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Any ADC experts out there?

bigaltx24

Super Member
I picked up a Technics SL-3300 last month for about the price of lunch. It has an ADC cartridge on it with a K8 stylus. Looks like the stylus is a little worn but it sounds decent. Today I found four NOS stylus for it, two K8E, a K8 and a QLM 30 Mark III. Which of these will sound the best, also is there any way to identify these cartridge bodies there are no markings on it anywhere.
 
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The K8E is the best stylus of the three and, assuming you have a K Series body (blue mount), the best stylus ever available for it. The K Series was a budget line but even ADC budget cartridges were pretty good.

The K8E is a 0.4 x 0.7 mil elliptical that tracks between 2 and 3 grams. The K6 is a 0.7 mil conical that tracks between 1.5 and 3.0 grams. The QLM-30 is the entry level conical for the QLM Series and, since the electrical specifications for the QLM and K Series are different (I could be wrong about that.) the QLM-30 isn't a good inductance match for the K Series body.

John
 
ADC sold a zillion of these bodies that look almost alike (aside from the colors of the plastic bits and/or the metal body shells), and so many ADC bodies have had random styli (especially the K8s) stuck on them over the years, that before we go any further we should establish which of the three body varieties you have so you can match it with a stylus that will give flat response, or, if we can't get flat, a treble that's not "bright".

How to find out exactly which of the three "flavors" a given random ADC body is? First, we need a good sharp closeup photo of the cartridge, preferably off the tonearm, and second, we need a resistance reading of the cartridge's left and right channels using a digital ohmmeter capable of reading resistances between 250 and 850 ohms.
Once we determine which class your body falls into, we can say which styli will sound best in it. Fortunately, there are still good originals available.

This is an original genuine K8 conical stylus in a K8 body:
0.JPG

Later, production was moved to Japan and those styli look different:
Japanese top view.jpg
I tried one of these and didn't find it to be built like, or sound like, the originals.

However! At some point in US production, ADC changed from the bright blue to a subdued, somber gray. These sound great, track well at 2.0g and can often be found for bargain prices.
ADC K8 from style_tone-a.jpg
 
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When I saw the title of this thread, my mind went DING! Not me but I know of two or three! It's a beautiful thing!

Doug
 
The plastic mounting part on mine is black and the resistance is 806 / 814 ohms.

I have good news for you. None of the styli you have are appropriate to that body. :) Wualta's implied suspicion that someone had cheaped out on a replacement stylus - the three you have are among the cheapest, least desirable styli available for ADC cartridges - would seem to be true.

The body you have, nominally 820 ohms/560mH. It could be any one of several models but it's electrically the same as the bodies for several of the better and later models. So, some of the better styli are still available as are some respectable aftermarket styli. In other words, the cartridge is definitely worth resurrecting and using. So the next question: how much money you got?

John
 
bax24: You could consider the RXMII or RXTII alias Pfanstiehl 114DET or 115DEM (these are Pfanstiehl-repacked original ADCs), which Thevoiceofmusic(.com) still offers for 40 and 45 bucks. As far as I'm aware, these should be the best remaining new old stock needle versions for your ADC body, that you could still get from an established vendor for a comparatively moderate, still pretty attractive price.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

P.S.: Hi Joseph, John, Walt & Doug (in order of appearance ;))!
 
Hello, Manfred. Fröhliche Weihnachten! Another option is the RXL at Musonic in the UK. It's 60 quid, inclusive of VAT so, after that's removed, the price ends up being about 62 or so US dollars plus shipping. So, it's more expensive than the RXM-II and RXT-II but it's a slightly better inductance match.

John
 
I got a chance to listen to the K8E today, sounds very nice, I am impressed. I'll have to get one of the RXM or RXTs. This turntable is out in my workshop so I'm not going to spend a bunch of money on it. It looks like Jico offers some R series stylus, anyone tried their ADC offerings?
 
R stands for "Replacement". It isn't a series. I haven't yet tried a JICO for the ADC cartridges but, since the JICO equivalents we're discussing cost $56.00 plus shipping of $22.00, the original ADCs are cheaper and perhaps better, certainly not worse.

