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ADC p-mount cartridge with no visible model number. Help?!

S

surfmabob

New Member
Let me first start off by saying that I'm relatively new to the turntable world. I've always loved the sound of vinyl. I have great memories of listening to records with my dad and grandpa, but until recently, i have not had my own gear. Lucky for me, my dad decided he was "too old" to be fiddling around with it all and was content with simply pressing play on his itunes playlist... so I now have all his stuff; a huge collection of jazz and rock records, a Marantz tt-530, a marantz digital monitor amp pm 730, and two marantz hlm 312 speaker towers. Unfortunately, the amp will randomly make a godawful "yell" midway through a record that is so loud and terrifying, that it's now sitting under my bed and has been replaced with a Sansui QR 4500 that I found packed away in a family members garage (I don't have a clue what's wrong with the marantz).
So now you know my gear, on to the real question. My stylus sounds like it needs to be replaced. I can hear some distortion in the highs, and I'm pretty sure it's more than twenty years old! My tt-530 has an all black ADC p-mount cartridge and stylus that have no model number. I can't find numbers anywhere. They both say ADC and they both say Japan, but no numbers. Will any ADC stylus, that's made for a p mount cartridge, work? I read other threads about the quality of the ADC RPSX-40. Will this fit my cartridge? Should I just get a whole new cartridge? Please help me solve this mystery!
 

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yeah, I've been thinking about getting one of those. I see a lot of people on here recommending them. Do you, or anybody, know if there's a way to find out what ADC cartridge came with those Marantz's and if it would be worth getting a new stylus for it? I don't want to "down grade" to an A-T if I actually have something special...
 
Other than the stylus colour, that certainly looks like my two ADC p-mount cartridges. One of mine has the white RPSX-30 stylus and the other has the amber RPSX-40 stylus. ADC sold them under two different model numbers; the "Digital Series IV" aka SER-IV was the same as a PSX-40, and was the top of the line. The model number is usually on the front of the stylus, right under where yours says "ADC".

I bought a pair of original ADC RPSX-40 stylii from LPGear.com some time back, and am listening to one of them right now. The metal bar has come unglued from the rest of the stylus on one of my RPSX-40s. I got everything put back together without regluing it in, and even still it still sounds very nice. I just can't remove the stylus from that one, until it is time to replace it with my spare.Even if you opt to replace the cartridge now, hang on to that ADC cartridge too. As someone who owns over 40 p-mount cartridges, its one I keep returning to.

If you remove the stylus from the cartridge (pull straight out the front), there should be a large magnet that sits on the front of cartridge body (exposed side facing down), and a metal bar inside the stylus assembly that sits against the magnet, as part of the induced magnet design. There's also a slot in the top of the stylus assembly, that the raised center ridge of the cartridge body fits into.
 
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I've had that Marantz table -- I think the AT-92E is a good match for it, as that is what I played on mine.
 
so I got my at-92ecd today and slapped it on the table. It's definitely brighter than the adc, but I think I actually like it. It's also softer in volume, which isn't really a big deal. I have a big problem with it though, and I'm hoping it's just because it's brand new. The right channel is definitely louder than the left and both channels make a terrible buzzing noise. The noise only appears when tracking a record. No noise when I switch to Tuner regardless of the volume setting. Is this just a "break in period" thing?
 
SA-708 said:
Other than the stylus colour, that certainly looks like my two ADC p-mount cartridges. One of mine has the white RPSX-30 stylus and the other has the amber RPSX-40 stylus. ADC sold them under two different model numbers; the "Digital Series IV" aka SER-IV was the same as a PSX-40, and was the top of the line. The model number is usually on the front of the stylus, right under where yours says "ADC".
Click to expand...

Odd that I missed this thread when I was wondering about the similar cartridge I just got. :dunno:

The JICO replacement for the RPSX-40 is, as it happens, black but unmarked rather than clear. All of their other styli for the series are consistent as to color with the originals they replace. Just a WAG but maybe the RPSX-40s were black at one time.

John
 
Could be, but both the SER-IV stylus I replaced and the new-old-stock PSX-40 stylii I bought from LPGear are the same translucent amber/smoke colour.

I've got a booklet and fold-out leaflet between my two cartridges. The booklet, the "ADC Digital Series Improved SER-III/SER-IV P-Mount Induced Magnet Cartridge Owners Manual" doesn't list stylii colours, but does mention that the RSER-IV or RPSX-40 sylii would be the replacement for my SER-IV cart. It was printed by the ADC division of BSR with a Blauvelt NY address. The leaflet , a "P-Mount Series Induced-Magnet Cartridges Instruction Manual" gives the stylii colors as blue (10), red (20), orange (25), white (30) and smoke (40) and was printed by the ADC Products Division of dbx with a Newton Mass. address.
 
Check out this thread:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=264615

It's an ADC PSX - XX IIRC 10, 20, 30 and 40.

I have a PSX-20 induced magnet that I love and have on a Technics Linear.

Picked up a NOS 40 stylus on fleabay a while back, with clear plastic holder in lieu of red and sporting a beautiful nude elliptical under the kidde scope.

The ADC is a keeper and is upgradeable moving up from 10-->40 styli.

Good luck.

Fred
 
Near's I can figure, yep. The bodies measure around 700mH, although I've seen as high as 720.

Interesting note: If anyone has the PSX-40 or the equivalent, take a close look at your diamond. Does it look as if it should be going sideways? Or is ?
 
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How would you rate the PSX-40? How does it compare to an Ortofon 300SE? A guess as to what it would retail if made & sold today?
 
The only thing I know about the PSX-40's stylus is that the needle-thin cantilever is titanium (very unusual) and the stylus is a natural rectangular-shank nude mount "tombstone"-style diamond that uniquely looks like it's been stuck in the cantilever sideways. But that was intentional. Never've seen anything like it. So if you get one, let us know what it looks like and sounds like. From the obvious care taken in its construction, it oughta sound great.
.
 
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I'm not sure what I've got. Black body, blue stylus, stylus guard missing, black label with ADC printed on it in white letters. No model designation on the stylus label. I'm thinking cheap generic stylus.
 
Is there any way it could be an ADC stylus on another manufacturers body? I'm also wary about the sticker. No model designation & I suppose it could be affixed to any p-mount cartridge out there. I'm going to remove the cartridge later today & take some pictures of it. Anything I should specifically look for that an ADC cartridge would have?
 
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