JICO SAS is currently out of production!!

I used the SAS in the the two V-15 III cartridges that I use on my Dual 701 and 1229Q turntables for several years but have gone back to the Jico elliptical stylus recently. To my ears the elliptical replicates the sound of the original Shure stylus. The SAS offers more detail but the elliptical provides a richer and fuller sound that I enjoy. The V-15 III has been a favorite of mine since I bought my first one in 1973.

 

I was starting out on my journey on hi fi about then. If only i had cottoned on to shure cartridges then how much my life would have been enriched!
I went dowm the mc route( Linn) to begin with without realising that these can have a questionable effect on your precious vinyl .apart from being very expensive they don,t track properly.( i recently read a review in hi fi world of a £3000 Clearaudio mc, with mediocre tracking, i ask you)
Part of the shure superiority is its tracking stability. As I hear greater detail as a result. Thanks for the reply.

 

Yes sir. "trackability" as Shure called it.

 

Pity they don,t make a comeback!
Ok so they are still in business but its mainly dj stuff.
The time is right for a no nonsense super high quality mm, and to reclaim their place at the top of the tree,
I have thought long and hard about this, even found some old 70,s magazines. The truth is its all about profit. The patent ran out for ortofon,s MC,S and many jumped on the bandwagon. Magazines threw their weight behind this. All of a sudden Shure,s were no good. Heavier arms and lower compliance were the way to go. Along with obscene profits. Many fell for it! Come on home Shure! Thank god for Jico!

 

You are looking at the wrong makes of MC. Both Ortofon and AT make cartridges with excellent tracking performance. The main thing with Shure was the unnecessary low tracking weight. They did sound decent back in the 70s but I'm surprised they would rival many modern designs.

 

The proof is in the listening

 

I have both of those cartridges. I preferred the M97xE with the stock stylus for its fat sound, but it would mistrack on difficult sibilants. The SAS added extra treble, and not in a good way, but the tracking was excellent. The 17D3 is an amazing cartridge. It's a practically flat frequency response and because most cartridges aren't tonally flat, the 17D3 can sound boring if you're used to a colored cart. However, I won't use any other cart at this point. It tracks just as well as my Shure V15VxMR and sounds the most neutral at 200 ohms. If you purchase the 17D3 make sure you add MORE anti skate than what your turntable manual recommends. The physics of the short cantilever requires it and says so in the Dynavector manual. It's a key component of proper set up. If tonal accuracy and great performance is desired, you'll really appreciate the 17D3.

 

It's been a long road for me but returned to the Shure M97xE with stock stylus and natural/thick midrange! Wish more cart manufacturers would go this route versus hyped freq responses.

 

Seems like a natural upgrade for me, I tend to value accuracy/neutrality and this further refines everything the m97xe/SAS was good at. Leaning heavily toward this as soon as I upgrade the entire turntable, will probably be mounting it on a tangential arm if all goes to plan so I don't believe the anti-skate needs to be taken into account in that case.

 

Along with obscene profits. Many fell for it! Come on home Shure! Thank god for Jico!
Allo! Allo! Come in Earth! We wait with baited breath! All is forgiven!

 

So, I saw this on the JICO site. Anyone heard any details?

 

I knew SAS was out of production due i believe to the material in the cantilever.
Normal jico are unaffected. I use normal Jico on my V15 mk3 and its superb.

 

cool-o!

 

Wonderful news!

 

Great news ! Coming soon

WHAT'S NEW
JICO @JICO_stylus01 Jul
New SAS coming this month! See banner at top of website: JICO stylus | Online Shopping for Japanese Phonograph Needles » (refresh browser if banner does not appear) more info soon!

 

Since i really love the Shure sound I may go down this path.. i.e Find a Shure V-15 cart (or other V-15 series) and then get a jico elliptical stylus. I use a M97xe and it's a favorite with stock stylus -just looking for a little more. Used the SAS on the M97xe and though it was quiet, quick and great at tracking, it seemed to lose the midrange thickness /natural tone of the stock stylus. The hardest part I expect is to find a nice undamaged V15 series cartridge...

 

That has been my experience with the SAS as well (although it sounds quite excellent with the M91ED).

 

Great news on "SAS Reborn." Let's hope it does not go the way of "Technics Reborn" with prices 500% above the original I would bet early on these will be waiting list only and long lead times.

 

I don't know if you all saw the thread about the AT150MLX but it seems that boron cantilevers have been discontinued for that model too. It looks to me as if boron is going the same way as beryllium and it's not going to be available any more, and since boron was the next best thing to beryllium, we are now going to be reduced to literally a third rate material for cantilevers. I hope I'm wrong but this looks like not-very-good news for the future of vinyl playback - I think tracking will suffer, since the best trackers I've ever known had either beryllium or boron cantilevers (eg the Shure V15VxMR, the Jico SAS, the AT150MLX and the AT33PTG/II.) Time to panic buy boron, maybe?

 

No details as yet.....rumours are that the SAS returns this month!

 

Why not use ruby or diamond for a cantilever (like some high end ones do) if boron is the issue?

 

Perhaps some will. My Dynavector 17D3 has a diamond cantilever - but I'd like to see others try it too. And at a lower price point. AT150DLx, here we come...

 

Big reason is $$$$$$! Costs a great deal of it.

 

Even the cheapest replacement styli are still diamond so the material cost for a slim little cantilever can't be that great… maybe the cost of working it into shape is high. But I'd like to see it done. We all know there won't be a diamond shortage anytime soon


I think sapphire would be a good replacement material. It's obviously inexpensive enough to manufacture that it's used in very common everyday items that most of us have.