Shure cartridges discontinued

I agree with all of that. And I observe that the entire and huge mirror system for the James Webb Space Telescope is made of Beryllium (gold coated). 18 individual mirrors weighing 360kg (790lbs) in total - of beryllium Mirrors Webb/NASA .

So Shure's "we can't use beryllium" is just nonsense. They discontinued the majority of their cartridges - critically the V15 products, when they lost faith in vinyl when the CD was introduced.

 

Will you sell it to me?

 

I understand your complaint, but the problem isn't just the manufacture (which is definitely a problem for the manufacturer), but is also in the disposal or controls on the subsequent use of the toxic material. It seems like 'consumer' use is different than 'commercial' use. For example, one time I was experimenting with photographic chemistry (for years), and I couln't get ahold of chlorohydroquinone for the life of me -- they kept saying that it was a chlorohydrocarbon and therefor not safe. If I was an established business instead, I could have already played with it (and probably have cancer like I was looking to do.) Instead, I had to stick with carefully concocted mixtures of phenidone and hydroquinone together (or other chemicals like phyrocatachin which would give the hardening that I was looking for.)

Anyway -- the bottom line -- commercial or space use of a substance might be allowed, but not mass consumer use, because of disposal or subsequent use reasons. It isn't just due to the manufacturing risks or insurance reasons.

 

Yours is nonsense. Business is about money, not faith.

At the time, Shure would have had to redesign and rebuild the whole production chain of their beryllium cantilevers in light of the safety regulation for workers and users imposed by the then recently assessed toxicity of its dust. Cost would have been very high and revenues were falling down in the CD age, so they logically decided to stop the line.

I really don't see any connection to the fact that in 2018 NASA is using beryllium in a cost-no-object designed from scratch space telescope project. Completely safe procedures are built-in features by design and disposal of the material forever in space is not an issue.

 

Sorry, it is not for sale as I do plan on firing up my Thorens TD 126 MK III one of these days ...

 

It is time to bring down the prices of these laser turntable ...

 

A worthy endeavor.

 

I'd like to remind you, yet again, that beryllium is still used in consumer goods, and in audio, to boot! Paradigm Persona line of speakers is made with beryllium drivers, and they widely publicize it at every turn. So, where there's a will - there's a way.

Many cartridge manufacturers folded in the age of CD's: Stanton/Pickering, Micro Acoustics, Empire, ADC, and others. But they went out of business altogether - they can hardly be blamed for ending production.

Shure stayed in business, but abandoned the industry they pretty much invented - cartridges, and handed it to competition that survives to this very day, quite successfully - Ortofon and A-T come to mind first.

 

Empire folded much earlier and transformed itself into a distributor of electronic parts by the mid 80's and Stanton shut down its Pickering subsidiary many years ago while the mainline Stanton continued to operate with fewer models - without the top models 881S and 981S, perhaps until a few years ago ...

 

Stanton kept manufacturing carts and styli (some models) until about 2011 but never made a formal announcement. They kept selling off old stock, and even kept up an appearance by selling AT cart models with a Stanton branding. Plus they made turntables and mixers and CD equipment aimed at the DJ crowd (and they're still selling those off).
There's a thread or two on this forum around 2012 when stock of certain stylus and cart models started showing up as out of stock at the usual vendors.

 

Stanton 881S is the only cartridge I have ever used but the replacement stylus has been unavailable for years ...

 

So what stylus are you using?

 

And sadly neither the 881S or the 681 EEE-S II have had genuine styli available in many years.

 

It's not the real Stanton, just a brand bought by some group. They're no more Stanton than those Emerson-owned Fisher gear were Fisher's.

 

LPGear sell a replacement. Perhaps JICO, as well.

 

I've recently scored a NOS 681EEE, still in box. As to 881, I've had less luck, but got a Pickering XSV3000 body (same thing), and a Vivid Line stylus from LPGear.

 

Yes, Stanton was bought by Gibson, but it was still the "real" Stanton except as how Gibson cost cut them to death. It was not just a brand name that was purchased or licensed and stuck on all-new cheap equipment.

 

Did you ever actually try the XSV/3000 with the ViVid Line? Last I remember you hadn't yet gotten around to it. I'm using my Pickering again for the first time in decades and really loving it with the modestly priced LP Gear stylus.

 

I just sent in a broken N97xe stylus to Shure and they have sent me a new one. It is astounding how much the Shure cartridges and stylii have gone up in price since Shure announced their discontinuation. Glad when I found how great they were years ago, I stocked up with spares.

 

They have been sidelined for a number of years. But 881S is a great cartridge. I believe this JICO online store provides the aftermarket replacement stylus. My current two turntables use Shure V15 V and Grado Prestige Gold ...

 

Wait...so the 881S is not the only cartridge you ever used!!

 

881S is the ONLY Stanton cartridge I have ever used. I have used many different phono cartridges since the mid 70's ...

 

My two 881S's still have the original Stanton stylus ...

 

Well, that's better!! Why don't you give one of them a try with an aftermarket replacement stylus? I love the way my (roughly equivalent) Pickering XSV/3000 sounds with the LP Gear ViVid Line!

 

I used a Pickering many years ago, probably on some Pioneer turntable in the mid 70's. I did not like the cartridge that much as that small record brush tended to come off easily while the Stanton record brush is part of the cartridge ...