The world of aftermarket styli

I just tried my Swiss EVG PM4036DE with my Pickering XV-15 and it sounds excellent at 1.5 grams VTF which is 0.5 grams less than the recommended maximum. Fresh EVG styli have the recommended tracking force on the labels now.

 

What kind of packaging are the Swiss-made EVG styli coming in now? Is it Pfanstiehl-style (glued-on paperboard backer, triangular window), or is it still in the hard plastic snap case?

And as for the Rivertone styli which someone mentioned, my experience with them has generally been very good, although the packaging gives no indication of where they're actually made, so I have no idea who their supplier is/was.

 

Hard plastic snap case. I have a pic but forget how to post pictures on here.

 

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Also the Rivertone stylus I've been receiving come in MANY different type packages. No package shows where it's made, tip size or tracking range. Anyway, I'm happy with the dozen or so Rivertone stylus I've bought in the last couple years.

 

That listing didn't come out of New Brunswick, did it? I purchased a few styli from a seller there in Tonar boxes labeled "N91ED elliptical", with cream colored plastic surrounds and dots on the cantilevers, much like JICOs have. I do not know who exactly the manufacturer is for these, but they track well and sound good. At C$29, not terribly expensive either, if they're Japanese made.

 

Most Tonar are JICO sourced. From my communications with Nagaoka, they make some replacement aftermarket styli for cartridges in addition to Nagaoka cartridges. Nagaoka does not make a VN35E which is one of the most popular styli. In short, Nagaoka does not have a big selection of aftermarket styli. Tonar is one of JICO's biggest customers along with LPTunes.

 

Well, that's good news. I'm pretty well stocked for replacements for my Shure M93, then. Wonder if Tonar carries a replacement for the ATN95E stylus? I could use a few of those if they exist.

 

Check here....they have an incredible selection: Turntable needles, styli, cartridges and accessories.

 

As an alternstive to johns link, i sell the Tonar ATN95e aftermarket for $30cdn

On eBay I have to sell it a bit more but here is my link for photos sake
New: Audio Technica AT95E (Japanese high quality stylus / needle) | eBay

 

Thank you for the link; I'll have a look at that. As you may have already guessed, I like to keep styli on hand for the cartridges I use, because one never knows when/if the supply will dry up or prices skyrocket for certain types. I see some pretty high prices being asked for original Shure styli -- if it's marked "Hi-Track", it will be pretty much out of my comfort zone pricewise.

When I got my used Hitachi HT-50, I was fortunate that the seller decided to include the Shure M93 cart, simply because he had one sitting in a drawer. The AT95 I have on another table is much newer, and you'd think styli for that would be plentiful and inexpensive. I did take advantage of a sale on some ATN95EX styli and grabbed a few of those. Interesting that some prices for the AT-made styli for the 95 are as much or more than what the cart and stylus cost together.

 

Reality is stylus prices and cartridge prices are higher today, and not discounted highly like they were in the 1970's. Many replacement styli are list price. Cartridges are sometimes discounted from list price, so sometimes it's cheaper to buy a cartridge complete than a stylus.

 

No problem! I was getting unbranded AT95E's (just no logo) but I was told they are no longer making these and the price on originals will go up. Whether that's accurate or when it will happen I'm not sure, but it is funny as you point out that in some cases just buying a whole new cart makes more sense

 

Vinyl's back (or so I hear) so naturally supply and demand is gonna drive up the price one way or another

 

Hi all,
I have marantz 6200 turntable, today I use an M95 cartridge with N95ej (THAKKER JAPAN) "JICO", but I think it's not JICO.
My question is if a stylus N95HE will look good on my TT?
So I've been researching the arm is medium mass for heavy.


sorry for my english

 

I think we need to know the effective mass of the tonearm and the compliance of the stylus to give you a real answer. I know your stylus is "off brand Jico" but if you could match it up to an official Jico stylus that is very similar, then email Jico for the compliance spec.

An alternative would be to get a test record with a tonearm resonance test, and then record that test in a computer, then put the WAV file into an audio analyzer and check the resonant frequency. You have to disable any subsonic filter your phono preamp may have in order to a get a good test this way.

 

My challenge presently is finding good quality N93 equivalents. I got lucky with recent EVG, Rivertone and Bellmoor NOS finds (all of which had the soldered tie wire inside the shaft), but the field is drying up quickly. Original Shure N93 Hi Tracks are nowhere to be found. Should I just move on to Tonar N91ED styli instead?

