Shure V15 - Very Nice Indeed

Sorry. Long day. 6 p.m. and still at the office.

I may have to break out the cans tonight too.

 

Re: Micro Acoustics 2002e vs. Shure V15

Clay, I used a 2002e for several years, and remember it fondly. In fact, I just missed buying one on ebay about a half hour ago. I wasn't going to pay more than $80 for a cart that I wouldn't be able to find a replacement stylus for, but somebody did.
I never got to A/B the 2002e with my Shure, but I remember when I put the Shure on (1988) thinking that it was a big improvement.

 

Gardo,

It could be that a $20 stylus exchange from Shure's service department would have given you the same effects that you mention. It is similar to what I heard from the new stylus when I sent my stylus in for checking a few years ago.

A few years after the new model came out, I spoke with Bob Kita, one of the Shure engineers. He said that the V15VMR has a more expensive magnet structure than the new one. The design goal for the Vx version was to equal the performance of the older one at a lower cost of production. He said that they sound identical, no matter what the wacky reviewers have written, with the exception of the older model being flat to beyond 20Khz, and the Vx version rolling off a little starting at about 18Khz. He said, "Save your money for records". The output of the older model is 3.2mV, and I believe that the current one has a 3mV output, but I am not positive.

By the way, SH himself has staunchly supported the Shure on another thread, which makes me feel vindicated-- after Tom Port's attempt to make me feel like a heel for using it had absolutely no effect on me. Well, not you have both, and I hope you didn't sell the first one!

DaveD

 

That could well be, though since my V15VMR was nearly twenty years old, I wanted to have the newer one as well, just in case the stylus for the V15VMR was discontinued at some point and in case places like J&R Music World stopped carrying the V15VxMR. Also, I was curious to hear what differences there might be between the two carts. (Okay, I admitted it. )

Interesting. I don't detect any HF rolloff. I do hear a little more warmth in the midbass, though that's smoothed out a bit as the cart has broken in (or else I've just recalibrated my ears). If the less expensive magnet structure doesn't compromise performance in any way, good for Shure! I don't hear any less performance from the new cart myself, except that it won't track the highest intensity torture tests on my OMNIDISC quite as well as the old cart. The difference is minor, though, and so far it is of no consequence at all when it comes to music. Both carts sail through the hottest records without a whimper, and as many here have noted, inner-groove distortion is almost entirely eliminated. (I still hear inner-groove congestion and HF rolloff, but AFAIK that's a fact of life in standard LPs.)

No need to feel like a heel. When Tom and I had our "accuracy" debate awhile back, he had some harsh words for the cart then, too, when he discovered I used one for my LP playback. Tom's hi-fi philosophy, at least as he articulated it in his side of the debate, doesn't seem entirely consistent to me, though I do admire and share his passion for getting musical magic out of electronics.

And I did not sell my V15VMR. I should probably get the new stylus for it, even though the rate is now 50.00 (still a bargain).

 

I believe it does too. But, if you live in a dusty envirnment like I do, you need the stabilizer brush.

 

Definitely do it. I just got a V15V-MR (and I have the V15VxMR). The cantilever was completely broken off, but I sent what was left back to Shure.. They were so quick in getting a replacement to me, it was truly amazing. The body was $60 on eBay, so $110 in all isn't bad. All in all, I prefer the sound of the V15VxMR. There's a little more "body" to it, without sounding colored - I don't know any other way to describe the difference. Still, it's worth resurrecting your old cart! Right now I'm using the V15V-MR mostly to see if some break-in time (after all these years) changes things at all, but even still, the differences are really minimal.

One notable thing, channel balance seems to be tighter on the V15V-MR (less volume discrepancy between channels), tested using the same mono cuttings with both carts. I think Shure specs consider +/- 1.5 db within acceptable tolerance. So of course this will vary for each individual cart, so who knows if my results really mean much of anything.

 

20 years with the original V15VMR and I'm still happy. The only thing I might watch for is a used body of either one for a different turntable. I have two or three lunched stylus assemblies here. I broke an older one a month ago, in fact--the suspension had hardened and became unusable. One little nudge and it snapped right off. Probably was that Stylast gunk I used to use.

 

Send them to Shure. I just sent two busted VN5 styli back and Shure sent me two new styli for $110.