What is needed is for some energetic person to take over at Shure Inc. and start making V15 mk3,s again PROPERLY!!'
I'd say we could use the whole line, starting with III and up to VMR, plus 97EH and 95ED. The problem I can foresee is the lack of qualified personnel. I think people who had the skills are long gone, and new ones are not that easy to find and train. We're talking real precision here, better than jewelry grade.
My main TT is outfitted with a Shure V15 Type V and I'm dreading the day I need to replace the stylus! I've never bought anything but Shure since I was 16 and got my first decent TT.
The reason that Shure discontinued the V15 series was, besides the reasons of the "CD Revolution" given above, was that the stylus cantilevers were made of a Beryllium alloy whose dust (during manufacturing) is very toxic. I lived in Chicago growing up and have a couple of college friends who work at Shure (now in Niles, IL). They told me that the Shure M97xE actually is guts of a Shure V15 Type V-MR 1/2 (almost a V15 Type VxMR but with an aluminum alloy cantilever instead of Beryllium alloy. Apparently, the stylii from a V15 Type VxMR can be put into an M97xE cartridge and it will magically become a V15 Type VxMR.
Yeah, where do you get those styli, though? Jico SAS and LPGear Vivid Line are the available answers, I guess. I'm happy I'd scored a NOS Shure M97HE this summer, which is purportedly sonically the same as V15, but not as good a tracker, if I am to believe the descriptions. I've had no tracking issues whatsoever, and the sound is blissful. Now I know (or have an idea) what all the V15 buzz was about.
I its sad, here in UK, we have the remains of ship builders craftsman Including myself( engineer) who would love to pass on our skills ,skills learnt over a lifetime and dying with us. As you so rightly add to my reply,these superb American researchers/ craftsmen who developed and built Those wonderful cartridges are gone or passed by , in the name of making a quick buck, sod the quality. A sad thank you to the family of loyal supporters they had and still have.
I have a large collection (about 30 ) of V15 Type IIIG (the spherical stylus model VN3G) that I bought when they went out of production in the 1990's for $10 each from a high-end stereo store in Framingham, MA. 27 of them are still sitting brand new and unopened in my closet. Why spherical?....I learned about high-end audio from being a disciple of Steve Weimann and Ray Marion who owned ProMusica in Urbana, IL during the mid-70's. They claimed that the spherical stylii were better sounding than the elliptical stylus and since then, I've always used the spherical version... I don't know if the superiority of the G stylus is true or not and I've never heard the elliptical version in my system. These NOS (new old stock) VN3G stylii still sound great. I just put a new one in my V15 Type III and played some of the albums in the Rolling Stones mono box set and they sounded fabulous. Thus, I don't think that the suspension goes bad or deteriorates, even after sitting for 30 years.
It depends on your environment. Anything oxidizing in the atmosphere will harden or rot the rubber. If the stock of V15's you have are sealed in their original packaging, they are likely just fine. You're sitting on a minor goldmine though, judging by what NOS Shure V15's go for on the auction site.
I downloaded some of the key Shure patents from this era recently. And there was some really tricky stuff went into the IV and later cartridges. The thin wall beryllium tube of the V-series was rolled from flat material. They used a tiny jig to roll it into a tube with an overlap. Then because it was springy and would unwrap they annealed it in an oven so that it stress relieved. Then they adhesively bonded the overlap. After that the end was formed and punched to accept the diamond stylus, and the magnet and multiple dampers were bonded to the other end. All at beyond Swiss watch level. There is a good, long and detailed paper on the IV on Shure's site here High Fidelity Phonograph Cartridge - Technical Seminar | Knowledge Base | Shure Americas
A Shure V15 on a SME/Shure 3009 tonearm is a thing of beauty, it has to be heard with the finest of gear to truly understand. Yes, there are many new items that might sound better for many thousands $$ more, it's up to you to decide what you want to hear...vinyl is a fun hobby until you get serious about the sound. I'm just a medium player, with decent gear and killer speakers that take no prisoners, we like each other, nuff said!
