Dual 714Q 731Q ULM Cartridge Carrier Stylus Head Shell Half Inch Adapter

Dual 714Q 731Q ULM Cartridge Carrier Stylus Head Shell Half Inch Adapter

I decided to write this up after buying a Dual 714Q turntable, and
learning about all its quirks regarding the proprietary Dual ULM (Ultra
Low Mass) cartridge, standard 1/2" cartridges, long and short head
shells, TK adapter plates, and difficult to find specs regarding the
original deck, its original ULM60E cartridge and DN160E stylus, and ULM
tracking stylus compliance(see further down) issues.





Why go to so much effort? The 714Q and 731Q are a couple of Duals finest
tables featuring the ULM arm, direct drive with low rumble, and Quartz
PPL (aka Quartz lock). If you're reading this you probably already know
what those terms are... This write-up should also be of use to owners of
other Dual ULM tables.



Before I bought the table, I realized it had a special ULM cartridge on
it, and I decided to check if it was possible to mount a standard 1/2"
cartridge on it before buying it. I managed to collect a lot of
information that I'd like to share. I've noticed that many 714Q/731Q and
other Dual ULM table owners struggle with cartridge choice.

When I finally picked up the 714Q, the second hand store actually found
most of the original Accessory Kit, which includes a longer headshell
for mounting standard half inch cartridges, the required TK-24 mounting
plate, and screw-on counter-balance weights for the back of the arm for
when using the heavier long headshell and 1/2" cartridges. So I really
lucked out there. The TK-24 that the kit came with is silver. It is
usually black when bought separately.









When you use the long head shell and a 1/2" cartridge, the users manual
say to screw on one weight to the back of tone arm if the cartridge
weighs 4 grams or less and to use both weights if the cartridge weighs
more than 4 grams. For these tables, the lighter the better.




Some notes on compliance before I go on:

Most people will also know what tracking force is but some people won't
know what a stylus with high or low compliance is. Basically, high
compliance is a more flexible needle, and low compliance is a stiffer
needle. Dual ULM tables work and track better with high compliance
needles. The original DN160E stylus has a compliance of 30, which is
quite high. Compare this with Ortofon's current OM 5E,10,20,30,40 series
that list at 25.

There is conflicting and confusing information regarding compliance on
the web. Compliance is either measured in um/mN or 10-6 cm/dyne but the
compliance number is the same for either system of measurement.

From my web research, IMO a rough guide to compliance numbers is,

10 and below - low compliance
11 to 19 - moderate compliance
20 and higher - high compliance

Many 714Q or 731Q owners get a table that only comes with the short
headshell that only takes Duals ULM catriges, made by Ortofon (DN140E,
DN145E, DN150E, DN152E, DN155E, DN160E ...). Not all of these are made
anymore. In particular, the DNE160E, which was originally had an
elliptical nude diamond on the level of Ortofon's OM 20. Later the
DNE160E was downgraded to a bonded diamond, roughly equivalent to a OM
10. I don't know which DNE160E mine came with, but it sounds awesome.
I've read other owners prefer this cartridge and some say that the OM 20
sounds different, saying the 713Q/741Q tables, ULM arm, and cartridge
and stylus were all engineered together by Ortofon and Dual for optimal
sound. I only have experience with the DN160E, and am in the market for
a replacement myself. I have no idea how may hours are on it.
Unfortunately, the DN160E has not been made for many years, otherwise
I'd just get one again.

Original 714Q Dual Ortofon ULM60E Cartridge with DN160E Stylus



Picture of the Ortofon OMB 20 cartridge. The B is for bulk as they are sold
in bulk to other companies, and can be found on ebay, etc, for less.



My replacement stylus options so far are,

Dual DN155E (made by Ortofon)
Ortofon OM 20
Excel ES-70EX with Stylus S70EX-4

I don't really want to downgrade to the DN155E.

I've been told that the OM or OMB 20 Stylus will plug into the ULM60E
cartridge, and it is nude elliptical, so should be a good choice. Also,
its about all I can afford at the moment. It has a compliance of 25
which is about the same as the original DN160E speced at 30.

My last choice is what I'm going to try first. I acquired the Excel
ES-70EX cartridge from my dad's old Dual 1216. This is supposed to sound
very good when coupled with the S70EX-4 stylus which features a highly
polished Shibata diamond and is available for 60 dollars from
lptunes.com. The S70EX-4 was originally intended for quadraphonic
systems, but has been reviewed to sound well for normal LP playback. So
I don't see how I can go wrong getting a Shibata for the lowest price
too. I'll post an update when I actually test it myself. This one has a
compliance of 20, so this should balance out well with the extra weight
from the long head shell and the cartridge is only 5 grams too.

