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My $55 M97xE arrived today

DanBa

DanBa

Well-Known Member
I ordered it last Friday from Amazon, and it arrived Today. I was extremely impressed with the initial presentation and packaging

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It came with everything pictured here, plus instruction sheet.

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I installed it onto my orphaned Technics headshell, and then onto my recycling box SL1500 TT

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I am pretty much at a loss for words. Sounds great, looks pretty nice too. For a little more than the price of a tankful of gas($55 total, including shipping), I have a wonderful sounding, handsome, new cartridge and stylus, that hopefully will give me many years of listening enjoyment. Thanks for looking!:music:
 
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Mine arrived today too! (Except mine was only $25, thanks to Amazon's deal with Chase when you sign up for an Amazon Visa card.) I haven't yet installed it though.

I also have a custom DIY preamp on the way, thanks to a kind AK'er, set to 62k ohms, which is considered optimal for this cart. I look forward to comparing it against my standard 47k ohm phono preamp.
 
Those 97's are one sweet lookin' ride. I haven't had a Shure since the 80's. Curious-What did you run with before the 97 and how would you compare/contrast the differences in them?
 
When I decided to get back into vinyl after a 21 year absence, I bought a used Technics SL-B303 with a pretty beat-up AT cartridge for $15.00 on CL. After replacing the belt and cleaning up the table, I replaced the AT with an M97XE - one of the best for the money! No regrets, whatsoever -- Enjoy your vinyl!
 
Rotoplooker said:
Those 97's are one sweet lookin' ride. I haven't had a Shure since the 80's. Curious-What did you run with before the 97 and how would you compare/contrast the differences in them?
Click to expand...

This is my first Shure. I have several tables, on this one I used and old OE AT cart from a Kenwood table, an AT13ea, and it sounded pretty good. I can't really make out a whole lot of difference, seems like the Shure has a little more robust bottom, like the lower frequencies. Surprisingly, the highs don't really "roll off", at least on my set up. They seem pretty crisp, and I've read here they get better with break-in on this cart. My ears are going to be 50 years old in January, so I probably can't give the best review of cartridge performance. I have a couple other carts-Grado Green, Pickering, another AT, can't remember which one. This cart sounds as good or better than most I have heard, with the exception of the moving coil unit(long gone) that came with my JVC TT back in '82. It is definitely nice looking!
 
Congrats, you guys, on the bargain prices!

I've had mine for a few years now and I think I paid about 60 bucks for it which is still a bargain.

It's a fine cartridge.

Doug
 
Good pics! I got the same deal on mine, but have yet to set it up after picking it up across the border at my shipping depot in Point Roberts Washington.

It's going on my Grace 707 mounted to my Rega Planar 2. My system has not been sounding that lively with the existing setup so I am hoping to elicit the help of a friend who's taste and budget for this kind of stuff is way above mine. In fact I think his alignment gauge cost more than my TT and tonearm!
 
Good stuff - I used to run a couple of M97xE. I still have one despite my recent conversion to LOMC. I still let it ride every once in a while!
 
That's cool, same cartridge I started out with, and I was equally thrilled when I first got it. One thing you can say for that model, it does have pretty nice packaging!

I see neither Broc Luno or catman have chimed in yet, so I'll just add that those two have discovered proper capacitive loading can really enhance the performance of the M97XE.
 
G'day all, as has been mentioned before, if using 47k then keeping the 'overall' input shunt capacitance to around 250 picofarads is extremely important.

As a matter of possible interest I've just finished building another simple phono stage (not my preferred ESP P06), which I've modified for 62 k and I've also removed a 100 picofarad input capacitor on the board in the interests of keeping the input capacitance as low as possible which is important when using a slightly higher input 'resistance'. http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...T&SUBCATID=557

In the set up on which I've been testing it, the interconnects inherently have about 180 picofarads of self capacitance, and stray wiring capacitance probably adds another 20 picofarads or so. As it stands, this little DIY kit phono stage loaded at 62 k with minimal input capacitance sounds great with the 'standard' Shure M97xE. :yes: Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
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Good move, DanBa! I bought two some time back about a year or so and I gave one to MarktheFixer and installed the other on my own turntable. It sounded pretty good but a little brassy at first, and after a few days of playing it mellowed out into a really beautiful sound! Probably the best bargain out there. :D
 
I've run my M97xE on my Pioneer PL-9, Dual 1229 and Technics 1200 mk2 and it is a consistently nice sounding cart on all 3. For the money, I don't think you can beat it.

My 2 cents.
 
OK, I got my M97xE installed last night on my Dual 1019, which is one of four main tables I use.

Despite what I've read on the 'net, set-up and alignment was a breeze using the supplied protractor - I was able to easily align the front of the cart with the hash marks on the protractor, the whole process took maybe 15 minutes. I also set the VTF to exactly 1.75 grams with the brush down, and have detected no audible interference from the brush.

Much of what I've read in reviews about this cart is spot on - excellent tracking (even blaring trumpets sounded clean), low output, razor flat EQ, slightly rolled off highs, "non-fatiguing," etc. My immediate first impression was "I can see why some have described it as 'boring.'"

I was able to listen to 3 or 4 LP sides, and even in that short while it began to open up a bit. At the very beginning, both bass and treble extension were lacking, but after an hour or so the bass began to reveal itself, and the treble opened up enough for me not to miss it. I have every reason to expect that I will really like this cart once it breaks in. I also expect to eventually buy a Jico SAS for it, since I have been inpressed by what an SAS did for my M91ED.

I am very much looking forward to seeing how it performs with the custom preamp that the kind AK'er built for me specifically for use with the M97xE. I'm not too savvy with electronic circuits, but here is a photo of how it looks in the raw:

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I will follow-up with my impressions of the "suped up" M97xE once I receive the preamp and get it installed in a proper kit box.
 
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