stanton D75S stylus

Hi all I just got a stanton black bodied 680 (I think no caibration papers) cart with a D75S stylus NOS. It sounds unbeliveable very happy. My question is about the stylus I can't find any info on it other than the paper work that came with it. VE had no info.Paper work says D75S -stereohedron .0003x.0028, output 0.82mv/cm/sec., TF 3/4 to
1.1/2 . The box is black and says pro-95 stereohedron by stanton.has cart, stylus, scerwdriver,stylus brush and stylus cleaner.I know they made stuff for for sale for other companies is this one of those? It blows away my EEEs. Any info would be helpfull

Was this from ebay a few days ago? A very reasonable priced BIN. If so, I bought the other one, but it hasn't arrived yet. I'm on the left coast.

The D75S was their best stylus, and was (I believe) sold usually for their P-mount version of this cart (although it also fits standard mount carts perfectly).

I think I may have a picture of their stylus line up. Let me see if I can find it.

Enjoy it. You won't find a better stylus for the 681EEE or Pickering XV-15 carts. The Pickering equivalent was the D1800-S, I believe.

Oh, and yes, they made stuff for other companies to sell under their model numbers. The Pro-95 was essentially a 681EEE cart with the D75S stylus. Just no calibration certificate. Kind of a mix and match approach, but the end result was what mattered.

I can't find my info. that I have on the D75S stylus, but I do remember seeing a chart that listed it at the top. There was a D72E, a D73 (which I think was a stereohedron), a D74S, and the topper - a D75S.

Hi Hifirob2 yes it is the other one from e-bay. i"ve only played 3 sides and it sounds great. tracking at 1G, tomorrow I'll try different VTF.Yes I have only seen D series on p-mounts but this didn't come with an adapter all the rest have. I have a L737e with a D73E and a couple of unmarked L737e's with D73E's they have adapters. I would like to see that chart. You will definatly enjoy this set up.Thank you and ENJOY

Thanks. When mine arrives, I plan on installing the stylus on a 681EEE cart I have mounted up - and play it for a few seconds - just to check that the cantilever suspension is fine. Then I'll squirrel it away in box of 681EEE & XV-15 carts and styli I have. My daily driver is a Stanton 881S cart with a Pickering D3000 stylus. That's also a good sounding combo.

Good that you remembered the D73E was an elliptical. They also had a D73S - a stereohedron. I have one mounted on an L737S cart. I just dug it out - kinda forgot I had it. I also have a D72E that came in a box (like this auction did) mounted on an unmarked cart. Guessing it's a L727E. It has the adapter for standard mount. The model number is P-88, instead of your (our) PRO-95 name.

I hope mine arrives tomorrow. As soon as I saw the auction, I hit BIN right away. Stereohedron prices have gone through the roof lately. Couldn't pass this deal up. I'm glad the second one went to a good home. :thmbsp:

Good stuff. :yes:

Happy Listening!

Well, I guess I saw that stylus chart on some website, and didn't save it to my computer.

I did, however, find this in the paperwork that came with my P-88 set. It must be older than the PRO-95 set, as the D75S is not listed. I *think* the D75S has slightly better specs - namely, a frequency response that went up to 30k hz. I hope this helps.

Ok, my D75S just arrived in the mail. I tested the stylus on my favorite test song - that I use for all my new styli, and all I can say is "WOW".

I've loved the sound of the Stanton 681's / Pickering XV-15's for years now, but this stylus really makes these carts shine. Just perfect.

Then I boxed it back up and hid it away, and swapped headshells back to my Stanton 881S and Pickering D3000 stylus, and played the same song. The Stanton 881S / Pickering XSV series of carts have a different sound. But is it better? That's a personal choice, I guess. I'm glad I own both.

This is just to funny! I just got a pick xsv 3000 . Waiting for it to arrive Can't wait always wanted to try a 881s or p xsv. "WOW" was pretty much my response too.I also have that chart I was curious where this stylus fell compared to it. Even VE doesn't have any info.I'm extremely happy I feel I got a great deal!

I hope you like your XSV3000 when it arrives. If you like it, keep an eye out for the XSV5000. That's the really nice one. :yes:

Just to add some more info about the Stanton D75S cartridge, according to a current eBay seller of one of the original Stanton cartridges that was fitted with a D75S, a former Stanton engineer told him they were ‘custom made for select dealers’. It looks very like a plain label 680EE-S based on the stylus specs, but maybe they supplied it cheaper than the 680EE-S to those dealers. However, Stanton also had several other similar later model cartridges, such as the 681 MkII S and the 681EEE MkII S. The only marking on the ‘mystery’ cartridge body is the Stanton name.