Now for some useful information...

DUAL 714Q Turntable Specification

Semi-Automatic Play
Pitch Control
Cue Control
Two Speeds (33.33/45 RPM)
Spec Sheet Data: Motor: Quartz PLL, Electronic
Direct Drive via DUAL EDS 920
System.
Platter: Dynamically Balanced,
Detachable, 1.5 Kg
Pitch Control: 5.5%
Wow & Flutter:
DIN: 0.025%
WRMS: 0.015%
Rumble:
Unweighted: > 55dB
Weighted: > 78dB
Tonearm: Distortion Free,
Tubular Aluminum, Ultra Low
Mass (ULM) mounted in a 4
point gimbal bearing.
Tonearm counterbalance with
tunable anti-resonator. 221mm.
Cartridge: Accepts any 1/2" mount
with a weight of 2-10 grams, including
the mounting hardware.
Tracking Force: 0-2 grams.
Power Consumption: 4W

User and service manuals for the 714Q 731Q are at www.vinylengine.com

Some notes on the Long and Short head shells and TK cartridge carriers:

I believe that the stock setup for the 714Q / 731Q was with short head
shell, TK-26 cartridge carrier (Dual service part number 236 242), and
Dual Ortofon ULM60E/DN160E. Here are some pictures of mine.





Go to next reply...

Please Allow more Picture Links

714Q 731Q ULM Cartridge Carrier Stylus Head Shell Half Inch Adapter

...continued from above.





Now from what I can see, there are two ways to use a half inch cartridge
on this turntable.

First, with the long head shell and TK-24 cartridge carrier. Here are
some pictures of mine and one from a forum where there is an Ortofon OM
5E mounted too.









For the above picture, if you had the short headshell, and TK-26
carrier, and original ULM60E cartrige, you could plug the OM 5E directly
into the ULM60E instead of using the longer pieces to keep the weight
down in the spirt of ULM.

Now for the second way to mount a 1/2 inch catridge. This way involves a
special adapter kit, dual original part number 249-320, which is not
generally available anymore. I grabbed some pictures of the last one
that sold on ebay for 140 dollars. However, forthegroove still has the
kit or the equivalent of the kit available for 80 dollars.

http://www.forthegroove.com/product.asp?dpid=1&pdid=225

It doesn't look like the whole kit but when I emailed them about it,
they said that it came with the counter weights too.

Here are the ebay pictures. Note the special plate that is bolted to the
TK-26. This is the magic piece that makes the 1/2 cartridge mount
possible. This is probably the preferred way to do it because you use
the short head shell and shorter TK-26, so it should be lighter than
using the long head shell and longer TK-24. That's assuming that the
magic plate is not too heavy, which I doubt.







More info on plates. I noticed that Dual also makes a TK-27 cartridge
carrier. This appears to just be a TK-26 without the plug end for the
Dual ULM cartridge, so you could use it with the magic plate setup above
an plug it into a normal cartridge. I thing you can just unplug the
wires from the plug end of the TK-26 too. Here are pics of both.









Still more notes! My 714Q came with a rubber tone arm lock. It was
getting in the way of the tone arm rest, so I took it off. The little
pin is just pressure fit in, so you can poke it out. I have it tucked
away in my accessory box for my next move.



If there are any mistakes, just let me know.

I just got the Excel Stylus S70EX-4 for the ES-70EX cartridge and tried
it out yesterday. It sounds as good or better than the stock DN-160E.



Setting up a 1/2 inch cartridge can be a bit tricky so I thought I'd
share a few tips that make it easier.

For starters,I used the Stupid Protractor Baerwald alignment method from

http://www.vinylengine.com/cartridge-alignment-protractors.shtml

I think people get carried away with these methods. We're really just
trying to get the needle parallel to the groove over most of the record
as the tone arm swings across. Using this Baerwald template appears to
do just that.

The trickiest part of aligning the cartridge is accessing the screw
heads to tighten it up. When I first installed the cartridge I left it a
little loose so I could still wiggle it around a bit. You want just
enough friction so that it will stay in place - but slide when you apply
a small force to it.

Now we can slide it back and forth and at angles in the head shell
grove until it is square with both A and B points on the Baerwald
template.

