My Needle Store USA Amazon seller

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Apologies for being late to the party, but may I ask what your source was for the NOS Ne95ED?
 
Apologies for being late to the party, but may I ask what your source was for the NOS Ne95ED?

I got it from LPTunes (LPGear's sister site). Both sites had it listed, but for some reason the shipping was $4 cheaper through LPTunes. It arrived sooner than expected, and is indeed a genuine Shure Ne95ED, new old stock in the original packaging. I sent them an email at the time of my purchase and they followed up to make sure I received the stylus and was satisfied with their product and service. Very much so.

Here's the Ne95ED in the original packaging and mounted on my R47XT cartridge:
Shure_Ne95_ED_1.jpg

Shure_Ne95_ED_2.jpg

Shure_Ne95_ED_3.jpg

Shure_Ne95_ED_4.jpg


It's a perfect fit on the R47XT with no need to hack up the plastic shroud.
 
Well, still no satisfaction from Amazon seller My Needle Store. They promised to send the correct Pfanstiehl 4760-DE stylus on February 25. Here it is 23 days later and no replacement has shown up. They don't provide tracking numbers for their shipments (they claim it costs too much), but the incorrect Normarh stylus only took 8 days to arrive. I just sent them another email to ask why it's taking so long for the correct replacement stylus to arrive.
 
I got it from LPTunes (LPGear's sister site). Both sites had it listed, but for some reason the shipping was $4 cheaper through LPTunes. It arrived sooner than expected, and is indeed a genuine Shure Ne95ED, new old stock in the original packaging. I sent them an email at the time of my purchase and they followed up to make sure I received the stylus and was satisfied with their product and service. Very much so.

Here's the Ne95ED in the original packaging and mounted on my R47XT cartridge:

It's a perfect fit on the R47XT with no need to hack up the plastic shroud.

:thumbsup:
 
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Heard back from My Needle Store again, They claimed they shipped the replacement stylus, but it "must have gotten lost in the mail". I don't really buy that tied old excuse. I know it happens, in theory, but I ship hundreds of items per year, including dozens of international shipments through the postal service, and I've had a grant total of one package that was lost in the last 15 years.

We'll see how long it takes to process my refund, or if that gets lost, too.
 
You'd think Amazon would crack down on bad sellers more than eBay, but they often don't.
LP Gear has good service and offers their own custom stylus types, but is often pricey.
For excellent service and prices, I recommend VM Audio Enthusiasts at www.thevoiceofmusic.com. Their site makes it very easy to see what stylus types are available for a particular cartridge, both OEM and aftermarket.
"stereoneedleslady" (Carole's Needles) and "needledaddy1" on eBay are also very good.
 
You'd think Amazon would crack down on bad sellers more than eBay, but they often don't.
LP Gear has good service and offers their own custom stylus types, but is often pricey.
For excellent service and prices, I recommend VM Audio Enthusiasts at www.thevoiceofmusic.com. Their site makes it very easy to see what stylus types are available for a particular cartridge, both OEM and aftermarket.
"stereoneedleslady" (Carole's Needles) and "needledaddy1" on eBay are also very good.

needledaddy1 is good, until he gets a wild hair up his ass and blocks you for no apparent reason.
 
I received a refund of the $11.37 purchase price from My Needle Store today for the Pfanstiehl 4760-DE that I never received. So, at the end of the day, about a month wasted on a product I never received, but I did get a free Made in Colombia Normarh stylus that I probably won't use after I get something else from a reputable seller to replace it.

The Normarh looks like it's well made, but as I reported in my initial listen tests, it has very harsh highs. I'll give it a week or two of break in time to see if it improves while I wait on a replacement.

I have narrowed it down to these two:

EVG 760-DED from eBay seller stereoneedleslady (Carole's Needles) for $12.95 shipped.

REPLACEMENT FOR SHURE N75ED TYPE 2 NEEDLE STYLUS from LPTunes for $34.95 + shipping.

My one, and only experience with LPTunes was very positive, but my original goal was to find a cheap, but decent sounding replacement stylus for the Shure 2215 cartridge that came with my MCS 6601 turntable. It's not my main table and will probably be handed down to one of my kids. So, I don't want to put much money into it. The EVG has gotten good reviews. So, I think I'll give it a try and see how it compares to the Normarh I received from My Needle Store. It's in the same price range. So, it should be a fair comparison.
 
I wonder if you could calm the harsh highs on the Normath stylus?
I was thinking perhaps treating the cantilever somehow - maybe paint it lightly with nail polish or something.
Not knowing what I'm talking about it would make for an interesting experiment.
 

Arg! So many choices.

Seriously, thanks for the link. It specifically lists that stylus as a replacement for the 2225 stylus that originally came on my 2215 cartridge.

So, now it comes down to the EVG 760-DED vs. the Pfanstiehl 4762-DE. Both are .3 x .7 mil elliptical diamonds, but the recommended tracking force for the EVG is .75 - 1.5g compared to 2g for the Pfanstiehl. Time to do a little more research...
 
In the first post the OP said he ordered EVG styli. Now he is accepting Phansteil

He is still being "baited and switched" IMO YMMV
 
I'd experiment with increasing tracking force.

