Audio Technica AT150mlx cart discontinued-replacement stylus?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by MikeyVan, Jun 14, 2016.

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  1. Wally Swift

    Wally Swift Yo-Yoing where I will...

    Location:
    Brooklyn New York
    I love this cart. I hope the new replacement stylus is good.
     
  2. MikeyVan

    MikeyVan MoFaux Fraudelity Scam Labs Digi-Vinyl fan Thread Starter

    Location:
    The Woodlands, TX
    hi

    I inquired about 150mlx vs 150sa stylus IGD performance on Audio Technica's site. Here's their reply:

    The Sa tip also does an excellent job of tracking high frequencies and inner grooves with low distortion. The notable difference is in term of the sound it produces. The Sa has a more prominent midrange and mid-bass.
     
  3. Budysr

    Budysr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pensacola, FL.
    I hope this proves true. I bet it'll be really nice on a 150mlx body. I certainly don't see it being worse(except for costing a few bucks more). I plan on trying one on my 150Mlx later this summer.
     
    Hermetech Mastering likes this.
  4. Hermetech Mastering

    Hermetech Mastering Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Milan, Italy
    What if we are happy with the very balanced mid range and mid bass of the MXL? I guess only a shootout will tell.
     
  5. Stefan

    Stefan Senior Member

    Location:
    Montreal, Canada
    This could be nice as these have been the weak point on the AT150MLX. I still find myself EQing needledrops to tame the highs and bring out the midrange a bit. I have a 2M Black stylus that until it seemed to collapse recently actually had a nicer tonality than the AT, in fact similar to this description of a "more prominent midrange and mid-bass", but it didn't track as well. Now if AT can make a shibata that tracks as well as the MLX but with the tonality of the 2m Black, they will truly have a winner.

    After trying several cartridges over the years, I've found none that track worn inner grooves as well as the 150MLX. One of my sibilance "torture" tests is a copy of John Hiatt's Bring The Family, especially the last two tracks on side one, Lipstick Sunset and Have A Little Faith In Me ("LipSCHHHHtick SCHHHHunset" and "When your SCHHHecret heart, cannot SSCCHHHpeak so easily. Come here darlin' from a whisSCHHHper start"). I have two copies of this LP, one with the someone's previous mistracking burned in on these sibilants, but my AT150MLX cruises through these sibilants a second copy I have with sharp but clear sibilants that sound as clean as on CD!
    The only other stylus I have that does this nearly as well is the JICO SAS I got this past winter for my Shure M35X. It's very close to the MLX but slightly grainier on the highs. Neither of my two Ortofon 2M styli (Bronze and Black) can track these as well as the AT or JICO (Incidentally, I just received an LPGear Vivid Line for my Shure M97xE and I have to say it tracks the Hiatt torture test better than either Ortofon 2M stylus. It actually turns the M97xE into a very nice cartridge certainly equaling or bettering the Ortofon 2M Bronze).

    So it'll be interesting to see if the ATN150Sa turns out to be a nice new addition to the AT arsenal.
     
    Hermetech Mastering and c-eling like this.
  6. Budysr

    Budysr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pensacola, FL.
    I went ahead and placed an order for a 150SA stylus to use on my 150MLX. The mlx stylus on it now is still going strong but I want a backup and this stylus does have close to two years of heavy play on it. I'll post my impressions once I get the 150sa and allow some break in time. I'm sure it will be really nice on the mlx body.
     
  7. Stefan

    Stefan Senior Member

    Location:
    Montreal, Canada
    Looking forward to it. I was reading a user review of the MC AT33Sa just this morning and the reviewer stated it was much smoother and silkier in the highs than both the OC9MLII he had in the past, so since I used to have one of those and found it similar to the 150MLX in sound, I'm thinking the 150Sa could be similar.
     
  8. Budysr

    Budysr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pensacola, FL.
    Slightly off topic but what do you like to track your 150mlx at on your Pioneer? I've been running at about 1.35 for a few months now on the VTF.
     
  9. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    Looking forward to your review of the Sa stylus. I track mine around 1.55. I recently increased it from 1.3 and it tracks better in the 1.5 range, ime.
     
