Shure M97xE or M91ED which one should I keep?

I have several M91's and never heard an M97. I like the sound of the M91. Of note in response to a previous post is that they are not rare. There are at least 6 for sale on the big auction site right now and various great stylus's are available. I find them regularly on vintage turntables that I run across as well. No problems with supply of carts or stylus's although Shure has gotten out of the business recently.
 
I just checked Google, your right on the money it's 866 miles. It is quite nice here, Halifax is a major seaport and the city is very scenic and not much snow yet, get most of it staring in January. Very small city compared to New York about 450,000 people.

It is very expensive to live here. My real estate tax is $8,400 per year. I am being forced to look elsewhere.
 
I have several M91's and never heard an M97. I like the sound of the M91. Of note in response to a previous post is that they are not rare. There are at least 6 for sale on the big auction site right now and various great stylus's are available. I find them regularly on vintage turntables that I run across as well. No problems with supply of carts or stylus's although Shure has gotten out of the business recently.
It all depends on your location... In all these years, I never, EVER got to see M91 on sale, there's literally none of them being offered. Same thing with M75, although one did eventually pop out, which is the one I bought... M75B and quite cheap actually, so it would have been sold immediately one way or another :)

Anyhow, back to M91 once again... Couple of months ago, I got in contact with this one guy, who was selling his Lenco L75 that had a Shure M91ED on it for around 170 USD. I wanted to offer him money for JUST the cart alone, without the turntable but he insisted on selling both, in pair. Sooo, once again no deal I'm afraid.

Nevertheless, I'm not giving up... There are several reasons why I'm tracking down M91, some of which are highly personal & nostalgic to me. Happy memories I guess you could call them... But even with those aside, M75/91 are great sounding carts which are almost impossible to beat (in their price range, at least). They also got that familiar warm & boomy "Shure" sound, known to anyone who ever experienced them before. Personally, I never owned M97xE, but I did have M94E for years (same specs, just without the brush stabilizer) & found M91 better. Not saying 94E (or 97xE) is a bad cart, just different.
 
It all depends on your location... In all these years, I never, EVER got to see M91 on sale, there's literally none of them being offered. Same thing with M75, although one did eventually pop out, which is the one I bought... M75B and quite cheap actually, so it would have been sold immediately one way or another :)

So sorry to hear about the local supply in your neighborhood. Here in the States the M91 are ubiquitous. I picked up two last month for 20 and 30 dollars respectively. One had a stylus the other did not.
 
It all depends on your location... In all these years, I never, EVER got to see M91 on sale, there's literally none of them being offered. Same thing with M75, although one did eventually pop out, which is the one I bought... M75B and quite cheap actually, so it would have been sold immediately one way or another :)

Anyhow, back to M91 once again... Couple of months ago, I got in contact with this one guy, who was selling his Lenco L75 that had a Shure M91ED on it for around 170 USD. I wanted to offer him money for JUST the cart alone, without the turntable but he insisted on selling both, in pair. Sooo, once again no deal I'm afraid.

Nevertheless, I'm not giving up... There are several reasons why I'm tracking down M91, some of which are highly personal & nostalgic to me. Happy memories I guess you could call them... But even with those aside, M75/91 are great sounding carts which are almost impossible to beat (in their price range, at least). They also got that familiar warm & boomy "Shure" sound, known to anyone who ever experienced them before. Personally, I never owned M97xE, but I did have M94E for years (same specs, just without the brush stabilizer) & found M91 better. Not saying 94E (or 97xE) is a bad cart, just different.

Trekkie, I can't blame your nostalgia, not your familiarity of Shure's sound.
I feel the same.

Personally, I find almost all Shures impossible not to like.
Of course, I like other pickups apart from Shure, but i agree that Shures are quite special.

At some point, i would suggest you give M92E a try (if you haven't already).
The M97xE is a very fine pickup and i love it, but I have to admit that if it were to choose one to keep based solely on the sound, i'd go with the 'cheapo' M92E.
A very nice performer, indeed.
 
If I move to Virginia or some such place, nearly 2/3 of the money I get for my house in Brooklyn can go into investments.The last third is enough for a nice home.
 
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