The photo of the user guide just shows the cartridge is a ‘Stereo Cartridge with Stereohedron Stylus’ (no model number), and the inner pages show that the stylus was a D-75-S. I believe that he’s asking a fairly optimistic price, given that his has a broken stylus, but it does have the box and accessories, which some people might like.

I notice that his “Sales Record’ (warranty?) card had a space to fill out the cartridge number and other info before sending it in to Stanton, but given that the cartridge had no number, I’m not sure what you’d put there! He obviously didn’t bother to send it off. There were no frequency specs given in the manual – just info on the stylus dimensions and tracking force (exactly the same as the 680EE-S), and information on mounting the cartridge and changing the stylus.

The D73S stylus was the Stereohedron stylus fitted to the p-mount Stanton L737S – there was also an elliptical L737E, fitted with a D73E stylus. They were similar to p-mount versions of the 680EE and 680EE-S.

The D74S Sterehedron stylus was fitted to the p-mount L747S cartridge, which was something like a p-mount version of the 681EEE-S.

Good information. What I find interesting is that the tracking force for the D72 - D74 styli is 1 - 1 1/4 grams. Which makes sense, since they were for P-mount carts. But the paperwork that came with the D75S lists tracking force as 3/4 - 1 1/2 grams - as for the standard mount cart in the box.

I think this cart and stylus are from the late 80s / early 90s. I say this because of the newish velvet box, newer looking versions of the paperwork, and the address listed on the mail in registration form still says Plainview, New York, but the zip code is 11803-1511. Earlier sets (from the 70s) list the address as Plainview, L.I. N.Y, 11803. When did Stanton move to Florida?

Zip code +4 wasn't invented for use until 1983, and slowly adopted by companies. Were the hi-fi 680 carts replaced by the 681 versions (excluding the disco 680EL and 680HP versions) at some point? If so, maybe the unmarked cart in this set is actually a nice 681 variant (it's black), and not the 680EE-S cart. Any thoughts? I also have a VERY similar (also black) cart that came with a EEE-II-S stylus. The model number on the cart simply says 681. To complicate things even more, I have (what looks like) an older black 680EE/S cart that came with a stylus that simply says D680 S. It sounds fine, but the D75S sounds much nicer.

In my listening tests (I did a few more), the D75S sounds better than my D73S. It also sounds better than my D74S stylus - although, in fairness, my D74S has a lot of hours on it, and the D75S is NOS. I tested all the styli on the same 681EEE cart.

I really wish I had saved that styli chart I saw a while back that listed the frequency response of the D75S. Proof would help a lot. I remember it going up to 30K Hz, and making a mental note that i wanted to track one down. Now that I finally have one, I'm sure happy I got it - it just sounds perfect.

Hifirob2 said:

What I find interesting is that the tracking force for the D72 - D74 styli is 1 - 1 1/4 grams. Which makes sense, since they were for P-mount carts. But the paperwork that came with the D75S lists tracking force as 3/4 - 1 1/2 grams - as for the standard mount cart in the box.

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Strangely enough, I’ve also seen other Stanton literature, including this brochure http://www.vinylengine.com/library/stanton/p-mount-series.shtml and another more complete cartridge catalogue that I got from somewhere, specifying the D73S and D74S (or the cartridges they were fitted to) as having either 0.75 – 1.25g tracking force, or 0.75 – 1.5g! So I don’t know if they changed the styli, or were just inconsistent in their literature (other examples tend to support the latter:thumbsdn!

Hifirob2 said:

When did Stanton move to Florida?

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I’m not sure exactly when Stanton moved to Florida, but suspect it was either 90’s or early-2000’s.

Hifirob2 said:

Were the hi-fi 680 carts replaced by the 681 versions (excluding the disco 680EL and 680HP versions) at some point? If so, maybe the unmarked cart in this set is actually a nice 681 variant (it's black), and not the 680EE-S cart. Any thoughts?

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The ‘1’, as used in the 681, 881 and 981 variants of the 680, 880 and 980 series, just indicated that the particular cartridge had been individually measured and ‘calibrated’ to meet a strict frequency response standard. Someone mentioned a 581 as well, but I don’t know anything about it.

