A question of cartridges

[Tom from IL]

Hello all. Looking for insights into cartridges.
I have the following:
1. Pickering V15/AT-2
2. Pickering V15/AME-3
3. ADC QLM MK4

My son wants a turntable and I am working on restoring a Dual 1226 that was gifted to me (as parts). The turntable came without a cartridge.
My question is which cartridge, in your experiences, would be a good fit for this table.
I have been doing some research but can find nothing that gives me a "review" of these or general performance.

Thanks!

 

[beatcomber]

The Pickering V15 is identical to a Stanton 500, and there are lots of aftermarket stylus options available, as well as some NOS Pickering or Stanton ones still floating around out there. It's a solid classic.

 

[jbjsr]

Agree. I had Dual 1229Q long ago and it had a V15 with it new out of the box. Good choice.

 

[wualta]

3. ADC QLM MK4

Haven't come across this particular critter before. Any chance of a photo or two?

 

[HPMguy]

I ran a Stanton 500 for ages, it's a nice cartridge. Probably should have replaced the stylus more though!

Plenty of mid to upper range cartridges out there -- also look into the XV-15 Pickering, it's the 680 series equivalent I think. Also a very good cartridge.

 

[wualta]

If you haven’t seen it, I have to believe it doesn’t exist.

I wish that was true, but we all know how diabolically, fiendishly cunning the house-brand market, to say nothing of the aftermarket, can be.

 

[Tom from IL]

Haven't come across this particular critter before. Any chance of a photo or two?

Pretty nondescript.
Currently mounted on the mangled cartridge carrier that came with a Dual 1214 I am working on.

 

[wualta]

Thanks for the photos. Turns out I did have a little file (misfiled) on the QLN Mk 4. It's a clone of the QLM 34 Mk III, not a bad cartridge+stylus at all, though heavier tracking than the QLM 36 Mk III above it.

PHOTO BY superstar19
This QLN shares its body with the XLM Mk III (and Improved), ZLM and all the other final-generation top ADC models. If the diamond on this one is in good shape, and the rubber grommet hasn't dried out, it should sound pretty darn good in that Dual.

The problem this cart shares to a greater or lesser extent with the Pickerings is the difficulty of finding new/upgrade styli for it now that they've been out of production for 40+ years. Aftermarket has been iffy for me, sometimes good, too often bad, but others with better/more aftermarket experience will give you a hand if you really must use one of the three cartridges mentioned.

 

[T68]

The Swiss nude elliptical black diamond (can have other names at for example EVG) for the ADC XLM, QLM etc is really nice.

Here it is on my Lenco L75:

 

[Tom from IL]

Thanks for the information folks! I have NOS stylus coming for the Pickerings. They will end up in the Dual 1214 and a Dual 1226.
I ended up swapping the ADC for a B&O MMC20EN on a Dual CS508 I found. Nice swap. The ADC sounds great on the CS.
Put the B&O on a spare Pioneer headshell for my PL-570. All I can say is WOW!

 

[rudolfo]

Bump....