Shure cartridges discontinued

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Airbus, May 1, 2018.

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  1. Airbus

    Airbus Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Beirut - Lebanon
    NILES IL. / USA, MAY 01, 2018
    SHURE STATEMENT REGARDING THE DISCONTINUATION OF PHONO PRODUCTS.


    For more than 90 years, Shure has been committed to manufacturing and delivering products of the highest quality, reliability, and value. This commitment requires consistency in materials, processes, and testing, as well the capacity to react to fluctuations in demand.

    In recent years, the ability to maintain our exacting standards in the Phonograph Cartridge product category has been challenged, resulting in cost and delivery impacts that are inconsistent with the Shure brand promise.

    In light of these conditions, and after thorough evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue production of Shure Phono products effective Summer 2018.

    Given our decades-long history of participation in the Phono category, we recognize that this decision may come as a disappointment to our channel partners and end users.

    We are grateful for the support and loyalty demonstrated for Shure Phono products through the years and we are proud of the impact that these products have made on our customers’ lives and the reputation of the Shure brand. We believe that the proud legacy of Shure Phono is best served by exiting the category rather than continuing production under increasingly challenging circumstances.

    Shure will continue to bring reputable, high quality products to market and we look forward to meeting and exceeding customer expectations on our current and future offerings. As Shure expands into new markets and product categories for audiophiles, our enduring commitment to premium performance and technological innovation will remain at our core.
     
  2. Dennis Metz

    Dennis Metz Born In A Motor City south of Detroit

    Location:
    Fonthill, Ontario
    I guess Crosleys don’t have Shures:cheers:
     
  3. Jimi Floyd

    Jimi Floyd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pisa, Italy
    The end of an era
     
    ben_wood, bluesky, Grant and 8 others like this.
  4. Dubmart

    Dubmart Senior Member

    Location:
    Bristol, England
    Although I'm not a huge Shure fan I do have and occasionally use a SC35C and M447, I also have a V15 III and some M75s tucked away, I do like their older hi fi carts, I guess carts are now a very small and insignificant part of the business, a real shame, it will pretty much leave the deejay market to Ortofon.
     
    dennman6 and PhilBiker like this.
  5. Classicrock

    Classicrock Senior Member

    Location:
    South West, UK.
    Shure really missed the boat with the vinyl revival by failing to maintain a comprehensive range and update product. It went wrong when they discontinued the V15VxMR just as vinyl sales were picking up. Will hang onto my stylus balance. Simple and accurate. Maybe the popularity of MC designs hit them. Now wait for the gold rush of flippers buying up remaining Shure product.
     
  6. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    Last edited: May 1, 2018
  7. cjc

    cjc Senior Member

    What a shame! I'm a HUGE fan with about a dozen Shure carts/stylus.
    I still own, and have used so many other brands, but Shure's (especially my V15's, M97 Era IV, SC39 ) just sound "right" to me.
     
    PhilBiker and Helom like this.
  8. nick99nack

    nick99nack Forum Resident

    Location:
    Spotswood, NJ
    That's sad! I think I'm even more surprised about this than I was about Oppo's discontinuation of their home audio stuff. With the market for vinyl booming lately, it seems like an odd time to pull out.
     
  9. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    Like Stanton, they went all in on the DJ/pro market, with just a nod to the audiophile/consumer market.

    My understanding is most club DJs prefer digital now (please correct me if I'm wrong), while home use of turntables continues on an upward trend.
     
  10. Bathory

    Bathory 30 yr Single Malt, not just for breakfast anymore

    Location:
    usa
    WOW, another top quality company stops making their flagship market items.

    its sad to see them go. sc35 long time user fan.



    ortofon is happy...........
     
    PhilBiker, 2xUeL and macster like this.
  11. Poison_Flour

    Poison_Flour Forum Resident

    Damm shame love the M447
     
    McLover likes this.
  12. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    A Brief History of Shure Phonograph Products: 1933 - 1998

    1933: Shure begins to supply OEM crystal pickups to various manufacturers of record players

    1937: Shure introduces the model 99A Zephyr - a balanced tracking crystal record reproducer. This product featured a full-floating, non-resonant tone arm; low "needle-point" impedance; and "needle tilt" that kept the stylus in true alignment with the record groove.

    1951: Shure offers a complete line of crystal and ceramic pickups, including direct-drive single sided; vertical drive turnover; vertical drive single sided; muted stylus; and lever type. The exact meaning of each term is sadly no longer known.

    1955: Shure introduces the ML44 Series known as the Music Lover's Cartridge. It is a ceramic pickup with a twin-lever coupling and the ability to play three speeds of records. Two styli (1 mil and 3 mil) were interchangeable by the user.

    1957: The M1 Studio Dynetic Cartridge is debuted and it is integrated into the M16 studio dynetic phono reproducer (tone arm). The Dynetic principle is a moving magnet with a stationary coil. Tracking force is one gram and the diamond stylus tip has a radius of 0.0007 inch. Each unit is custom produced and individually tested.

    1958: Shure introduces the M3D stereo Dynetic Cartridge. It is the world's first moving magnet stereo cartridge and features stereo channel separation at 1,000 Hz of 20 dB or better.

    1964: The V15 Stereo Dynetic High Fidelity Cartridge is first sold. It features a 15 degree vertical tracking angle, a bi-radial elliptical stylus (0.0002 x 0.0009 inch), and is subjected to exacting quality control and inspections that are unique in the industry.

