Technics EPA-A250 Tonearm Cartridge Recommendation

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by kattz, Aug 15, 2022.

  1. kattz

    kattz Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    SW Ohio
    I have a restored vintage Technics SP-15 turntable with the S shaped – A250 tonearm. I am currently using a Shure MX97E cartridge with a Shure stylus on it. It does not sound very good to me. Does anyone have any recommendations for what they have used for this particular tonearm or similar? It sounds flat and muddy.

    I have the ADC XLM Mk III cartridge with a Shibata stylus on the Technics -501H R&B straight tonearm on my SP-25 and it sounds delightful.

    Thoughts?

    Thanks.

    Kev
     
  2. mackat

    mackat Turntable hoar-...um, collector

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    I think your issue is simply that the M97XE is a mediocre cartridge. There are many cartridges that would work well with your A250 armwand, which has an effective mass of ~14g when used with the original headshell. Medium compliance cartridges will work best, but it is possible to use higher and lower compliance cartridges and achieve great results too.

    New MM cartridges: AT VM540ML/740ML, AT VM95ML, etc

    Used MM cartridges: Shure V15 Type III or IV with Jico SAS stylus, V15 V-MR with original stylus (SAS doesn't produce correct frequency response)

    MC cartridges: AT33PTG/II, AT OC9XML, Denon DL-301 MKII,

    That's just a small sample of what can be acquired.
     
    kattz likes this.
  3. zombiemodernist

    zombiemodernist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeastern USA
    Agreed it’s not a remarkable cartridge, after all it’s hampered by that big fat bonded elliptical at the end. One suggestion for this cartridge and for most moving magnet cartridges is to experiment with loading. Simply Google “M97Xe loading” you will notice this cartridge in particular sparks some debate on how to properly load it to get a flatter FR. Since you have it laying around it would be a good cart to run some experiments with. At the very least exploring loading will isolate that variable from cartridge design.
     
    kattz likes this.
  4. kattz

    kattz Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    SW Ohio
    Thank you! Much appreciated.
     
    mackat likes this.
  5. kattz

    kattz Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    SW Ohio
    I have an Ortofon Bronze, but I don't run it often. Never had a real good opinion of it.

    What about the AT VM750SH?

    Thanks
     
  6. kattz

    kattz Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    SW Ohio
    To follow up, my Sansui CA-3000 preamp has a 10/100/200pF switch on the rear for input capacitance, 1.5 mV, 3 mV, 6 mV sensitivity switch and a 30Kohm, 50Kohm, 100Kohm pickup load switch on phono 1 only on the front, all other settings are for both phono 1 and 2.

    I set the following on the switches per the specs of the cartridges - 200pF, 6mV, 50Kohm for a 150-300pF/5mV/47kohm spec basically across all three carts.

    The Shure M97xE "Audiophile" still sounds like junk. The Ortofon Bronze on phono 1 input sounds much more spacious and balanced, has a higher sibilance than the Shure and better midrange definition.

    The ADC XLM III Shibata on the -501H arm wand is just, well, nice. By that meaning that it outshines the Ortofon and the Shure. More like CD quiet. The Ortofon is still leaving a scrubbing noise, but much less than the Shure.

    The test record was a used original 1976 issue LP of Boz Scaggs Silk Degrees. "Lido Shuffle" with it's shuffle-step lead in is especially nice.

    One thing I've noticed is that tape and CD's have more "punch" on this system. Vinyl takes a little more massaging to get a good bass and a little treble. I completely rebuilt this preamp, not just a recap, and it's to spec with much better quality components. Not sure what the issue is.

    Kev
     
  7. kattz

    kattz Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    SW Ohio
    I checked my system TT tonearm wands -

    I have the EPA-A501E with an ADC XLM Mk III and Shibata stylus - that matches to the tonearm per the Technics EPA 500 Owners Manual. Spec'd carts 5-6.5g, compliance of 14-25 x 10(-6)cm/dyne @ 1000Hz. Only the ADC's and the Ortofon OM-20 are spec'd in the manual for the -501E. This arm and cart combo really sounds like the cat's meow. Best of everything I own.

    I have the EPA-A501M - not loaded, the following carts are recommended @ 5-7g, compliance of 7-10 x 10(-6)cm/dyne @ 1000Hz. Audio-Technica AT-14Sa, Technics EPC-300MC, Grace F-8L/F-9L, Ortofon FF-15MkII. Open to suggestions, considering AT-14Sa, maybe AT-15 or ATN-20? Suggestions?

    On the -A250 arm wands, I do not run the shell weight or auxiliary weight - cart recommendations are 6-8g, compliance of 10-14x 10(-6)cm/dyne @ 1000Hz. One headshell is loaded with an Ortofon Bronze that sounds ok-ish, and the other headshell is loaded with the atrocious-sounding Shure M97xE. Looking at the AT 150MLX or 150Sa, maybe the Shure VM15 V-MR. Suggestions?
     
  8. kattz

    kattz Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    SW Ohio
    If anyone has any recommendations on the above, I'm happy to take them!

    Kev
     
    findog3103 likes this.
  9. findog3103

    findog3103 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philadelphia
    Me too. Seems like many of the higher end cartridges don’t pair well with the 250.
     
  10. Gruby Halo

    Gruby Halo New Member

    Location:
    USA
    Anyone running higher-end Ortofons or Lyras with the EPA-250?
     

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