Stanton 890SA stylus

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.
 
There used to be, but Stanton as you and I know it is no more. Gibson Guitars bought the company, and closed the Florida plant. And Stanton generic styli are and have always been a crapshoot.
 
KABUSA has the correct elliptical stylus for it. Personally I prefer the Stanton one made for that cartridge and they should still be fairly inexpensive. Kevin at KABUSA told me the 890SA is basically a hotter version of the great 881. That's what I'm using in my 1200 M3D. I have several Stanton cartridges mounted in Technics headshells and after much evaluation settled on the 890SA for my production work.
 
All KAB's are generic too it seems. TVOM has one for a decent price, so I might grab that since I need a stylus for my AT2211EH (AT11/12) too.
 
Thanks needlestein, it's always good to have a few options. I might try the Pfan 4822-DEE-P out. So much knowledge from you, thanks!
 
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
 
No you guys are confusing me. The NOS tracks kinda high, but I assume should be fine at 2.5-3 grams and not do damage to my records? The voice of music recommanded their 824 family, which has a 4824-DE pfan with a brush, that track at .75-1.25.
 
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

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.
 
I have a DJ kit of a pair of 890 carts. They come with two styli, the 890 SA and the 890 RM. The SA is conical, designed for heavier tracking/scratching and tracks at 2 to 5 grams. The RM is designed for regular playback 0.4 x 0.7 elliptical and tracks at 1 to 4 grams.

I have an 881S cartridge mounted on a Grace arm for my Frankentable. I will swap out the 881-S for the 890 RM for more "compromised" discs and it plays just fine. Punchier and higher output, as you'd expect from a DJ stylus. If I put my 681 stylus on the same cart, it doesn't play.

I'm not going to say this resolves the "moving iron" vs "moving magnet" debate. But the styli for the 890 series would appear to be more akin to the 881 than the 68x.

BTW -- the OEM 890 RM is a pretty nice stylus. Not as nice as the 881S, of course. But it acquits itself well. Might be worth keeping an eye out for one of those. Probably shouldn't be crazy expensive since it was marketed as a DJ stylus.

EDIT: Someone on That Auction Site is selling the N890E which is a later iteration of the stylus (slightly heavier minimum tracking force, and oddly enough lower output than the RM). At the price they're selling, it's a pretty good deal for an OEM stylus that is guaranteed to work.
 
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That's the one needlestein was talking about. I guess it's worth a shot. Hopefully I can track it closer to 2g, since I like tracking a bit lower. Thanks everyone.
 
Hard to find ANY genuine OEM styli at that price.TBH, I'm tempted to grab one myself as a spare, but want to make sure you get one 1st.
 
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.
 
You're more likely to cause wear my tracking a stylus too light. If the stylus bounces around and loses constant contact with the groove, that's when you're more likely to get damage to your vinyl (and it will probably audibly mis-track at that point).

The reason tracking weights are heavier for a DJ stylus compared to a "hi fi" stylus is the suspension. On a DJ stylus, it's designed specifically to track heavier because it's an environment where there's much more likely to be physical interference (for lack of a better term) with the playback system. They stylus is much less likely to jump out of the groove at 3 grams than at 1.5 if the platform that the turntable is on gets bumped.

A DJ stylus not really comparable to the old heavy arms with crummy bearings and sapphire needles from the 50s and 60s (and those typically tracked at 5g or more). It's more comparable to something like a Denon DL-103 where the tracking force is in the 2.5 gram range. My guess is that your N30E would probably do fine at that VTF.
 
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 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.

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 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.

My personal comfort level/preference, not based on hard scientific evidence, is to choose a conical for tracking forces over 1.5 grams, and to keep in the 2.0-2.5 gram range for a conical smaller than .7 mil (e.g., I happily used a Sumiko Black Pearl, .5 mil conical, at 2 grams and a Sumiko Oyster, .6 mil, at 2.3 grams). In all cases this is when using currently-produced, factory-fresh styli where there is greatly reduced chances of age-related hardening of the rubber suspension in the stylus assembly. For the last few years, I've been enjoying the .2 X .7 mil elliptical of a Shure M97xE tracking at 1.35 grams, and with absolutely no concern for the life of my records, replacing styli after about 540 hours of use, which means every 9 months. I may be wasting some stylus life, but I no longer have a local Shure dealer equipped with a microscope for proper examination of tip wear, so I prefer to change it out near the bottom of Shure's recommended hours of service.
 
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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.
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).

Once programs like Serato came out, the need for music playback on a deck was nil for most DJs.
 
Thanks again for the great information needlestein, and everyone else. Grabbed one and am patiently waiting for it. Can't wait to try out a new cartridge, as I've only had AT's and a Grado.
 
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