Shure M97HE Era Cartridge

I like the Jico HE very much. Bought one several years back for a Shure M91 and was amazed by it. The distributor, with whom I've done quite a bit of business, let me know that they prices were going up soon, so I bought 2 more. I got mine for $80...they were $130 last time I looked.

OK, so I looked at the distributor's site (turntableneedles.com), and they have the HE for $93, but they have apparently started putting their own branding (Bliss) on them. The ones they used to carry were Jicos...can't say whether these "house-brand" versions are or not, but the lower price makes me think they may not be.

One of my local audio buddies bought the Vividline for an AT-95, running on a Pioneer PL-518. It changed the character of that cartridge pretty significantly, and in a good way. I was impressed, and while I think the AT95 is a great cart for the money, in stock form it sounds thin. The HE/Vividline filled it out quite a bit.
 
I haven't tried the VL but I do like the JICO clones. I say "clones" because they are built like the originals. An AK'er posted not so long ago that the VL variant was not built like the original, rather it is similar to EVG and Pfanstiehl.

The main differences between JICO and the others is the shape and size of the magnet and number of components in the suspension. JICO and Shure have larger square magnets, the others have small round magnets. The JICO and Shure suspensions have a bushing surrounding the stylus shaft with an additional layer of suspension material. JICO and Shure have soldered suspension wires, most of the others do not.
 
I must admit I run a cheap aftermarket elliptical designed for the M75 cart on my original series M97 -- with a little trimming of the plastic finger grip it fits and plays great -- but I will be reading with this thread with interest. That stylus was a good way to try out the cart, which came to me with a broken stylus, but I'm starting to think of upgrade options.
 
Why not just use a M75 cartridge body with those cheap N75 needles? They're a dime a dozen on ebay. A cartridge is only as good as the stylus mounted in it. Putting a cheap needle in a high quality cartridge such as the Era lV M97HE leaves you with low quality sound and low quality tracking.
 
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Looks great, but it doesn't have the brush on it that all of the original M97 New Era needles had....so not entirely the way Shure intended.

It does have a brush and it functions as well as the original. I have about a dozen JICO styli for various Shure cartridges in my collection, three of which have stabilizing brushes and they work perfectly.
 
There are some low-end after-market N97 and V15 styli that omit the brush. Ed Saunders comes to mind.
 
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