Ortofon 2M 78 stylus

Question for the group - I've had this stylus (and it's mono cart) for a while now rigged up on a separate turntable which has become my dedicated 78 player, which gets little use. While the stylus is wider in order to accommodate the 78 grooves, could it still be used to play older 45s as well -without groove damage?

I have not tried this yet but was curious about whether it would work.

They've got a mono (non-78) stylus that's compatible to my stylus so I have other options.

Thanks!

 

78rpm styli are usually sapphire (as opposed to diamond) so personally, I wouldn't risk the groove wear using it on vinyl, but that's just me. It likely will still play music (not sure how it would sound).

 

Thanks - interesting about the material of the stylus. Here I was just thinking about the width of the thing and never considered what it was actually made of!

 

Your comment got me curious, and i consulted their webpage - it's a spherical diamond.

It's quite a nice sounding one too - really brings the old discs to life.

 

The Ortofon styli are diamond (not sapphire). The 2M 78 specs list a tip radius of 2.6 mil which works well for most 78s (and 33-1/3 transcription discs from the 40s/50s). This is a bit wide for 45s (that were intended to be played with 0.7 to 1.0 mil styli) though may work fine with early ones (1950-late 60s?), and may even help reduce distortion and noise if the grooves are worn since a wider stylus will ride higher in the groove (the distorted part of the groove will be lower, where a nominal 0.7/1.0 mil stylus traced). I don't think you'll do any damage by trying it, at least.

 

Well there ya go, give it a shot if it's not sapphire

 

Thanks!! Great info from you both.

These likely would only be from a period no later than the 60s due to the mono ascpect, which were rarely cared well for.

Probably won't be playing my original Parlophone Beatles 45s but some well worn others may get some spins!

 

It's no good for that. Try it on an unimportant 45 and hear. The 78 stylus is too wide, 2.7 mil or 3 mil, and will ride along the top of the 45 groove. It will probably sound terrible with noise. 45s, from the beginning, were always supposed to use the Microgroove 1 mil stylus. Some tiny labels early on (1948-49-earliest 1950s) had wider cutting styli for some reason, but no more than 1.5 mil (probably just worn out proper 1 mil cutting styli they were too cheap or too sloppy to check on and keep in condition). Nobody ever pressed and released a 45 cut with a 3 mil 78 cutting stylus. AFAIK.

 

Yeah - I tried an unimportant 45 and it sounded pretty crappy!

Looks like I'll grab their mono stylus....at least its compatible with the cart.