GE VR 1000 Owners Club

My February 1964 issue of Consumer Reports from eBay arrived today. The GE VR 1000-5 scored fine. Group 1. The VR 1000-7 scored Group 2. Zero negative comments. Recommended tracking force for the VR 1000-5 by CU was 2 grams. Scored same as Shure M44-5 which I have also owned.

 

John I checked out the stereo review ad for the VR-1000 pretty cool. Wish I had a .5mil conical for my Grado. Going to keep my eyes open for a VR- 1000 also. The engineers from 55-60yrs ago were such forward thinkers, what a golden age that was for the phonograph record!

 

I think the 60's were the glory days. My 0.5 mil Astatic N359-5D does reproduce highs better than the 0.7 mils.

 

I did find a source of 50 508's. I am testing one. It tracks anything that I can throw at it between 1.5 - 2.0 grams VTF. Compliance is low but it does not seem to matter in this case. Maybe. I was playing Billy Vaughn's 'La Paloma' album which is horn intensive. It sounded a bit ragged. Now I am playing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and it sounds as clean as can be. Maybe the horns on the former album excite some cantilever resonances. I need to do some more listening. I looked at my Astatic N359-5D under 25X geek goggles. It sounds excellent but tracking ability is limited. I wanted to see why. There is always a reason. I have never seen this before. There is some sort of material glued to the underside of the cantilever and glued to one side of the channel in the grip. Maybe it is supposed to be damping. Whatever it is supposed to be, it adds a lot of mass to the cantilever.

 

You can set up an alert on eBay for a VR 1000. Select North America as a parameter as sometimes some from Canada are for sale. The GE VR-22 cartridges for sale from Russia and Japan have ridiculous prices yet they never seem to buy any reasonably priced ones from North America. $249 and $390 ???? The VR-22 is not a good cartridge for stereo records. When Consumer Reports tested the VR-225 and VR-227, they did not fare well:
Consumer Reports 1960 Ratings, cartridges and tonearms (page 1) - Cartridges and styli - Lenco Heaven Turntable Forum
The VR 1000-5 is much better. Day and night better. I do not know how to post images from my PC to this thread. In the meantime (VTF's are recommended):

the Ortofon SPU/T scored the highest, in a class by itself, VTF 2.5 grams. Following within groups by increasing price, or if priced the same, alphabetically:

Shure M7N21D VTF 1.5 grams
Empire 880P VTF 1.5 grams
Weathers LDM VTF 2.0 grams
ADC-1 MK II VTF 1.5 grams
Elac STS 322D VTF 2.0 grams
Stanton 481AA VTF 1.5 grams

'A little lower in quality, but still suitable for top-quality audio systems':
Empire 880 VTF 1.5 grams
Dynaco Stereodyne II VTF 3.0 grams
Shure M44-5 VTF 1.5 grams
General Electric VR 1000-5 VTF 2.0 grams
Shure M33-7 VTF 1.5 grams
Grado MK III VTF 1.5 grams
Stanton 400A VTF 1.5 grams
Grado MK II VTF 1.5 grams

'Lower in overall quality':
Pickering U38/ATG VTF 2.0 grams
Grado MK IV VTF 1.5 grams
Fairchild SM2 VTF 3.0 grams
ADC-2A VTF 2.5 grams
Neat VS-1000D VTF 4.0 grams

'Models suitable for use only in medium-quality systems and record changers requiring 3-6 grams tracking force':
Pickering U38/ATG (Appears twice)

'Below in overall quality':
Pickering U38/AT
Pickering 380A
Pickering 380/C (+5 G VTF)
Sonotone 9TAF-SD-V
General Electric VR 1000-7
Shure M77
ADC-3
Elac STS 222D

A previous test of phono cartridges by Consumers Union was a bit more descriptive of each cartridge and made for a more interesting read:
https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=409.0

I was not familiar with the Shure M33-7 or M77. That led me to find:
Vintage Shure Catalogs (1933-1985) | Knowledge Base | Shure Americas
Much interesting reading. Several warnings not to use the elliptical stylus with a side radius of 0.2 mil at tracking forces above 1.5 grams are contained within.