Then I found that by using a small flat head jewelers screw driver at a
bit of a angle, I could turn the top of the screw to tighten it a bit.







The idea here is to get the cartridge held in place more firmly once it
is aligned. I didn't try to fully tighten it like this as there is not
adequate leverage. I simply removed the cartridge carrier and did the
final tightening with a larger jewelers screw driver.

Once installed back in the head shell, I did a final A and B check on
the Baerwald template to make sure that the cartridge did not slip when
I did the final tightening. I made sure not to over-tighten it to avoid
this.

Hope this helps anyone else with a similar dual wondering about these
things.

There are a few things unclear from the user and service manual scans
that can be found on the Vinyl Engine site.

The users manual says to use the top part of the anti-skating dial
for conical and elliptical cartridges. It says to use the bottom part
of the dial for CD4 record playing with a CD4 cartridge, which is
intended for quadraphonic records I believe.



The manual doesn't say what the difference in what it does though.
Does anyone have any idea about this?

The reason I ask is that I have a CD4 Shibata stylus installed, but
I'm not actually playing quadraphonic records. So I'm not sure what
setting to use or if it even really matters that much...

The second piece of information missing was regarding the dial below
with the arrow mark settings. Its not in the manual from the Vinyl
Engine, which only includes a few pages from the user's manual.

Anyone know what this is for? I thought it might be to lower or raise
the height of the base of the tone arm, but when I turn it, it does not
appear to make a significant difference...

I assume most of this would apply to the CS 741Q as well. It's another excellent performer of the same configuration.

zukster said:

There are a few things unclear from the user and service manual scans
that can be found on the Vinyl Engine site.

The users manual says to use the top part of the anti-skating dial
for conical and elliptical cartridges. It says to use the bottom part
of the dial for CD4 record playing with a CD4 cartridge, which is
intended for quadraphonic records I believe.

The manual doesn't say what the difference in what it does though.
Does anyone have any idea about this?

The reason I ask is that I have a CD4 Shibata stylus installed, but
I'm not actually playing quadraphonic records. So I'm not sure what
setting to use or if it even really matters that much...

The second piece of information missing was regarding the dial below
with the arrow mark settings. Its not in the manual from the Vinyl
Engine, which only includes a few pages from the user's manual.

Anyone know what this is for? I thought it might be to lower or raise
the height of the base of the tone arm, but when I turn it, it does not
appear to make a significant difference...

Click to expand...

To the post saying that the CS 741 is similar is not correct the CS 714Q and CS 731Q are the only two that are similar

I believe these are the some of the best that Dual ever made.

I own the CS 731Q I bought it new while in the Army in Germany

You are right about the CD4 if you have a CD4 stylus I would use the bottom markings

About the 160 stylus I did get a new one a couple of years ago from a dealer in Germany 99 Euro now ouch but it is the 160...

Here is a link

http://www.williamthakker.eu/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=10438

You can get the service manual from vinyl engine

This is for the Que control set down speed


I tried the 1/2 mounting and I really did not like it as much as using the ULM 160

Enjoy your Dual

goat67 said:

To the post saying that the CS 741 is similar is
not correct the CS 714Q and CS 731Q are the only two that are
similar

Click to expand...

That is my understanding as well. The 731Q being more automated than the
714Q. I took a quick look at the 741Q users manual and the head shell
looks different. The rest of the tone arm and swivel looks the same
though, so some of the other information in this thread may be relevant.
Maybe it came with a DN160E too?

I can't believe you found a source for the original DN160E. I looked
everywhere and couldn't find that. Thanks for the info. I probably would
have bought it if I knew as it keeps the table completely true to the
whole ULM (Ultra Low Mass) concept.

However, I already bought the Shibata Excel stylus, which in theory is a
better needle, being a step up from the elliptical DN160E. Plus it was
only 60 USD as opposed to 99 EUR / 131 USD for the DN160E.

The Excel cartridge is 5g as opposed to the 2.5g of the original, so I
only ended up needing one of the extra screw on weight for the back of
the tone arm. So the arm is still pretty light overall. Also, the
compliance specs I found on the Vinyl Engine for the S70EX-4 say its 20,
but now that I've seen it, it looks more like 25-30 too me, which is
also in the spirt of ULM.

Also, I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but the 714Q with a light
setup is very skip resistant. I assume this is due to the ULM cited
"better tracking." Some people think that this is just marketing hype,
but I think there's something to this. I had a couple of other tables
where my Dual is set up, and they both skipped a lot when people walked
in certain places in the room. You can practically jump up and down
close to the 714Q and it doesn't skip, with either the DN160E or the
S70EX-4 installed, so that's good enough for me.