Well, I have got my second system set up. It is classic 1970's. A Thorens TD150, SME II improved with fixed headshell and V15 IV to which I have added a standard JICO VN45E stylus. The stylus itself is a gorgeous thing - how Jico have reproduced the VN45E is astonishing. The damper works with the correct characteristics, locks out the way, works as a damper and also as a stylus guard. Carbon fibre brush on damper exactly right. Tiny hyper elliptical stylus. I actually bought through an eBay seller in Japan with some trepidation that it might be a knock-off. It wasn't. Set up to the correct tracking force (1g on stylus) and bias it tracks everything on the infamous HiFi News test disc like a champ. The only thing it cannot handle is the +18dB at 315Hz track - but that is 200um (you can see the groove modulation with the naked eye!). It is perfectly comfortable at 140um (+15dB), which is just about exactly the original cartridge spec. Most modern cartridges can handle half that amplitude, even when they specify it. That is fed into a Douglas Self balanced output phono stage The Signal Transfer Company: RIAA balanced output , into a Kevin Gilmore Blue Hawaii electrostatic heaphone amp HeadAmp Blue Hawaii SE Electrostatic Headphone Amplifier (Playback 56) and a pair of Stax Omega electrostatic headphones. I'm left with the dark thought that 40 to 50 years of audio progress in cartridges, arms and turntables has actually added remarkably little. It sounds bloody astonishing. Since I already had the turntable and arm (bought new by me in the early 70's), and the phono stage, headphone amp and headphones, the total outlay was the cartridge body (which came with the tapped strip and plastic Shure screws) and Jico stylus. So less than UKP200. What a bargain for something that sounds so stunning!
I agree the Jico VN45E is a very fine stylus....... I just resurrected my vintage v-15 type IV and am one happy camper now.
The V15 is one of few carts that are very neutral, and do not have response that is all over the place or boosted on cut on the high end. You tend to get what is actually on the record, instead of an equalized version that some equate to "Vinyl sound"
I'm using an Jico elliptical stylus on my V15 III and would like to get a SAS one day. Anybody using a V-15 IV with a .6 conical tip? I read an article ( Stereophile ?) awhile back saying it sounding very, very good.
I read the same article, and was somewhat puzzled why they preferred the spherical stylus to the hyper elliptical. Doesn't make sense, somehow. This is the link Shure V15-IV phono cartridge
I do like the spherical Jico on my Shure M97xe. It' well made and tracks great at 1.25 grams. I am looking forward to trying out the EVG Jico spherical on my V15 IV From the above listed Stereophile article: Shure V-15IVG has the potential for being as accurate a cartridge as is available today Read more at Shure V15-IV phono cartridge
I posted a few pages back that I've been a V-15 III fan since I bought my first one in 1973. When the SAS was first introduced I bought one and was really thrilled with it. After a while though I thought that it was making my records sound a little cold or clinical, for lack of better words. I use two type three DU cartridges, one on a Dual 701 and one on a Dual 1229Q. Now I like the Jico elliptical on the 1229 and the Jico HE on the 701. Both of those styli have a fuller, richer sound to my ears. Of course, it's just personal preference.
So the $100 M97xE can be turned into a V15 V with a stylus change? That seems like the audiophile deal of the century!
Well, not really considering you can't get a VxMR stylus anymore. I paid $265 for a new Jico SAS one.
Compared to the prices of used or NOS V15 carts though, $365 total for a new production cart with that sound and tracking ability is still a great deal.
Because after all the lengths J. Gordon Holt goes to in order to stress the superiority of ruler flat response, he can't help but cheekily point out in an underhanded way that people still prefer the distorted sound of the conical stylus. Inferentially, they still prefer the distorted sound of the LOMC, despite the problems which are laid bare in the first few lines of the article. It's as if he is unable to really come out and say, "Who cares?" So he sneaks in that little observation which seems innocuous until you think of all that it implies.
After poo-pooing conical tip stylus for years, I'm REALLY enjoying listening to the Shure M35X and the M97Xe with .6 mil. conical tips. I'm looking forward to trying conicals on my V-15 Type III and V-15 type IV.