Audiotechnica: "AT-MONO 3/SP" vs. "VM 670 SP"

Last year I picked up a few old shellac records. I was wondering wich of these 2 carts (those are in my budget) is best ? They are only 10 bucks apart on amazon.

 

Anyone?

 

When you say shellac, do you mean 78 RPM records? If so, neither one of these are designed for 78s- they are designed for mono vinyl LPs.

 

There is a shellac specific version of the AT-Mono 3/SP
Audio Technica AT Mono 3 - MC cartridge buy at hifisound.de

The 78rpm one having a 2.5mm stylus

Also, for the other one it says:
Audio technica VM670SP Dual MM Stereo Cartridge for 78 RPM buy at hifisound.de

wich has a 3mm stylus.

 

I stand corrected. The Mono 3/SP has much lower output than the VM 670sSP (not the one I was thinking of either) so you'd have to take that into account.

The VM670SP has a 3 mil stylus, the 3/SP has a 2.5 mil. If it were my money between the two I'd go VM670SP. It also has a user replaceable stylus- the 3/SP doesn't.

 

Output voltage shouldn't be a problem. My regular cartdridge (AT440mlb @ 4mV) runs on my preamp (Art DJ PreII) with the gain dial set to 0 out of 8. Allready clipping on some records at +1.

 

If you have the gain I would lean toward the AT Mono 3/SP.

Granted, I am a bit biased as I own the Mono 3/LP. As an owner of that cartridge I can tell you it is fabulous value; I compared the LP to a much more expensive stereo cartridge strapped for mono and was shocked at how much better the inexpensive AT sounds.

The AT Mono 3's are in fact "true mono" cartridges which is one of, if not the biggest reasons why the LP version sounds so much better than a strapped for mono, albeit much more expensive stereo design. It is not really clear to me from the description of the VM 670 as to whether or not it is indeed a true mono design or simply internally strapped for mono.

Secondly, as a mature design, there is a lot of trickle down technology in the AT Mono 3's, namely the aluminum body from the AT 33 series, which IMO would be grossly superior to the plastic/moulded body in the newer VM 670.

 

I'm leaning towards it as well. Few days left till next month wich i'll wait.

 

Finally received the AT-MONO3/SP very impressed !
First result after some cleanup (youtube or windows movie maker added quite a bit of artifacts. wmm seems to have issues with mono audio)