AT150E cartridge. Shall I mess with it?

Dear friends,

I came across an AT150E cartridge at a Russian internet auction.
It is for sale with a broken stylus for about $70.

I was trying to search some information about the 'E' version of the famous AT150 over the internet but could not find any.
All I need to know is if it makes sence to purchase this cart 'as is' and buy a new MLx stylus for it. Will it fit into? And is the 'E' cart worth trying that?

Here is the link to the auction page: http://spb.molotok.ru/audio-technica-at150e-i1772875765.html
It is all in the Russian language but you will be able to see images of what I'm talking about.
Thank you!

The ATN150MLX stylus should fit just fine. The AT150EG or AT150EaG are about the equivalent of the AT440MLa (a fine cartridge itself). The 150MLX is a step above that.

I have the AT150ea...

It appears to be the same body as the AT150MLx

There is some debate with regards to inductance specifications.... but the descriptions and specifications are identical for the bodies.

The AT150e and AT150ea have a boron cantilever with an eliptical stylus - so they have a better cantilever than the AT440MLa, as well as having the solid aluminium body of the AT150 (the AT440 has a plastic body).

The needles are a particularly high quality naked eliptical.

In a competition between the 440MLa and the 150E or Ea - I would lay my bet on the E or Ea....

The MLx is the same cantilever (solid boron with gold sputtering) with the top of the line needle fitted - the Microline.

I purchased a NOS AT152LP needle for my AT150 - it uses the earlier beryllium cantilever which may be superior to the current boron one. NOS ATN15x styli can still be found as an alternative to the MLx.... and may in fact be the better styli - but I have not heard them back to back. (the ATN152 and ATN155 tend to go for less than the new MLx's too...)

bye for now

David

David: The ATN150E and ATN150Ea both use beryllium, not boron. On the ATN150Ea it should additionally be tapered and gold coated. And regarding the bodies: The AT150E was spec'ed with the usual 3.2 kOhm, so it should also have the inductance of the standard generator (490 mH). So of the deluxe body versions the AT150E, AT155LC and AT450E(/OCC) have the standard generator, while the AT150MLX, the AT150Ea and the AT150Ti have the lower impedance/inductance generator version (2.3 kOhm/350 mH).

Stani: Which turntable/tonearm would you like to mount it on?

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

Thanks for educating me, guys. It's one of the things I love about AK. I posted after a quick search to find a replacement stylus. My search confirmed that the 150MLx stylus would work. The 440MLa was the closest thing I found to the 150E and I wasn't sure which side it fell on. Just wanted to give the OP a ballpark to put the cartridge in.

Thanx to everyone who gave their replies to my questions!

I agree with Neosonc, AK is a fantastic place to get well educated.

The two things that I've realized so far are:
a) An AT150E body and an ATN150MLx stylus can be a decent and operable combination.
b) Instead of that, I can consider buying me a modern AT440MLa cart that will be about the same level.

lini said:

Which turntable/tonearm would you like to mount it on?

Click to expand...

Hm... In fact I want to mount it on my Pioneer PL-510A.
I admit that an AT150 is a bit superior for my turntable. But my assumption is that sooner or later I will have to think about a further upgrade of my equipment. So, why not purchase a decent cart right now, also for good perspective in future?:scratch2:

Currently I am using my TT with AT95E. I know that upgrading for an AT120 would seem to be more logical in my particular case. Somehow I don't want to spend time and efforts (and money) on 'interim' solutions.

Please correct me if I fail to be logical.

dlaloum said:

It appears to be the same body as the AT150MLx

There is some debate with regards to inductance specifications.... but the descriptions and specifications are identical for the bodies.

......... as well as having the solid aluminium body of the AT150 (the AT440 has a plastic body).

Click to expand...

David, might this also apply to the aluminum Signet TK3eA body vs. say the plastic AT120E. (I have that Signet body with an ATN120E stylus and am very pleasantly surprised by it.)

Thanks and sorry for the minor hijack.

John

Stani: No problem there - I also use comparatively high class needles on lower middle class tables, including the ATN150E and ATN152LP on AT120E and AT432EP/OCC bodies. Another needle of that family I'm very fond of is the ATN130E/ATN132EP, which can often still be found for pretty fair prices.

In your case I'd imagine that it could be a good idea to try the AT7V, though. That's got a nice needle, too - but the body also is compatible to the needles of the AT120 and AT102P family, so there wouldn't be any obstacles, if you'd like to experiment with those needles later on...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

Finally, half a year since I started this post I bought me an AT150 cartridge, namely an AT150Ea/G set. I cannot but share my emotions

It arrived yesterday. This means it took those poor people at the Russian Post surprisingly very little time to deliver it to me and not to loose/breake/abuse it.

The first remarkable thing is that the Japanese know how to sell things! The notable circumstance is that AT150Ea was available only to Japanese market. And all those whistles and bells like excuisite plastic box and enclosed adjustment tools were made to please the Japanese themselves and not the rest of the world who would more defenitely expect those charming oriental bonuses. Very nice!



I woke up rather early today after yesterday's celebration of the deal with a good bottle of Spanish cava brut.
Setting the cart up took me another two hours of overhang and azimuth adustments. And then I started a listening session.

It is a fantastic improvement! The golden baby does the job!
The first impression is the sence of superior presence. All instruments and vocals have now taken their proper places in the sonic palette and they do not interfere with each other. However, the cart does not sound plain, it's voice is vivid and thick yet absolutely distinctive in details.

Some people on the net accuse the whole AT150 family of being too bright. Those statements might be true in case of synergies with European setups being very often untruly 'meaty' by themselves. But in my case with my delicate and detailed Sony ES components (that the "European" adepts refer to as dry and dead) the cart blossomed with a fragile and tender performance. The sound is not foolishly fragrant, it remains straight and analytic like all proper Japanese equipment. But it does not sound too mechanical, it is just truly vivid and fair without intentional sonic decorations.

Another observation is that the cart does not produce these well-known distortions while tracking the innermost grooves of a record. It must be due to special shape of the diamond although it is not officially declared as Shibata or Microline. It seems to have a thinner but an ordinary elliptical stylus, though it reads the inner grooves with fantastic clearance even at the loudest vocals. I think I don't even have to buy me an ATN-150mlx Microline stylus that I planned for a future upgrade.

Of course, AT150Ea is not an everyday working horse. I might change this standpoint later but for now I consider this upgrade far too special to be played in ordinary evenings in the middle of a crazy week.

Anyhow, I'm very pleased with this purchase! Very good investment into pleasure.

While you can upgrade a 440Mla with a 150 stylus you can also downgrade a 150 to a 440mla (should your future budget be tighter than you would like) - worth checking the spec differences though with AT before ordering