    Budysr likes this.
  10. Hermetech Mastering

    Hermetech Mastering Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Milan, Italy
    That's great, I snapped up a replacement MLX stylus a few weeks ago, and am also gonna get an SA and a 440 MLB to do a shootout on the MLX body. Very interested to hear what your impressions are after you've lived with it for a while.

    150 MLX at 1.25, always, factory recommended spec, sounds great, tracks great, see no reason to adjust.
     
    Budysr and c-eling like this.
  11. Budysr

    Budysr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pensacola, FL.
    I received the 150sa stylus today and popped it onto the MLX body when I got home from work. I've only been able to play a couple records so far so I'm probably nowhere near break- in but this thing already sounds fantastic. Certainly no IGD or sibilance whatsoever. I'll have to listen some more and let it break-in before I truly claim it sounds better now than with the MLX stylus, but so far I think the 150sa may have a better sound. I think AT's description of a better midrange and mid bass may be accurate. I'll give it some more time and try different records before I draw a final comparison but so far I'm very pleased with what I'm hearing!
     
  12. Hermetech Mastering

    Hermetech Mastering Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Milan, Italy
    Thanks for the report! I have a new MLX stylus ready to go, but I want to get the SA and 440 to do a fair test, all new on the MLX body with 24/96 sound files. Might be a few months though as can;t afford the others right now.
     
  13. Budysr

    Budysr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pensacola, FL.
    This will be a nice comparison for people to read about. I'm not needle drop savvy so all I can offer is just an everyday comparison with my own ears and not much in the technical side of things. I've listened to about 10 LPs now and I continue to be very happy with the 150sa on the MLX body. I haven't actually bothered to pop the MLX stylus back on to compare but I honestly have to say that it sounded great before and it sounds great now. I can't say for sure that there is a big difference really. The great tracking of the MLX is here with the 150sa for sure. I don't feel like I'm missing anything that the MLX stylus gave me with this new needle. I think this is a perfectly fine stylus replacement for MLX owners going forward with the MLX being discontinued.
     
  14. Hermetech Mastering

    Hermetech Mastering Mastering Engineer

    Location:
    Milan, Italy
    Yes, I'm pretty much expecting there to be very little, if any, audible difference between the three stylii as they are are all more similar than they are different, and of very high quality.
     
  15. Budysr

    Budysr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pensacola, FL.
    High quality is exactly right. One thing about the 150sa I'm noticing is that it feels like it may be a more durable stylus than the mlx stylus. Now I'm not going to test that theory of course but this one doesn't seem like it is as delicate as the mlx.
     
  16. Jim in Houston

    Jim in Houston The Godfather of Alt-Country & Punk

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    It looks like Jico released the new SAS styli and they have a saphire cantilever.
     
  17. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    Yes of course, the boron cantilever is very brittle compared with this Al-alloy. The Sa is similar if not exactly the same as the old 20SLa needle. One of my favorites.
     
  18. Wally Swift

    Wally Swift Yo-Yoing where I will...

    Location:
    Brooklyn New York
    This is great news! Thanks for posting it!
     
  19. Budysr

    Budysr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pensacola, FL.
    do you know how the shibata tip is attached to the cantilever on this one missan? One of the problems with the MLX stylus was how it was glued to the boron cantilever and how easy it was to knock it off(this happened to my first MLX stylus). I hope this new one is more forgiving if there is a "fumble" one day. I believe it could be.
     
  20. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    The boron cantilever is solid, so the diamond is just glued to the cantilever. The Al-alloy is hollow, so the diamond goes through a hole in the cantilever, and then glued. Totally different and extremely more rigid.
     
  21. Budysr

    Budysr Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pensacola, FL.
    Sounds Good to me. Thanks for the description. I've learned something new today
     
    missan likes this.
  22. vinylguy4

    vinylguy4 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego Area
     
  23. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    The 20SLa stylus doesn´t have the same grip design at all as the 150, won´t fit that body.
     
  24. vinylguy4

    vinylguy4 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego Area
    Thanks for the info.
     
  25. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Wha-oh Black Betty V.2 :D
    Cat's not getting near this puppy
    Couldn't resist as I missed my 150MLX, so I grabbed the 150Sa
    Still having some issues with my Orto Blue, I think it's a compliance weight issue, my table has a 'medium' mass arm, AT's have no problem with the SH-4 Headshell
    I ordered a lighter headshell hoping that will solve my problem
    [​IMG]
     
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