Piezo-Azden-Acutex Thread

boreas

"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
These cartridges seem to be coming up more and more often of late. There's a great deal of interest in them and a lot of good information but there seem to be a lot of gaps in the collective knowledge here. Also, it seems that any Acutex or Piezo or Azden (or Spectrum or....) thread , though started for the discussion of one particular model, eventually broadens into a discussion of many other cartridges in the family. So a thread about the Acutex 412 STR might end up containing a huge amount of information about, say, a Piezo YM320-X but someone searching the archives for information on the Piezo might miss that thread.

I felt that a sort-of catch-all thread might be in order where people could seek and provide information regarding any of these intriguing cartridges. What do you guys think?

John
 
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Sounds good to me. Would be nice to even see some sort of organization of specs across makes and models, maybe in a linked spreadsheet or something. I'll be the first to admit, it can be a confusing family of carts to try to get into.
 
Just Another Brick In the Hod!

Well, I just BINed a YM-308 with NOS original stylus on eBay Germany. This "Tri-Pole Madness" has gotta stop! :)

John
 
I have a low level Azden YM-10C on my Harman Kardon ST-7.

Should be looking for an elliptical stylus for it.

If you guys see a good one in your travel, please let me know. :music:
 
I have a low level Azden YM-10C on my Harman Kardon ST-7.

Should be looking for an elliptical stylus for it.

If you guys see a good one in your travel, please let me know. :music:

Will do. Meantime, widen your search to include styli for the Empire 350DE. Same animal.

John
 
Oh, and there's a JICO too, probably a Pfanstiehl as well, 243 group.

John
 
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To get the old tri-pole 3-series bricks with damaged stylus (non spectrum type) up and running..
Cheap replacement generic replacements labelled : Akai rs-100 ; Kenwood/trio N45 ; Piezo YM-308 ;Hitachi std-7675 ; Hitachi DS-ST103 can still be found at *I don't know if it's a true elliptical or not but what the heck prices* i.e between £5-£8 on this side of the pond on that auction site.

I've had good luck with the Pinnacle replacement brand in terms of sound quality, ditto the NOS replacement that are actually 'branded' as Hitachi on the hard plastic packaging.
Compliance might (will ! ) vary between the after market brands..ditto stylus quality..and I tend to stick with the 'generics' that have metal shielding in the stylus assembly.
But they don't sound 'too' bad at all for well played (non valuable ) records given that you are using an after market stylus.

Null point Alignment and downforce is the key...'loading' these cartridges to keep the three x-y-z poles equidistant from the coil armatures is what counts and the down force *range* on some of these tri-poles seems deliberately 'wide' enough to make this possible with arms that vary slightly in effective mass.

Fussy null point and azymuth alignment first..then tune down force by ear 1/10 gm at a time either way of the midpoint of the range...usually north.

Just my tuppence worth from tinkering..
 
The Family Name(s)

Okay, here's a start to all the brands that these cartridges were sold under. Please add any others to this that don't already appear.

Piezo*
Azden*
Acutex
Spectrum
Eagle
Empire (some)

John

*Actually, this is one company, but two brands (sort of). Piezo is Japan Piezo. Azden is Nippon Atsudenki which is simply Japanese for Japan Piezo(electric).
 
The azden ym-p50vl is supposedly the finest specimen in the P mount azden cart lineup. Also related are the ym-p20 which I have, with a Jico/EVG 245-de replacement on it.
 
The azden ym-p50vl is supposedly the finest specimen in the P mount azden cart lineup. Also related are the ym-p20 which I have, with a Jico/EVG 245-de replacement on it.

That's another one that lived a different life as an Empire.
John
 
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But not too different, since it remained a moving-magnet design even as an Empire.

By the way, here's the patent by Azden/Piezo for the induced-magnet tripole cartridge design. In fact, here's Audio-Technica's earlier patent for an eerily-similar design.

Do we, should we, collect inductance and resistance data for the various Acu-Az-Pie-Eagle-kai bodies? Would that assist in differentiating the various models and their clones (if indeed they are clones)?
 
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Do we, should we, collect inductance and resistance data for the various Acu-Az-Pie-Eagle-kai bodies? Would that assist in differentiating the various models and their clones (if indeed they are clones)?

Sure. Wait until I get my brick and my Spectrum. When I have them, I'll measure them along with my M312III STR and 412 STR. Though it's not a tri-pole, I'll measure the M210II E as well.

John
 
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