ?
 
My biggest complaint with 3rd-party replacement styli, at least for Shure cartridges, are they're just too bright and in-your-face. This includes JICO. I have one of their HE styli (came in a JICO box, has a tie wire, "JICO" stamped on the shank) and the upper mids and top end are just punched up way too much.
The JICO are better than the rest. They can play difficult passages without mistracking. They'd be acceptable if no other choice existed and sadly, other choices seldom do exist.
Any other 3rd-party stylus except maybe LP Gear's ViVidLine or Expert Stylus (though I've never heard anything by ES), I wouldn't waste money on. Not even $12.
 
johnjhazel said:
I don't know what to say. I certainly don't want to argue about it. I know that you know styli. And Scott explicitly said the Pfanstiehl's for Stanton are Swiss. And the post that started this thread.....I was wrong. Pfanstiehl does not source from JICO but from another Japanese supplier for certain models.
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I want to correct that statement. Pfanstiehl DID source some complete and partial styli assemblies from JICO. No longer. Pfanstiehl also sources components of styli assemblies from other Japanese suppliers in conjunction with the Swiss partner. Pfanstiehl is more than a packager.
 
needlestein said:
All I really truthfully know is projections based on logic observing data such as surface area contact measurements and resulting calculated psi against the record groove (and the contact points of the elliptical tip or tips, really). There is no stylus shape, all else being equal, that puts more force on a record groove or itself than a .2 x .7 elliptical. Therefore, it should wear faster, deform more quickly and wear your records more than any other size of stylus tip. Logic and caution say that you really shouldn't run a .2 x .7 elliptical stylus at forces greater than 1 gram. But this was all set in the lightest possible tracking, highest possible compliance, lowest possible arm mass wars of the 1970s and 1980s. Even the Technics/Panasonic EPC-310MC with its .2 x .7 nude elliptical tip on a hollow vapor deposit formed boron pipe cantilever must track at at least 1.25g to be T4P compliant, so over the 1 gram limit. But if I'm not mistaken, even the Shures that are supplied with .2 x .7 ellipticals have a tracking force range that extends over 1g--but probably not 1.5g.

Having said that, I'm not aware of SL-10 owners the last thirty years coming forward to say that their 310MC destroyed their record collection.

And then there's AT with the F-3III that is (was? now discontinued) a nude polished .2 x .7 with a suggested tracking force of 2 grams and a range of 1.8-2.2g

https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/cartridges/0e53d57a88aea959/index.html

So . . . who am I to argue with Audio-Technica?

How high would I feel comfortable tracking a .2 x .7 elliptical? The 310MC manual says going up to 1.5g is okay, too. Who am I to argue with Technics? If I install one on, say, an Ortofon cartridge where they work really well, I just make sure it works at 1.5g and I feel fine about it. If it needs higher tracking forces anyway (haven't run into this, by the way), A-T says 2.2 is okay, too, if I'm free to extrapolate from the information in the F-3III manual.

By the way, I have an F-3III. It's a very nice, neutral sounding cartridge with a relatively flat response. Sounds almost exactly like a Stanton 681EEE.

Feel free to agree or disagree with anything or nothing in the above commentary.
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It all sounds reasonable to me. I never even thought about it until reading a post by Steve Hoffman. And a few others made comments about the 0.2 x 0.7 tip size. The 0.3 x 0.7 seems a good compromise as it can be safely used with a wider range of tracking forces. And it must save the aftermarket styli manufacturers some money by not having to buy 5,000 of each tip size. Thank you for your informative post.
 
needlestein said:
No reason to avoid Normarh that I can see. They make good stuff and one of the most exact copies of the tough to copy Stanton 680 styli. The performance is fantastic and I wouldn’t hesitate to retip them with complex tips. The 4822-D7C for example is one that I have watched contain Jico, then the Swiss manufacturer and for now, Normarh.
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Joseph, did you mean 4822-D7A, rather than 4822-D7C? I can't find "D7C" following the 4822 prefix.
 
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