John
 
Quick footnote:
Currently on eBay is an aftermarket K8E which may be useful for anyone with an Integra or XLM Mk III body. I think most folks with K8 or Mk I or Mk II bodies will find it bright sounding, but for the price ($10 shipped), it may be worth the bother of turning the treble down a tad. Or putting it in an 820-ohm body, hint hint, as a 'utility' stylus, which will also tame the brightness.
Very unusually for an aftermarket stylus, this one comes with fairly complete specs, including a 4x7 diamond (which I verified at 60X) and a recommended VTF of 2.25g. My example tracks my Bangles torture disc at the rated VTF, which is very impressive. It may be possible to take it down below 2.0g, but I haven't tried that. It looks like this:
K8E generic by DFR, sold by Rivertone  _1a.jpg
 
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Because it's not possible to visually identify ADC cartridges since they all lack model information printed on them and because all "slipper type" styli will fit any slipper type body, it's necessary to measure the bodies electrically to at least learn what generation the body is and what styli are the correct electrical match.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the XLC-IV stylus isn't original to that body. I say this because the "toe" of the slipper has that flat section above and behind the lettering. That shape stylus was used on the Integra integrated headshell and cartridge and the shape of the toe was such that it fit flush up underneath the headshell portion. (See photo) So, the XLC-IV was probably a private label Integra and the body is probably an XLM or VLM.

The first step is to measure the coils and then get back to us.

John

834392-adc-xlm1-integra.jpg
 
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I still think it's most likely to be a "Series IV" stylus renamed. Here's the gif from TTN.com:
ADC Series IV 113-DEM.gif
 
Hi all
I had a gold + Black ZLM body and Silver + black unknown version ADC body which I am very happy running generic RXL styluses back home in india
I see a blue cart body on ebay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Blue-ADC-m...053389?hash=item590c65478d:g:ibwAAOSwptJaa4h6
can I fit the RXL/RZL jico stylus on this and get the same sound quality out of this? I understand the voicing is different, but does it vary significantly ( ie the difference between a Shure M44 & M75 body)
 
I'll assume for the moment, since I don't have one, that the Jico RXL stylus is meant to replace an RXL Improved (ie, the stylus for the XLM Mk II Improved, not for the earlier -and different- XLM Mk II). If so, it will, as you suspected, sound brightish in a blue K series body, and so will something voiced like a genuine RZL. So the sound will be different, but if you're not picky, or have ways of dealing with a little excess treble, or want a little extra way up high...

The overall level drops a few dB, but the midrange sound is unaffected.

As it turns out, the M44 and M75 bodies are the same electrically (but not mechanically).
 
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The blue and silver bodies are for the K Series and, sadly, the bodies were not all the same electrically. But, fortunately, they're close enough to each other that any of the K Series styli will sound fine. A good choice would be the K8E stylus here.

John
 
I keep popping up in this thread again and again!
I added another ADC Cart to my collection
s-l1600.jpg

Which stylus would be the right one for this from VoM?
 
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Measure it to be sure, but that's almost certainly the uniquely low-inductance (260mH) Integra model. It usually shows up with a CF-100 stylus, which won't be easy to find. Though it's basically an Integra version of the QLM 32 Mk III, the K series styli will also work. Any Integra stylus is more advanced than either of those; the 114-DET would be my currently-available top pick. If you don't want to throw that much money at it, go for the K8 conical. There are also a few good aftermarket styli-- make sure they're meant for Mk I or Mk II bodies. The CF-100 Integra variant can be spotted by the extra-thick single-piece thumbscrews with coin slots (but no threaded holes for auxiliary weights) on either side. Hint for owners of riginal-series XLMs or VLMs: the CF-100 is ideal for playing those old hypercompliant styli in your medium-mass curved tonearm. The reduced effective mass cuts down on the wallowing that happens when a high-compliance stylus tries and fails to control a heavy tonearm.
2a.jpg $T2eC16NHJHEE9ny2qToRBRKE5unii!~~60_57a.jpg
 
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