 

I am continuing to test the most recent VR 1000 stylus. On 'The Best of Al Hirt', track 'The Best Man', the stylus distorts grossly at 2.0 grams VTF. It is not so clean at 3.0 grams VTF either. I suspect the low compliance is causing the armature(cantilever) to resonate badly at certain frequencies. I messed someone on this forum who probably knows better than I if my suspicions are correct. I had high hopes for this model. And this problem(not another one !!!!!) may have been the reason for what appears to be damping on the Astatic N359-5D. The Astatic cannot track super deep and loud bass as well as some others, but on the average record, it sounds quite nice. Too bad there is not a boat load of Astatic N359-5D's stashed somewhere. There is one for sale on eBay for $100 plus $50 shipping. LOL.

 

It seems the current stylus that I am testing cannot handle female singers or horn instruments. It likes test records and George Michael though.

 

Tested an Astatic N359-7D that I just bought. Total dud. It does not have the damping material that the N359-5D has. The 7D has glue slopped all over and is totally distorted sounding. The 5D and 7D are two different animals. Built to different standards. Wish I had a bucketful of Astatic N359-5D's. Tested two other 508's that just arrived. One good, one bad.

 

I may restart rebuilding needles for the GE VR 1000. There is not a whole lot left to work with. Many that I purchase end up in the trash as there is so much glue that I cannot take them apart to rebuild. The last one that I bought was a Pfanstiehl 508-7D. So much glue was slopped all over that it has zero compliance. The packaging is nice though. LOL. My comments about Pfanstiehl are about a 50 year old stylus. Current Pfanstiehl needles are excellent.

 

There has been quite a bit of activity on eBay for the GE VR 1000 cartridges and styli. I see that people have paid $50.00 for used needles because they are in a GE original package. I have never had any of that version. I do see that they have the unnecessary and detrimental adhesive behind the rear damper. It is possible that the brown rubber is rather soft which would be a good thing. I do intend to rebuild more needles for the GE VR 1000. I know what is out there and unless an additional supply materializes, the most that I will be able to build will be 25 examples.

 

Is this thread still live? I’ve got a VR 1000 which needs a new stylus, but even if I knew where to get one, I wouldn’t know how to put it on. I’m in the UK. Grateful for any advice. Thanks in advance.

 

Arden...talk to forum member PhxJohn....he's knows more about it than anyone in the US.

 

So it seems from the thread above. Is he still around? I’m hoping he’ll reply.

 

Thanks for your reply, btw.

 

Np.

 

I see that @PhxJohn is generally around, but not the last few days. Maybe he’s on holiday. Hopefully he’ll look back in on this thread when he gets back.

 

Still hoping @PhxJohn might turn up here, or anybody else who might know about this...

 

I'm here. Let me know how I can help you.

 

Hi. Thanks for coming back. Sorry it’s taken me so long to catch up. It’s basically as I say: I’ve got a VR-1000 that I’d like to bring back to life. It currently has no stylus and I don’t know about the rest of the cartridge. I have no technical ability myself but I was hoping you might know anyone I could send it to who knows what they’re doing with these but wouldn’t charge an arm and a leg? Or generally just any advice on how I should proceed.

Many thanks in advance if you can help.

 

Is it complete with the stylus/hum shield ? Maybe you could post a pic of it. The needles that are out there for the VR 1000 are garbage. I have a few good ones and two that I have not tried yet.

 

I wrote a 'book' about the VR 1000 and styli issues here if you would like to read it:
GE VR 1000-7 cartridge (page 1) - Cartridges and styli - Lenco Heaven Turntable Forum

 

That was a great read John. Its realky a shame that GE didn't manufacture a high quality Eliptical Styli for the VR 1000. Thats the only issue with the cart.

 

Bad needles were the fatal flaw with the VR 1000.

 

Yup. Hard to figure GE out.

 

I will dig it out and take a pic soon as I can. Thanks.