    1966: The V15 Type II superceded the V15. This new V15 was designed using an analog computer and introduced the concept of Trackability - the ability to maintain contact between the stylus tip and the record groove at all frequencies using a minimum tracking force. A flip-action stylus guard was another new feature.

    1970: The V15 Type II Improved features a flatter frequency response and an upgrade diamond stylus.

    1973: The V15 Type III debuts with a uniformly flat, unaccented, uncolored frequency response. This was accomplished by reducing the stylus mass by 25% and by employing a new laminated pole piece design.

    1978: Shure introduces the V15 Type IV. It features a viscous-damped Dynamic Stabilizer that overcomes most record warps. The Stabilizer brush also cleans the record and reduces any static charge. A hyper-ellipitical, nude mounted stylus tip improved the tip-to-groove contact area.

    1982: The V15 Type V features a MASAR polished stylus tip to reduce friction. The ultra-thin beryllium stylus shank dramatically improves trackability. A Duo-Point alignment gauge is used during installation to minimize lateral tracking angle error.

    1983: The V15 Type V-MR features a Micro-Ridge stylus shaped that emulates the shape of a cutting stylus. This greatly improves trackability in the high frequency range.

    1997: The V15VxMR is introduced with improvements in the stylus design and pole piece design to provide a warmer and more musical sound quality.

    Brief History Of Shure Phonograph Cartridges | Knowledge Base | Shure Americas
     
  13. Agitater

    Agitater Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    And here I was observing the vinyl revival greadually gaining ground over the past ten years, all the while hope Shure would bear down and come out with a brand new V15 Type VI. Silly me.

    I think that Shure had to make a decision about its facility in Suzhou, China and about its facility in Mexico. Aging tooling and aging assembly lines eventually have to be replaced. I don’t personally think that the amount of money Shure makes from the cartridge business is enough to justify an investment in new manufacturing equipment. That may be partly the result of Shure concentrating entirely on the low price, low budget cartridge market and finding now that it’s not worthwhile to reinvest in its cartridge facilities, especially considering that Shure has occasionally made a point about the fact that the Suzhou and Mexico facilities are ISO certified and maintained. That’s an expensive standard.

    Does any turntable make bundle/preinstall Shure cartridges? I did a quick search but couldn’t find a single one. There must be one. The absence of bundling deals has meant far less market visibility for Shure carts compared to cartridge market leader Ortofon.

    Shure’s refusal to bring a new V15 Type-anything to market and use such a cart to step up into the reputation it boasted years ago has helped to put the company completely off my personal radar. Despite that, I’ve heard the M97XE and I thought it was a respectable cart. I also wondered why Shure wasn’t joining the revival in earnest by coming up with a new V15.
     
  14. allied333

    allied333 Audiophile

    Location:
    nowhere
    Wow. That is a big deal!
     
  15. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    A sad day indeed.
     
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  16. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    They could easily have the best phono pickup on the market if they simply tried. They wouldn’t be able to make enough to keep up with demand. They completely ignored the audiophile/hi-fi market and now everyone loses in the end.
     
  17. macster

    macster Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca. USA
    Sad, just sad like many here have said. But there is an upside, this just creates an opportunity for someone else. I will probably stock up on a couple of M97Xe styli before they go sky high or just stick with the Vivid line. Something tells me that those old Shure cartridges are about to jump up in price.

    M~
     
    OldSoul likes this.
  18. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    IIRC, many years ago Hafler left the audiophile market for the professional market as well, and the rumored rationale was that the audiophile market was too unpredictable. One bad review in a magazine -- even an unfavorable comparison in a review of another product -- and a year of R&D on a new product was down the drain. And now online journals, blogs, YouTube channels and discussion groups are as influential as the old print journals. Maybe Shure found the pro market more rational?
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2018
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  19. nosliw

    nosliw Delivering parcels throughout Teyvat! Meow~!

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON, Canada
    To my knowledge and extensive research, I have not seen a single new turntable that comes with a Shure cartridge, just mainly Audio Technica and Ortofon variants.

    Anyways, Shure really shot themselves in a foot by exiting the cartridge market like that. I've been interested in at least trying out the Shure V15 variant cartridge and see how well it sounded in comparison to say the Stanton 681EEE II-S, but the price for the cartridge and original stylus has reached to the stratosphere. What a real shame.
     
    Airbus likes this.
  20. AlmanacZinger

    AlmanacZinger Zingin'

    Location:
    The Land of Zaat
    What the hell, man?! Yeesh.
     
  21. KT88

    KT88 Senior Member

    One word: China

    -Bill
     
  22. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    As do I. Fortunately, Jico makes excellent replacement styli. And consistently good too. Due to this cartridge being used in Jukeboxes for years, the better generic suppliers most of the time make good generics for the M 44 line, especially the -7 and -C variants.
     
    dennman6, macster and sberger like this.
  23. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    How do those compare to OEM, tone-wise?
     
  24. sberger

    sberger Dream Baby Dream

    Yup. Tons of Shure carts in the market for relatively inexpensive prices that can be outfitted with as good as the original new styli. It’ll be ok.
     
    2xUeL likes this.
  25. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I wonder if more competition is picking off the lower end customers and some are moving up in price to better Ortofons and such.
     
    PhxJohn likes this.
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