The world of aftermarket styli

Nothing even to photograph. A small white box made of cheap cardboard with a "LPGear" logo printed in blue on top. Inside - some foam bubbles (popcorn it's called, IIRC) and a no frills clear plastic box containing a stylus. For a mounted cartridge it's even worse - a cart mounted on a headshell inside a small plastic ziploc bag with some of the same "popcorn". The reason I'm not thrilled - that was not an "lpgear" branded item. An A-T cart was sold as "A-T" to me - they might have bothered to give me the original packaging with the papers. The decision that I didn't want it wasn't theirs to make.

 

I have been buying Shure V15VxMR replacement stylii direct from Jico for years.
I think Jico are a fantastic company and will continue to support them...

 

I bought a N21D(for Shure M7D cartridge) from JICO and it was a good experience. They keep in touch with the progress. The stylus seemed to stay in customs for some time in Japan but was in and out of customs in Los Angeles in no time. There is no doubt in my mind that JICO makes the best aftermarket styli. It seems there are only two big players in the aftermarket arena: JICO and whatever the name is of the Swiss manufacturer that has been supplying Pfanstiehl with mag styli for 35 years and is now supplying EVG as well.

 

Hi Jelloalien,

Is the Tonar 00638-DE a JICO or Nagaoka stylus ? Does Nagaoka make a significant number of models for Tonar other than for Nagaoka cartridges ?

Thank you,
John

 

Hey John, I don't have a master list or anything indicating the manufacturer (although that would be cool if I did) but to the very best of my knowledge the shure N95ED is Jico made.

I believe the styli I posted on the prior page are what Nagaoka makes for Tonar. They may make others, but unfortunately I’m not certain on which. But I really don't think they manufacture a lot of styli for them.......the large majority sourced by Tonar are from Jico.

 

I can't believe that this was announced last December and only recently I am hearing about it and reading current posts about it. Whatever the date of the announcement,
this is big news that will have an impact on the stylus market at many levels.

JICO appoints LP TUNES as exclusive distributor for the Americas

 

I asked because I stumbled upon an old listing on eBay for a Tonar N95ED and the seller stated it was made by Nagaoka. I did not take it as gospel of course as it is eBay. LOL. But it raised my curiosity.

 

Also, Namiki supplied Shure and others with tips and/or cantilevers (the Shure Micro-Ridge is a known one). Namiki is a major stylus component manufacturer, the largest supplier to this industry.

 

They have an interesting website.

 

Oh for sure! LPTunes (LPGear) is gonna make some mo' money now!

I'm just happy Tonar is able to keep their Jico connection (even though LPTunes has a pretty strong hold now on North America)

Jico wasn’t pricing to be more consistent with their own, and it’s european resellers.
I believe LPTunes now having Jico packaging, and their pricing, is going to lose some of the other bigger resellers some money

 

I've read forum posts speculating Tonar has their styli made by Jico and Nagaoka. I'm not too sure how eBay sellers might differentiate. I was very confused at one point too (whereas now I’m only mildly confused haha) The n95ed aftermarket also sports jicos classic elliptical dot on the cantilever.

This is my ad with photos - NEW: SHURE N95ED Phonograph Needle (Japanese stylus) (m97xe) | eBay

 

Thanks for the info. Just looked at their site - it's definitely "blah". however, Jico styli for many carts, including those I'm interested in, are now on special, for $199 - not bad.

Their cartridge selection mirrors that of LPgear, for the most part, and it sort of looks like the two sites are related, somehow.

 

Lptunes and LPgear are the same company

 

Figures... Why have two websites then?

 

Now that, I do not know lol

LpGears vividline seems popular (even though I think they are Jico made too haha). Maybe they want to capitalize on having two big products, vividline and Jico. Who knows

 

I bought a VL stylus from them for a Pickering XSV3000, which I bought w/o the original one. I have yet to install it - it will replace a Denon DL-110 on a Jelco 10" arm some day, as that arm is the only one I have that can do the VL stylus justice, with all the necessary adjustments it has. So - will report in the future, some day...

 

I guess I will be selling EVG, Pfanstiehl, and Tonar. EVG's sell for a few bucks more even though they do not cost anymore to buy.

 

I see that LPTunes sells the VN45HE for $80. Tonar retailers sell it for $126. I think the impact will go beyond North America. Pickupnaalden is the third largest styli retailer. LPGear is fourth.

 

LP Tunes price on the VN45HE starts at $125 now.
Replacement for Shure VN-45HE VN45HE stylus

 

You are correct. I don't know where I got the other price.

 

Just in the past week or two, I have noticed a jump in prices on the auction site too, from most of the regular sellers of all three brands of "new" aftermarkets. Even the no-brand guy raised two listings from $19.99 to $24.99 and I expect his others to follow.

 

I will be glad when LPTunes has everything in Genuine JICO packages that is available on JICO's website.

 

Many of the eBay sellers had bought their supplies when prices were lower.

 

Do you remove the Tonar labels to get a better picture ?

 

The cost of the HE and shibata’s recently went up on the dealer end, for Tonar anyway. I should of stocked up when they were cheaper haha

For me, $125usd is roughly $160cdn.
I too can get the VN45HE and now would likely sell it around $150-160cdn

Sorry, not trying to brag or promote, just for illustration purposes that I think pricing may match up somewhat on some things, I think Jico would prefer pricing to be comparable across the board with their resellers. We'll see I guess. Lptunes is always going to have the edge of getting Jico products direct. No middleman is always best, obviously.