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anyone else running vintage Empire carts?

Thanks for the photo. Nice and clear. I suspect that someone was a little too aggressive in either pushing on or pulling off the headshell wires. Does the cartridge have electrical continuity, ie, reliable output on both channels?
 
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It kind of looks like that.
In continuity.. Yes It reads in balance.
I just bought it and making me nervous in long term use. The terminals looks not (hermetically) sealed anymore.
 
I'll set this 999 E/X for now and I'm moving to the 1000 SE/X since I have the stylus for it too. According to the chart you gave me, I can set my preamp to 40 db and 47k if that is correct.
 
That plastic backplate holds not only the terminals but also the main square-shaped magnet which supplies the static magnetic flux for the variable-reluctance design, so we don't want it to crack open or fall off. Maybe a thin coating of epoxy to prevent further cracks? Hermetic sealing isn't necessary, but simple structural integrity is.

40dB gain (give or take a couple of dB) with 47k resistance loading sounds just about right. If it's good enough for my ancient Hafler DH-101, then, by golly, it's Good Enough.
 
wualta said:
That plastic backplate holds not only the terminals but also the main square-shaped magnet which supplies the static magnetic flux for the variable-reluctance design, so we don't want it to crack open or fall off. Maybe a thin coating of epoxy to prevent further cracks? Hermetic sealing isn't necessary, but simple structural integrity is.

40dB gain (give or take a couple of dB) with 47k resistance loading sounds just about right. If it's good enough for my ancient Hafler DH-101, then, by golly, it's Good Enough.
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That is actually a very good advice! I set it aside and will figure it out later one.
I almost bought the same preamp a while back. heard those are good when you trick it.
Anyways I set up and test driving the 1000 SE/X. This thing sounds so natural and full bodied!
I feel so much better I accomplished something on a saturday morning...
BTW: been reading alot here probably years before I approached you. You have alot of experience with this.

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Thanks for the compliment, but it's really a collective one. There are many folks here who have shared their experience, and I'd say most of them have owned Empires much longer than I have.
Nice setup on the Pioneer. Good lightweight headshell. Very glad you've found the two cartridges enjoyable.
 
Ok...I admit it, I'm addicted! This is the latest NOS Empire added to my collection. Another REX 66, but with the QEX stylus this time. They ARE still out there!!! I'm checking out / running-in the stylus in my 2002 cartridge body, since it's really just a 66 in disguise. This REX 66 body measures right at 510 ohms on each channel. Stylus suspension might be just a touch stiff on this one. Needs about 1.5 grams to track cleanly out of the box. It will likely improve. I think I'm done now...maybe. :-)
Dave O.
 

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I got this NOS QEX, and the NOS PEX both from the same seller. This may be all that he has however.

This morning I took some microscope shots of this QEX stylus. Lovely ellipse shape to the stylus. Not the normal chopped off front and rear. More like I always believed an elliptical should be. I did need to do a slight cantilever rotation on this QEX. It was off by a few degrees. I didn't want to break it in for long that way. Looks straight now.

One scope shot shows pretty clearly what Walter was describing about the sapphire (semi-nude I guess you would say) mounting. (attached) It's certainly not the normal brass (or whatever) we see behind most bonded styli. I guess this material is lighter?
Dave O.
 

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In this scope shot of the QEX stylus you can see where someone who put it together made a crossways mark on the cantilever (looks like a vertical line in this shot) to align the stylus tip with.

You can really only tell that most of these better Empire ellipticals are really elliptical by moving the light back and forth across the stylus. They are SO smoothly shaped and polished! A remarkable job with these tiny things.
Dave O.
 

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I'm surprised, pleasantly, to see that it's a diasa mount, using a technique invented/developed by Ernst Benz's company that "welds" a small diamond cone to a corundum stump, thus making a "nude" stylus at lower cost. See the August 1972 issue of Audio.
Everybody examine your pignose SQE/X (S912E) styli and see if you spot a diasa. Maybe all of them are. I would expect at least some to have the older style nude mount. My S912Es are diasas, but they're the late-production type, clear purple with flippy guards. My late S910E is diasa as well.
 
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Today I tested my REX 66 with the custom mounting bracket I made for it. The original mounting clip was missing. Getting one here is really hard and buying it from US is more expensive than the cartridge itself, due shipping and customs cost. And I must admit, I don't really like the look of original mounting clips, so I made a couple of prototypes from plastic pieces I had. This is the Mk II:

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Outsider373 said:
Today I tested my REX 66 with the custom mounting bracket I made for it. The original mounting clip was missing. Getting one here is really hard and buying it from US is more expensive than the cartridge itself, due shipping and customs cost. And I must admit, I don't really like the look of original mounting clips, so I made a couple of prototypes from plastic pieces I had. This is the Mk II:

View attachment 3426474View attachment 3426472
Click to expand...
That looks great! Probably more stable than the clip-in original.
Are there mounting screws so you can adjust it?
What turntable is that? Looks like a massive platter!

Dave O.
 
Outsider373 said:
Today I tested my REX 66 with the custom mounting bracket I made for it. The original mounting clip was missing. Getting one here is really hard and buying it from US is more expensive than the cartridge itself, due shipping and customs cost. And I must admit, I don't really like the look of original mounting clips, so I made a couple of prototypes from plastic pieces I had. This is the Mk II:

View attachment 3426474View attachment 3426472
Click to expand...
Nice job! :thumbsup:
 
Thursday I received another of the dirt-cheap ($17) conical styli for my Empires. Same as the first one I got. Sounds pretty good...much better than it should for this price. Tracks well at 2.5 - 2.7 grams. Fits really tight in the body...almost too tight, but it is removeable.
Dave O.
 
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