SHURE V15VxMR - Best Price

Does anyone know where the best price/best service for a SHURE V15VxMR cartridge can be found?

 

Garage-A-Records! $229!!!!

Todd

 

I second that. Nice people, too.

 

Last time I priced it at J&R Music World I got the same quote: 229.00. That was about four months ago.

 

$229.00 is a great price!! The stylus replacement will cost you about $160.00 however.

 

Unfortunately, J&R doesn't seem to stock it anymore. As for the stylus replacement, Shure has a little-known stylus replacement program that is incredibly cheap ($25 US, I think). Several folks at the audio asylum vinyl board have mentioned this, although I haven't tried it myself yet.

Even at $160 though, it's still cheaper than getting most MC carts retipped.

 

Thanks guys.

J+R had in stock with free shipping.

I think you saved me at least $75.00 and some web time.

 

Actually I just ordered a stylus replacement and it's $50 plus tax.

 

Those darned cantilevers are SO fragile...one wrong move and it's history! Still, I don't mind buying a replacement, since I still haven't found *any* cartridge that plays as well as this one.

I need to look into that stylus replacement deal, though. I would swear that mine had rotated in the housing. Although it plays fine (runs the audio obstacle course with no problems).

 

I ran into a similar problem last year. It still tracked everything I threw at it but there was more groove noise in the right channel than the left which was bothersome and, I would assume, not good for the groove wall. Get this, I sent the cartridge to Shure and they sent it back with a replacement stylus for only 20 bucks! It was already out of warranty too. They have my vote for great customer service.

 

I never got why a replacement stylus was always about 70% of the cost of the cartridge.

 

If you think about how it's built, it almost makes sense. The cartridge body is just a receptacle for the stylus assembly, containing coils and connecting pins. All the really delicate, intricate parts are in the stylus assembly, especially with a complex shape like the MicroRidge stylus. In the Shure, the cantilever is a very thin-walled beryllium, which I'm sure is not cheap to produce. Then, to get this delicate little mechanism aligned seemingly within microns in what is probably a rubber or silicone bushing, it's a wonder it even works at all.

 

Isn't that just for styli that were accidentally damaged? (As opposed to worn out.)

 

Some records are pressed in such a way that a fine-line type stylus (such as the Shure MicroRidge and similar) will pick up more noise from one channel than the other, though a standard eliptical will miss the extra noise.

If the record has always been that way, it's likely a pressing problem. Of course if it suddenly got noisier than it had been then indeed your stylus may be at fault.

 

Thanks for the additional info. Good point. I should've mentioned that after the stylus replacement groove noise returned to normal i.e. very quiet in both channels.

 

Nope, they'll replace it regardless.

 

I can corroborate Joe and Graham's point re the cheap replacement stylus. I spoke with a Shure parts person on the telephone late last year and she said that the replacement program covered normal wear and tear. I was quoted a price of 20.00. They may have raised their price lately; I wouldn't be surprised. At any rate, I don't have any evidence of stylus wear yet--my current stylus probably has about 400 hours or so on it--so I haven't tried the policy out myself. I probably will this summer.

 

I'm happy as a clam with my 5 month old V15, clear as a bell and noiseless. I didn't shop around, and ending up paying over 300 bucks for it. My previous shure was almost 20 years old, and I still wonder if it might have been the hyper-deep bass on the Daft Punk album that snapped off the cantilever!

 

Just purchased one at J & R about a week and 1/2 ago for 229.00 , they are probably still in stock.