Empire 440E cartridge?

ethangsmith

ethangsmith

Well-Known Member
I just bought a really nice Technics SL-D1 turntable (Seems to be little information on it, but it's so far been a nice turntable.) and it has an Empire 440E cartridge on it. Metal body, gold painted, black stylus. It came in a red fake velvet box with a clear plastic liner over it that says it came with a 2 year warranty. Digging around online, I can't seem to find any info on it. I know very little about Empire or their products. I can say it sound FANTASTIC! After a cleaning with my stylus brushes and a quick adjustment, it really sounds good. Very warm, with a solid punch. Treble can be a hare sibilant, but I may just need to fine tune the alignment and weight- I have no idea what this cartridge is supposed to have as a tracking force, so I put it at 1.5. Also, what stylus do I need for a replacement? LP Gear does not list the 440E. I think I figured out which one would work, but I'm just not sure.

-Ethan.
 
Register to hide this ad
Check the Empire cartridge megathread, there might be a mention of it.

Sounds like another vinyl lover has discovered the magic that are Empire cartridges!
 
There's an Empire mega thread? Cool!

I've always had Ortofon OM cartridges, so this is certainly a change. The Ortofons are much more treble-oriented and "modern sounding" to me in comparison to the Empire. I'm very glad I discovered it! It give a lot more weight and body to the music I listen to with a totally different set of dynamics to the sound. I have a second Empire cartridge laying around here that needs a stylus. I may get one and see what that can do too!
 
My x-reference says it's equivalent to their 66E/X and 906E/X which also used the black S-906E stylus- (and would be 239-DEC in Pfan-speak). Original Empire styli are still relatively common. Plus there are more difficult to find (and more costly) options such as the S912E (239-PDE), S2000x/S917 (239-DEX) and S440D quad (239-DQ). The last 2 are currently listed on ebay.
 
Depends entirely on the stylus you can afford to plug into it. The cartridge body is top notch. How does < $35 sound?

Yes, there is an Empire megathread: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=468129

The 440E does indeed accept any stylus using Pfanstiehl's 238- or 239- prefixes (except the 239-DET!). Hard to find? The recommended purple 239-PDE isn't, not at the moment, but when this vendor's stock is depleted, which will likely be soon, it will be. Act now, operators are standing by, etc etc.

http://thevoiceofmusic.com/catalog/part_detail.asp?PNumberBase=239&SearchType=MfgNameNeedles&MfgName=Audio+Empire+&+Empire&Categories=

Note: because of a quirk in the Pfanstiehl index, "239-PDE" refers to two Empire styli, the purple S912E and the white S910E. They're almost identical, but ask for the purple. If he's out of purple, go for the white. This will represent quite an upgrade over the black (Empire's S906E) stylus. $30 plus $4.15 shipping, while supplies last.
 
Last edited:
ethangsmith said:
Good to know. So would this stylus also work:

http://www.lpgear.com/product/239PDE.html
Click to expand...
Haven't tried that one, but it's an aftermarket job. If originals are available for a lower price, why even bother with that one? And what's up with that clear-red stylus?

Generally, when two aftermarket styli are priced the same, they are the same. That's been my experience.

ethangsmith said:
Also, is the Voice of Music your company? Looks like they stock some nice stuff!
Click to expand...
Ha! No, I should have inserted the standard "no affiliation" disclaimer. V-M or VOM was an old west-Michigan manufacturer of changers, consoles, reel-to-reel tape machines, etc etc. Long out of business. Gary Stork bought up their inventory and moved the operation to the Detroit side of the state. We're slowly dragging him into the high-end stylus business and find him good to do business with.
 
All very good information to know. I'll tell you what, so far I've really enjoyed the sound this cartridge makes. I'll have to dust off my old 300ME cartridge and see what that can do too. Would the 300ME be an equivalent of the 440E?
 
The 300 ME came later, but I'd put the S912E stylus ahead of the S300ME. Better separation, lower moving mass. The differences aren't huge, though.

If you want to upgrade your 300 ME, I have another purple recommendation, the 4241-DID. It's aftermarket, but a good one. I've got a couple myself.

The 300 ME has an advantage over the 440E: it's lighter. I think it's also easier to mount accurately. Otherwise, the two bodies, despite looking very different, are almost the same.
 
