eriathomas
Active Member
I picked up a Technics 1200 M3D today, and it came with a Stanton 890SA cartridge that looks to be a DJ cartridge. Are there any good elliptical styli for it? Never had a Stanton before, so am curious. Thanks.
Kevin at KABUSA told me the 890SA is basically a hotter version of the great 881.The 890SA is Moving Iron. A 680 in disguise. Which is why the stylus works on them.
In the official specs from Stanton, the 890 is closer to the moving-iron 680/681 series than it is to the 881S:
680/681: 1300 ohms resistance, 930 mH inductance
890SA: 1300 ohms resistance, 970 mH inductance
881 MkII S: 900 ohms resistance, 510 mH inductance
The 890 SA was a moving magnet design using a Samarium Cobalt magnet, like the 881 series. When I bought mine, I thought I could also use an 881 stylus as an option, but Stanton advised me that there were internal electrical differences between the two bodies such that the frequency balance would be thrown off by using an 881 stylus in the 890 body. If I recall correctly, I liked the cartridge well enough to keep it on an LP12/Ittok until the stylus was worn out, but I know I didn't like it well enough to buy replacement styli for it.This is also why I suspect it is Moving Iron. Notice the difference between the 890 SA specs and the 881 Mk II S specs. Stanton's spec is somewhat trusted. I have no issue with KAB's knowledge either.
The only actual tests and data I've seen are for smaller ellipticals (using a .2 mil side radius) and conicals. For what it's worth, the data shows that after 100 plays, a .7 mil conical tracking at 3 grams and a .2 side radius elliptical tracking at 1.5 grams gave the same level of wear after 100 plays, which was that wear was visible under a microscope but not detectable by ear. Your .4 X .7 mil elliptical will have a larger contact area than a smaller elliptical would, but how safe it is at 3 grams is not something I've ever seen test data on.Just grabbed one, so you're good. It looks like the recommended tracking force is 3g. That's not heavy enough to cause excess wear with a elliptical is it? Obviously don't want to ruin my records by causing premature wear.
The 890 and the 890E are functionally equivalent to the 890 SA and the 890 RM in my set. In a two deck setup, the elliptical could be used for playing music and the conical for scratching (there's a red warning label on my set that says to NOT use the RM for scratching).This is why an elliptical DJ stylus like the 890E is actually pretty oddball. It was sold, generally, with the 890FS cartridge that came with a pair of styli. The 890, which is the conical to be used for general scratch DJ hamfisted use, and the 890E, which was for "mixing," which I guess would be more studio work in which perhaps a DJ would take the time to set up the cartridge properly including VTA.