Good advice. The recommended tracking force for the Normarh is 2 - 4g. Right now I have it set at 2.0g and it doesn't track as well as the original Shure 2225 at 1.75g or my Signet MK10ML at 1.0g. I hate to go too high on the tracking force, but I'll bump the Mormarh up to 2.5g and see if it helps.

In the meantime, I went ahead and ordered the EVG 760-DED stylus from eBay seller stereoneedleslady (Carole's Needles). I couldn't find a single bad review for this inexpensive "generic" stylus. According to the seller:

Tip: .3 x .7 mil elliptical diamond. Tracking Force .75 to 1.5 Grams This is made for EV by Jico. Manufactured in Japan.

This is the one with the back plastic body. This seller, and several others, also sell a brown bodied N75ED replacement that does NOT get such universally good reviews. The preferred black bodied one sells for pennies more. So, that's the one I went with. Should be here early next week.
 

That's what it says, in Spanish, on the Normarh package.

The well accepted approach is to start heavy and work your way lighter. Too much tracking force within reasonable bounds won't damage records, but conventional wisdom says that too weak of a tracking force can cause damage much more easily.

I bumped it up to 2.5g. I've only played one album at 2.5g. I played the same album last night at 2.0g and it definitely does track better at 2.5g. I may try to go up to 3.0g next and see what happens.

I'm more accustomed to stylii that track at .75 - 1.5g, or 1.0 - 2.0g. I usually start those out a little above the middle of the recommended range and adjust from there. I just mounted my R47XT with the NOS genuine Shure Me95ED stylus on another headshell. Played the same album again, and a couple more, it tracks like a champ at 1.25g (recommended range 0.75 - 1.5g).
 
Recommended VTF is usually in the middle of the spread, so for 2-4g it would be 3g as a starting point.

BTW, VTF ranges usually vary to suit different arm masses. Accordingly, higher VTF ranges are suggested for higher mass arms. It is not necessarily indicative of quality or tracking ability. It is up to the buyer to ensure they order the one suitable for their purposes.
 
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Recommended VTF is usually in the middle of the spread, so for 2-4g it would be 3g as a starting point.

BTW, VTF ranges usually vary to suit different arm masses. Accordingly, higher VTF is suggested for higher mass arms. It is not necessarily indicative of quality or tracking ability. It is up to the buyer to ensure they order the one suitable for their purposes.

The turntable is an MCS 6601 - same medium mass s-shaped arm as the Technics SL-2000. It tracks fine at 1.25g with the R47XT/Ne95ED combo and at 1.75g with the original 2215/2225 combo. The counterweight is only engraved up to 3g. So, I suspect the manufacturer would not recommend a stylus that requires more than 3g of VTF to track properly.

Keep in mind, I did not order this Normarh stylus. It was what was sent to me by My Needle Store. The EVG 760-DED I ordered as a replacement has a recommended tracking force of 0.75 - 1.5g, the same as the Ne95ED I am currently listening to on the R47XT cartridge.
 
Sorry, it must have been a early morning Senior moment, in a thread that has drifted away from the OP.

No problem. Just to recap:

I'm not the OP. I ordered a Pfanstiehl stylus from My Needle Doctor, but received a Normarh stylus instead (apparently, a common occurrence ). My Needle Store claims to have sent a replacement Pfanstiehl stylus (what I ordered), but after nearly a month, it has not arrived. So, they offered, and I accepted, a refund of my original purchase price.

Since I have the Normarh stylus, I am playing around with it to see if it's worth using. In the meantime, I have ordered an EVG stylus from another source. It should be here early next week.
 
No problem. Just to recap:

I'm not the OP. I ordered a Pfanstiehl stylus from My Needle Doctor, but received a Normarh stylus instead (apparently, a common occurrence ). My Needle Store claims to have sent a replacement Pfanstiehl stylus (what I ordered), but after nearly a month, it has not arrived. So, they offered, and I accepted, a refund of my original purchase price.

Since I have the Normarh stylus, I am playing around with it to see if it's worth using. In the meantime, I have ordered an EVG stylus from another source. It should be here early next week.

Ok, I've officially given up on the Normarh stylus. I've given it plenty of break in time and turned up the tracking force all the way to 3g and nothing tames the harsh highs. It's unlistenable to the point of actually hurting my ears. To me, this stylus, even though it appears well made, is useless junk.

On the other hand, the NOS genuine Shure Ne95ED is a keeper. It's very musical and I can listen to it all day long without a hint of fatigue. I'm listening to it right now, and have been all afternoon and all evening yesterday. It continues to impress with deep rich bass, smooth, but detailed highs with a very nice imaging. In short, it just sounds good to me - very good. The Signet TK10ML with the original microline stylus still bests it, but the difference is not as great as expected. I could be very happy with the Ne95ED/R47XT combination as my only stylus/cartridge, but it's nice to now have two good stylus/cartridge combos running on two different turntables.

As mentioned, I did order the EVG 760-DED from Carole's Needles and will install it on the Shure 2215 (renamed M75) when it gets here. I want to save my good styli for known good vinyl, so I wanted something cheap (but hopefully listenable) for spinning vinyl in lesser/unknown condition. Once I've had a chance to give that one a listen, I'll report back with my impressions, specifically how it compares to the comparably priced Normarh.
 
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