New Cart choice! Shure V15V w Jico SAS, or Nagaoka MP-150

I do know that JICO has made numerous changes to increase profits. I do not know if every single change was for that reason. Selling directly to the public is one way to alienate dealers and lose sales. Look at SOTA.

 

I see that both listings feature 'make offer'. The one stylus that sold has '--' for the sale price. EBay takes what are in my opinion excessive amounts of money with auctions. Better to price high and accept a reasonable offer. So maybe those genuine Shures will sell for a reasonable price. I am in no way contradicting the post. Just adding some thoughts. In other words, If someone wants one of these styli, go for it. Make an offer. You never know when the seller may need some cash fast. I have sold styli for less than I paid for them wholesale if I want to free up some cash.

 

This is crazy. And to think that Shure decided to exit the business, with these price being asked...

 

With only one 'audiophile' cartridge I guess their sales did not approach Ortofon's sales of 500,000 cartridges a year. LOL.

 

Last i checked my supplier had a nos original Shure VN5MR. I believe I listed it around $400cdn

If anyone’s interested in it I can see if he still has it....

 

I am. - the whole cart, or just stylus?

 

Sorry, I was looking at the eBay links and should have been clearer, just the stylus

 

Wow! I have one I was waiting to use when my Jico SAS gave out. It might be worth selling it since the Jico sounds so good.

 

The JICO has landed! Will try to install tonight, report back perhaps this weekend...

 

Good choice!

 

It's not a Shure original stylus, so I wish you the best available still.

 

I was going to wait until this weekend to write an update, but it is an absolutely stunning upgrade. Love it. Will write something more in depth after I spend some hours with it...

 

The Jico is outstanding in the Shure. More vibrant and alive than I ever remember the stock stylus being. Great tracer too. Thanks for all the recommendations!

 

Agree. I bought my first SAS first nine years ago and have now the second one and I still get amazed how low distortion this stylus gives. Truly amazing and with some adjusted loading also very neutral.

 

As for tracking force, JICO recommends 1.25 plus or minus .25 grams. I am using the brush in the down position and have set tracking at 1.5, is that correct? Jico doesnt say how much to add if using the brush, so i have added the .25grams from what I have read elsewhere on the forums.

 

Not sure what Jico recommends. With the original Shure brush, the recommendation was +.5 gr - so I have mine tracking at 1.75.

 

Our Needle N97XE JICO SAS For Shure M97XE

"As with the original Shure's, if you use the brush guard system, this "lifts" the stylus up with about half a gram so you will need to increase your tracking force setting to 1.75 to achieve about 1.25 grams at the tip."

 

This conflicts with most other threads around stating a .25gram increase for using the brush. I remember the shure stylus and brush required the .5. I am inclined to believe the .25gran figure simply because the Jico brush is much less stiff/damped than the original shure was. Wonder if anyone has contacted Jico for clarification. Oh well, sounds amazing as is!

 

There's common knowledge that Shure brushes were superior, and Jico's are not as good. Perhaps Jico brushes are stiffer, and thus need less extra weight. Go with what you know, the Shure cart's tracking range begins at .75 gr - you'll be fine either way.

EDIT: Stiffer OR softer, whatever requires less weight.

 

I put an email into LPGear hopefully they can give an official answer. Really enjoying this new combo!

 

The JICOs I’ve had differ quite much in the brush damping. 0.25 g is the JICO recommendation. However many users clean the hinges and put new silicon damping fluid to improve the function. I did this as well.

 

My Shure M 44 fleet and my M 75 EJ fleet disagree highly with you. Flat and accurate. Older Shures were anything but dull or muddy. M 97xE, I agree with you. And I like the better AT offerings of yore (the father offerings of the VM line). I'd go any Audio-Technica VM line over any Nagaoka but the top models. They perform very well if a bit bright for my taste (which is the taste of the best studio). So yes, I can recommend the AT VM 540 for our OP, a nice choice which performs great. The lower end Nagaokas for me are too lifeless and lacking on treble extension.

 

Shure could not get beryillium for their cantilevers. Which is why Shure discontinued the V 15 Type VxMR. And they supposedly tried alternative materials. Jico styli are the best option for Shure users today, the closest to original (and sometimes upgrades over) available today.

 

Beryllium is still available and widely used in audio. It was just an excuse.

 

I was on my second Denon DL-110, and though it had a great sound-stage and was very "musical", I missed the "bite" and honesty of the AT carts (I had run two AT440's before the Denons). Very happy with the AT VM 540.
It's like I'm rediscovering my record collection again. Lots of needle-dropping going on now...