 

If you go the Tonar (Jico) route feel free to pm me and/or check out my eBay listing (although I do sell it a bit cheaper outside of eBay). No tie-wire though if that’s your end game

NEW: SHURE N91ED (Japanese high quality stylus / needle) M91, N93, etc. | eBay

 

Understood; thanks for the link. I will have a look. The tie wire is a nice-to-have thing, but not absolutely necessary. Moving to an N91ED equivalent would in essence convert the M93 cart to an M91, the carts themselves being electronically identical. I have been able to fit N95 and N97E styli to the M93 body in the past when nothing else was available, but would like to stick with the intended stylus if possible. Excluding whatever Pfanstiehl may be offering, the Tonars may be the way to go.

 

Interesting side note: in doing some testing tonight with the Ortofon test LP, I noticed that the Pfanstiehl-sourced N93 clones that I have perform and track better than the "better" NOS styli I've been picking up lately. Testing was done on my Hitachi HT-45 using a Shure M93 cart at a VTF of 1.5g with matching anti-skate setting.

 

i hardly ever play vinyl, so i missed the shure discontinuation news, but i need to either replace a shure sc35c cart, or the stylus if possible. i don't remember spending more than 50 bucks in the past. am i out of luck or do i have options? i'm running a technics sl1200 mk2. price is a huge consideration. my vinyl is all at least 30 years old.

 

I can get this Tonar branded stylus too so you are not out of luck

SS35C $24cdn
Stylus Price List July 2018.pdf

Other options exist online too, I'm sure you could find an original (albeit likely for mo’ money)
Shure SS35C Replacement Stylus for SC35C (Original) | eBay

 

Hi Jerry,

I'm no expert but some years ago I successfully replaced the stock interconnects on the Dual 510 I bought back in the mid '70s. I also have a Shure M97xE and have used it both with the stock stylus and a replacement Jico SAS. My experience with LP Gear ViVid Line styluses is limited to a replacement D3000 for my vintage Pickering XSV/3000 cart which originally featured a Stereohedron stylus design. Not sure if there's any meaningful crossover there but FWIW I'm very happy with the ViVid Line.

Regarding the M97xE, the Jico SAS does brighten the sound noticeably compared to the stock N97xE stylus so if you're averse to that, you might want to try the less expensive LP Gear option first. Some people embrace the stock Shure stylus for its "non-fatiguing" neutral character but what most disturbed me about it was what I considered to be poor channel separation. The Jico solved that problem and I would assume that the LP Gear would also offer an improvement in that area.

Regarding the Dual, if the stock cables on your 721 are anything like the ones that I used on my 510 for 30+ years, I would have to go along with your "crap" assessment. Find yourself some good, shielded low-capacitance cables and hopefully you'll be good to go for another 30 years. I don't know if this information is too out-of-date to be useful, but I studied this thread in another audio forum before finally zeroing in on these cables (unfortunately probably no longer available although you can probably find similar ones)...which completely eliminated the humming and buzzing I was getting with the original Dual stuff while still maintaining good audio quality and integrity. Whatever you get, keep 'em as short as possible to minimize capacitance.

EDIT: Found the cable on ebay: Belkin 6' COMPOSITE VIDEO CABLE 480i TV Standard Gold RCA Contacts Connectors 722868585672 | eBay
and BELKIN AM21200-06 Composite Video Cable, 6ft 722868585672 | eBay

 

Unfortunately (for me), I had to work through these same issues several years ago. It's only right that I share what I learned with others in a similar situation. Isn't what these forums are about?

To quote myself from a 2012 post in another forum:
The usual recommendation, especially with MM carts, is to use low-capacitance cables with the shortest possible run. The designation of "audio," "video composite," "video component" etc. is not the important thing. There's a lot of information on interconnects in the thread I referenced above: Budget Phono RCA Cables Interconnects Comparison
Keep in mind it's from a few years ago and therefore some of the cables discussed may no longer be available or hard to find.

Jerry, I've been using those Belkin cables on my Dual since 2010 or 2011 and I swear by them. They immediately cleared up the interference I was getting from the original stock interconnects. Prior to installing those Belkins I tried some other cables (Python, I think) and although they looked nice and sturdy, they were of higher capacitance and didn't play nice with my Audio-Technica Shibata stylus and cart. Maybe you can get away with 3ft cables but I wanted a minimum of 4-5ft and ended up with 6ft, based on the recommendations and measurements provided by the guy who ran the tests at AudioKarma.