Plastic would be absolutely fine (Delrin is a trade name for a type of acetal plastic, but you can use any type of plastic), a 3D printed shim would work great.
Perfect, Thanks for the suggestion and reply. I looked up the Delrin and thought that may be my best bet at the moment as well, so 5 minutes later a simple rectangular prism with 2 cylindrical holes in it is designed and being printed, should be done in another 5. A couple weeks ago I designed and printed a bracket to hold my Q-Up tonearm lifter... This printer is coming in handy! Edit; Thanks patient_ot for the suggestion, Phil Thien for the confirmation and everyone for the replies!
Plastic of some type works fine. It's not going to hurt anything so long as the cart and shim are secure. Metal shims typically add more weight, which may or may not be desirable depending on your situation. Since the 540 is a fairly complaint cartridge I would probably avoid adding too much weight. Plastic is lighter and probably a better idea in this case. In some cases I've seen exotic materials like carbon fiber, but that seems overkill. See here: Delrin Headshell Cartridge Spacers non-magnetic non-inductive turntable VTA Kit | eBay
I've used the same Delrin spacers in the past. Nicely machined and they say Delrin is a very inert material, so no worries about resonances, since that's a thing normal and reasonable people worry about.
Without digging too deep in this thread but is the general opinion that the VM540ML would be a nice upgrade over my 440MLa? I purchased my 440MLa about 10 years ago, and feel like it may be approaching the end of its lifespan. I've been eyeing this specific cartridge for a while now, so curious what others think. Or would someone recommend something else for an upgrade?
10 years? That stylus was likely toast a long, long time ago. These styli are not going to last more than 1000 hours, and may only last 500-700 hours based on recent information and microscope photography. The 540 is an improved version of the 440 with a more accurate and less tipped up frequency response at standard loading.
Yeah, I figured I was pushing it. I won't lie...it still sounds good to my ears. If that stylus was toast I assume it would be pretty obvious, right?
No, not necessarily because our ears are not that accurate, despite many people having vast overconfidence in their hearing ability. If you cannot get a microscope inspection under a 200X lab microscope, you have no idea what the wear level is. The next best thing is to count hours, all diamond styli will wear eventually despite bad info that some folks give out. A dealer near me tried to tell me that diamonds never wear out and the suspension will wear before the diamond. That is obviously false based on microscope photography. The Finish Line for Your Phonograph Stylus… - The Vinyl Press MicroLine Stylus Wear- Vinyl Engine
this is interesting. Thanks for sharing. I think all in all, after 10 years with pretty heavy use, it's safe to say that my 440MLa is past its prime and should be replaced...right? also, good lord. I'm now in the rabbit hole as I didn't realize there was a 740ML as well. It has been a minute since I've done some serious Cartridge shopping.
Ha! Honestly, all I can think about right now is the hell that is installing and aligning a new cartridge. Was it determined that you could take a 540ML or 740ML stylus and place it in the 440MLA cartridge?
I don't know. But the easiest one to install by a wide margin would be the VM95ml. By the way what turntable / arm do you have?
This is what I did on my secondary turntable (a Technics Sl-1400). If you hate installing cartridges, then I think it's perfectly sensible to just buy the replacement stylus and leave the cartridge. The 540ML stylus was designed to fit on the 440MLa cartridge body. I have a 540ML cart and stylus on my main turntable, and I'd say the 540ML stylus on the 440MLa cart on my other turntable is sonically similar enough to it. I mean, it's impossible to do a totally fair comparison because the carts are affixed to wildly different turntables/tonearms and played through very different systems, but I feel (and it's probably not too surprising) that the 540ML stylus on a 440MLa cart takes on more of the sonic/tonal characteristics of the 540ML stylus/cart than the 440MLa, if that makes sense. Not that the two are worlds apart sonically in the grand scheme of things, but the 54oML does seem to have slightly smoother highs and maybe a tiny bit more mid-range.
I've got an Pre-USB ATLP120 (all original parts) running through a Cambridge 640p PreAmp into my Marantz 2215B receiver.
yes, the styli are interchangeable. The electrical values between the bodies are very slightly different. Odds are you won't hear the difference.
Downside of the 640p is that the input capacitance is too high for AT cartridges at 220pf. Cambridge wisely updated the newer models to have only 100pf. By the time you add in 100pf from the phono preamp and 100pf of cabling and tonearm wiring you are at 200pf or so total which is the upper limit of AT's recommendation for proper loading. Wrong loading and the cart won't sound how it is supposed to.
So much good stuff in this thread--and I joined a bit late to the party. Ok, well based on y'all advice I just purchased the 540ML to replace my 10 year old 440MLa (yikes). I also just took the plunge (based on another thread) on the Pro-Ject DS2 Preamp (not the tube or USB one). I like how it has the various loading settings. Again, this is to replace my 10 year old Cambridge 640P (purchased around same time I got the 440MLa). Needless to say, I needed a good upgrade in a few spots, so I am hoping these two do the trick. I'll report back next week when everything comes in.
Well I can happily report that after installing the KAB fluid damper, my VM540ML has nicely rounded itself out. I would pay triple what Kevin is asking for for the fluid damper. It’s really changed my deck and elevated it to another level. I can hear a difference in all my carts, especially the vm540 and Sumiko Pearl. I have a few REALLY warped records that are not a problem anymore. They used to be unplayable, even with a weight. Everything just sounds better. Over the moon over here.
Hey fam! Quick update, the VM540ML came in yesterday and wow--that thing popped nicely to my ears right on first listen (Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun). I mentioned this above but this is replacing my 10 (!) year old 440MLa. Bass is super punchy on the VML540. I've actually got a DS2 Pre-Amp on order with adjustable loading, so hoping that will open this sucker up even more. All in all, with all the craziness in the world right now, this has been a good way to get my mind off certain things and just focus on music--which is what I really need right now.
Same here. So happy to hear you love the VM540ml. It’s a great cartridge. Im using it now, listening to Section 25: Key of Dreams from the box set and it sounds killer!
So here is my dumb question: As someone who has never had a Pre-Amp with loading options, how much of a difference will I hear with the VM540ML at 100pf versus 220pf? Is this like a night and day thing? Again, I had my 440MLa running through my 640P Pre-Amp for 10 year and always thought it sounded great. Was I missing out all these years?! LOL.
The answer is a definite maybe. A lot depends on the capacitance of the pathway between the cartridge and preamp — tonearm wires, cable type and length, connectors and anything else that contributes to the total capacitance. If the sum of those contributory components is high to begin with, I would think you’d be much more likely to notice a difference with a reduction of preamp capacitance. Conversely, if the capacitance of your present pathway is already nominal, you might not hear any appreciable difference with a 100pf preamp. Of course things like subjective preferences, physiological changes in hearing due to aging, speakers, room acoustics, audio discriminatory ability and probably 50 other factors I can’t think of right now all enter into the equation.