Last edited:
Awesome! So would the 440E and 300ME sound similar?

I just played the 440E for 3 hours straight and it's brought some life back to some of my albums. Much more mellow and warm than my Ortofon OM but it's still solid and punchy where it counts!
 
ethangsmith said:
Awesome! So would the 440E and 300ME sound similar?
Click to expand...
It's all in the stylus. Empire made bodies suitable for some very advanced styli, then sold those bodies with a whole bunch of different styli to reach certain price points. So within certain limits, you can upgrade simply by plugging in a better (=more expensive) stylus.

Most manufacturers did this, by the way. The only exceptions are when special bodies were needed for the old CD-4 quad system, or when the mfr. wanted to make a giant leap forward in tech, as with Shure's V15s from the Type III onward.

Which is a roundabout way of saying the 440E and 300 ME could be made to sound very similar. Put an S44E or S400TC stylus in the 300 ME body and put an S912E in the 440E body and you'd have similar sound, tracking at similar (1.25g) forces, with the same 2x7 elliptical diamonds (the 4241-DID is 3x7).

However, if you have a heavyish tonearm, the lower-mass 300 ME + S44E would be happier and your woofer cones wouldn't flutter as much on pinch warps compared to the S912E in the 440E body. If the black S906E stylus sounds good, why not hang onto it and see what you can get out of the 300 ME?
 
Last edited:
That's what I'm beginning to think. I need some mounting hardware and a stylus for the 300ME and I should be in business!

wualta said:
It's all in the stylus. Empire made bodies suitable for some very advanced styli, then sold those bodies with a whole bunch of different styli to reach certain price points. So within certain limits, you can upgrade simply by plugging in a better (=more expensive) stylus.

Most manufacturers did this, by the way. The only exceptions are when special bodies were needed for the old CD-4 quad system, or when the mfr. wanted to make a giant leap forward in tech, as with Shure's V15s from the Type III onward.

Which is a roundabout way of saying the 440E and 300ME could be made to sound very similar. Put an S44E or S400TC stylus in the 300ME body and put an S912E in the 440E body and you'd have similar sound, tracking at similar (1.25g) forces, with similar 3x7 elliptical diamonds.

However, if you have a heavyish tonearm, the 300ME would be happier and your woofer cones wouldn't flutter as much on pinch warps. If the black S906E stylus sounds good, why not hang onto it and see what you can get out of the 300ME?
Click to expand...
 
I ordered the cartridges Mr. Wualta recommended- The purple 239-PDE for the 440E and the purple 4241-DID for the 300ME.
 
Cartridges already arrived! The 239PDE is a purple Pfanstiehl original Empire replacement. I've only had a short time to listen with it, but there is a VERY noticeable difference. The old stylus, which was a black one, had more bass but it wasn't very defined at times. The sound stage was a tad narrow and the treble could be quite sibilant at times. It did, however, have a nice solid punch, a wonderful midrange, and lots of warmth on the lower-mid. The replacement 239PDE is very much an upgrade. While it lost some of the warmth (NOT a bad thing actually), it gained a much more defined bass profile, tons of solid punch to the midrange, a much broader stereo image, and wonderful crisp highs. I figure the warmth will return a bit after breaking it in for a few hours.
On to the 300ME cartridge- I had not heard this cartridge since I got it with a damaged stylus, so I can't make a before-after comparison. This cartridge got the purple 4241DID. Like the 239PDE above, I have it tracking right at one gram. I'll play with that weight as I have time, but both cartridges seem pretty happy there for now. The 300ME/4241DID combination replace an Ortofon OM with a generic stylus. While I've always been please with the OM, I always found it a bit bright and sibilant. The 300ME didn't let me down. While it's not as warm and bassy as the 440E downstairs, it still throws down some serious sound. Plenty of punch, very good bass definition, and crisp highs. I am very pleased with this as well. Even with just a few tracks worth of music, I can see these cartridges are of very good quality and so are the replacement styli. Give me a few more days and I'll give them some adjustments and plenty more listening!
 
Very glad to hear that both styli are working out.

Let us know if you hear an improvement when you increase tracking force (VTF). Sometimes it only needs to go up 25% to make an audible improvement. Don't be tempted to try going below 1.0g, though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom