Robert, I agree with you that the Shure V15 MR series are among the best
cartridges ever made. So far as I have been able to determine there is very
little difference between the V15-V (5) and the V15-III (3) except a
slightly flatter frequency response with the V. I remember doing a
frequency response run on these models many years ago when they were new
(along with dozens of other models) and this was what I found then. As I
have said before, the MicroRidge (MR) styli which are a line contact (LC) or
micro-line (ML) type of design is the best design you can get. The tracking
ability of the III and the V MR designs is virtually the same, even though
Shure wanted you to pay more for the later V design. Actually, the MR styli
began to be marketed with the introduction of the V model. At that time, it
made the V-15-V the best Shure cartridge ever. But then Shure began to
offer the MR styli for the III and the IV models as replacements and it
became clear that they all performed equally well in tracking ability. So I
was happy to save a considerable amount of money by using the III instead of
the V stylus.
As far as spending more money for any cartridge, I have seen no need for
it. I have tested some of the early golden-ear cartridges, both moving
magnet (MM) and moving-coil (MC) designs that are so revered by the
terminally tone deaf. NONE of them could hold a candle in tracking ability
to the scientifically correctly designed Shure V15s. The excessively priced
audiophool models are meant to appeal to the golden ear crowd who wouldn't
know mistracking if they heard it. I know this from first-hand (ear?)
experience by noting that several of my golden-ear friends are completely
clueless when it comes to setting up their tonearms for correct tracking
force and anti-skate compensation. But they are more than willing to shell
out ridiculous amounts of money for a cartridge, preamp, amp, or whatever so
long as that model has been "blessed" by J. Gordon Dolt or some other wack
golden ear bloviator in one of the far-too-many magazines devoted to the
cult of spending money.
The only other cartridges that are on a par with the Shure V15 MRs are
the Shibata-equipped Audio-Technicas (880 and 440ML). These carts have a
little lower compliance due to their support of the supersonic frequency
range, but they still track extremely well at 2 grams which poses no
significant threat to records due to their ML stylus shape. I have found
the occasional Ortofon (OM-30 and 40) and B&O (MMC-20CL and the later MMC-1
and 2) to be very good as well, but they are all out of production now, I
believe, including their replacement styli. The golden-ear fascination with
the moving coil types has always been overblown. Way back when, the MC
types established their reputation because they had lower effective tip mass
(ETM), but with more modern permanent magnet technologies, the MM carts
actually exhibit lower ETM than the MC types. Consequently, the newest MM
types work better and have the additional advantage that they have much
higher output voltage which improves their signal to noise ratio.
Greg Bogantz
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Wright" <esroberto at hotmail.com>
To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l at oldcrank.org>
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 10:15 AM
Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Shellac records and damage from steel needles
> Stantons I don't know about; if a modern cartridge is less than $500 and
> doesn't have an easily replaceable stylus, I generally just by another
> one. Fortunately, the best tracking I've found in any cartridge under
> $2000 is in the $350 Shure V15VxMR. And of course, they stopped making
> the V15 for the first time in decades a couple years ago or something.
> Grr.
>
> But I digress; didn't mean to focus on modern gear for this long. :-)
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ron L" <lherault at bu.edu>
> To: "'Antique Phonograph List'" <phono-l at oldcrank.org>
> Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 8:54 AM
> Subject: RE: [Phono-L] Shellac records and damage from steel needles
>
>
>>I had a Stanton locally retipped. The old diamond was completely removed
>> and a new diamond was inserted, no re-grinding involved AFAIK.
>>
>> Ron L
>
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