They were sold alongside the other models - for instance the 880S and 881S were both sold alongside each other at various times, as were the 980 and 981 series. There doesn’t appear to have been a calibrated version of the 600 series.

So most of the 680 series cartridges are 680's, apart from a few 681’s, which include the 681SE and 681A (both Disco versions with higher tracking forces, designed for ruggedness), 681EE, 681EE-S, 681-S, 681EEE and 681EEE-S. There were also MkII and III versions of some of these.

So for example, an 880S was exactly the same as the 881S, but the 881S was measured and guaranteed to meet certain standards, while the 880S wasn't. In fact, Stanton say in several brochures, that the performance was effectively the same between the '0' and '1' versions.

Of course, the calibrated models cost more due to the extra work involved in testing them individually. That was probably why they sometimes sold them alongside each other - not everyone wanted to pay extra for a bit of paper, but professionals who wanted consistent sound probably were happy to, and could probably justify the cost. Some audiophiles may also have wanted the snob value - you can just imagine, "Oh - you've only got the 680EE - I've got the 681EE!"

Hifirob2 said:

If so, maybe the unmarked cart in this set is actually a nice 681 variant (it's black), and not the 680EE-S cart. Any thoughts? I also have a VERY similar (also black) cart that came with a EEE-II-S stylus. The model number on the cart simply says 681. To complicate things even more, I have (what looks like) an older black 680EE/S cart that came with a stylus that simply says D680 S. It sounds fine, but the D75S sounds much nicer.

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They did make a few differently coloured variants over the years, but I dodn't know what the colours depicted. They also made a lot of 680's, as it dates back to the late-60's. They kept improving it too - at one stage, the 680EE/681EE was the top model, until the 681EEE made an appearance in the (I think) early-70's.

Hifirob2 said:

In my listening tests (I did a few more), the D75S sounds better than my D73S. It also sounds better than my D74S stylus - although, in fairness, my D74S has a lot of hours on it, and the D75S is NOS. I tested all the styli on the same 681EEE cart.

I really wish I had saved that styli chart I saw a while back that listed the frequency response of the D75S. Proof would help a lot. I remember it going up to 30K Hz, and making a mental note that i wanted to track one down. Now that I finally have one, I'm sure happy I got it - it just sounds perfect.

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There are plenty of Stanton (and Pickering) brochures, many in English, some in German, at Michael Otto’s archive here http://new-hifi-classic.de/Gallery_MO/index.php . I had a look through, but couldn’t see the D75S anywhere, so it certainly sounds like it was a special.

I suppose there must be some difference between the D73S, D74S and D75S. The chart you posted above does show that the D74S is specified as being slightly better than the D73S, so maybe the D75S is better again - that would account for it sounding better.

Thank you, Don, for your help and knowledge. To be honest, I've always thought the non calibrated carts and calibrated ones were internally identical. In my mind, the calibration paper simply listed the tested specs as sold with THAT particular stylus - nothing more. I haven't mounted and listened to the cart that came with the D75S stylus. I would assume it sounds just like any other 680 and 681 variant, and that it's resulting sound signature is dependent on the stylus used. Why it was not marked is strange, as the stylus is marked. Private label marketing weirdness, perhaps.

Needlestein - thanks for mentioning that you came across a L-757S cart. I've never seen one, but wondered if that model existed. That fills in a void in the info.

needlestein said:

The thing I can't remember is whether it was Stanton or not. The clues on the net suggest to me that it is actually a Pickering and probably a 1/2" mount with a replacement stylus model number of D757S, so sounds like I'm probably barking up the wrong tree.

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There was a Pickering XV-15/757 S, which was the second-highest XV-15 with a Stereohedron stylus, just below the XV-15 1800 S, and roughly equivalent to the Stanton 680EE-S. It used a D757S stylus, and was the closest Stereohedron version to the elliptical XV-15 750E. But whether the Pickering D757S stylus is physically the same as the Stanton D75S stylus (apart from the different number), I suppose only Pickering/Stanton workers would know.

So much good information, Don. Thank you!

And so many styli. Hard to keep track of it all. I'm glad Stanton and Pickering carts from this series are all so good, though. Even a D400 stylus on an old, grey XV-15 cart has that "special" sound.