For shear looks though, you can't beat the DN160E on the small head
shell. It would really look awesome on a high end table like an Oracle
Delphi.

The DN160E was the cartridge option offered. Headshell is slightly different shape, as was the 1/2" adapter. Platter 50g lighter but plinth from anti-resonant HDC and I think suspension was revised as well. W&F specs identical. Not sure if it is the EDS920 or not but startup is claimed faster than the other two so perhaps not, table is long gone so I can't confirm.

Dual claimed it as their best at the time. I've not heard either the 714 or the 731 so can't verify or deny.

Dual 731Q

I just won a 731Q on the 'bay, no cartridge included. A little confused on my cartridge options, here is a link to picks, including head shell & counterweight closeups:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...eqF0aUo%3D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWNX:IT


Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

What's your budget?

Does it come with the head-shell? You better hope it does...
That would be hard to find as they are specific to the 714Q/731Q.

Anyway - there are two head-shells. See above. The long one
for any 1/4 inch cartridge, and the short one, which will only take the DN160E plug-in stylus or an OM 20 will also fit.

Confirm which head shell you have and your budget and I'll let you know what I would do.

Nice score btw. I really love my 714Q.

Well, if you follow the ebay link above, this is the one I'm getting. Looks to be the long head shell, but I have nothing to compare it to.

Missed that at the top when I first looked. That's the long
head shell, which means you can put any 1/4 inch cartridge
on it. So to match the table, you want as light as possible
with as high of compliance as possible, so the Ortofon OM 20
cartridge and stylus is the first thing that comes to mind.
Should be about $200, maybe less for the bulk version. That
will be as close as possible to the original. Make sure you take
the brass weights off the OM 20 if you get this.

You might want to wait until you get the table though. Maybe
it will come with the short one too, in which case I would
definitley get the DN160E from the link:

http://www.williamthakker.eu/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=10438

Thanks so much for this useful info! I'll post after I get it.

zukster: Just noticed this thread (nice write-up!) - so the answer might come a bit late, but anyway: With that ring at the tonearm base you don't adjust tonearm height, but how fast the lift goes down. Well, and as for the DN160E: Unless you had the older, nude version, a DN155E or DN152E wouldn't be much of a downgraded replacement. Nevertheless a 714Q/731Q surely deserves something better...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

Nice write up. I recapped the unit and wiring last month.

I find this TT OK. I am using for my main a 1229 and Pioneer PL-630 (also have Dual 1019, Marantz 6200, 6300, Pioneer PL-518X).

I will be selling the 714Q to fund a Thorens TD-160.

Well, the new table arrived, it's really in nice shape for what I paid (75.00 + shipping), even the dustcover. I'm still a bit unclear how to get the arm balanced, as I'm used to the typical swing arm free, move counterweight to balance arm, set to zero, then adjust your force. This table is different. Any quick tips are appreciated.

Theabs said:

(...) I'm still a bit unclear how to get the arm balanced, as I'm used to the typical swing arm free, move counterweight to balance arm, set to zero, then adjust your force. This table is different. Any quick tips are appreciated.

Click to expand...

Well, it's a dynamically balanced arm - so the counterweight is only used for creating the balance, while you use the small knob on the right side to dial in the tracking force. I.e. tracking force is generated by spring tension on this type of arm. Hence the procedure is just pretty much the same, but not quite: First set VTF and anti-skating dial to zero, then balance the arm and finally dial in VTF and anti-skating.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

Nice pictures you posted Zukster!
I own a 714 myself, but the owner had somehow lost the headshell-kit. Still looking for one.
As mentioned before it is similar to the 731, both being named in analogy to its predecessors, the 704 and 721, the first of which was semi-automatic, the second fully automatic. From a haptic/quality feel point of view I still like the 704 more, and its arm is more universal concerning cartridges. But the 714 and 731 both were great machines, the last of the old-school 'real' Duals!

Zingem: I don't quite concur, 'cause I'd regard the 505-4 as the last of the old-school Duals - and it even is still being produced. Granted, though, it's not really attractively priced anymore (in the US the Dual prices nowadays actually seem borderline ridiculous...) - and of course the 505ers always were lower quality than the 7xx models.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

Zuckster. Very nice writeup !!! Must've taken a lot of research, plus a lot of time to post it. Now I've got a good source of information for my 731Q.