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anyone else running vintage Empire carts?

Small Town Kid Grins Again

Finally mounted up the 888VE I acquired a month or so ago, along with the 232 SDE stylus I got from Gary........and I must say " I'm in Empire love again.
This cart has super rich tone and beautiful sounding bass, with a nice open sound stage. Not quite as airy as my 4000 DIII, but still sounds great ( to me )
Got the cart off of flebay for 36 bucks and the original pinky from Gary shipped was only $43.00. This combo is a hell-ova deal for under 80 dollars.
Thanks to all of you peps for contributing to my Empire insanity. I'm a Happy Happy man.
 

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You've got something a step beyond a mere Pinkie-- you've got the real thing with the hot stamp of approval in gold leaf! Those of us with unstamped Pinkies have to bear the disdainful gaze of skeptics and elitists, which renders us unable to make eye contact.
But seriously, I can't help wishing we knew the actual story of the unstamped "arrowhead" 888-family styli even as I doubt we ever will. Oh well, it's fun to guess.
 
Was going through my audio spares recently and found this NOS Empire 66 series stylus #239-D7C conical. I let my nice 66 QE/X cartridge go to another member some years ago.

Posted in BT for a 66 QE/X cartridge to go with this stylus. Anyone have experience with this particular stylus? I've owned several of the Empire smokey conical styli and enjoyed quite a bit especially with older original LPs.
 

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jbjsr said:
Was going through my audio spares recently and found this NOS Empire 66 series stylus #239-D7C conical. I let my nice 66 QE/X cartridge go to another member some years ago.

Posted in BT for a 66 QE/X cartridge to go with this stylus. Anyone have experience with this particular stylus? I've owned several of the Empire smokey conical styli and enjoyed quite a bit especially with older original LPs.
Click to expand...
I have the Smokey and it sounds really good on either a 66 or clone. But I have not tried the 239-D7C. Supposedly a little bit more like a jukebox stylus but I don’t know.

Give it a try and let us know what you think?
 
russdall said:
Small Town Kid Grins Again

Finally mounted up the 888VE I acquired a month or so ago, along with the 232 SDE stylus I got from Gary........and I must say " I'm in Empire love again.
This cart has super rich tone and beautiful sounding bass, with a nice open sound stage. Not quite as airy as my 4000 DIII, but still sounds great ( to me )
Got the cart off of flebay for 36 bucks and the original pinky from Gary shipped was only $43.00. This combo is a hell-ova deal for under 80 dollars.
Thanks to all of you peps for contributing to my Empire insanity. I'm a Happy Happy man.
Click to expand...

Ya GOTTA love the pink stylus!

Doug
 
jbjsr said:
...found this NOS Empire 66 series stylus #239-D7C conical. I let my nice 66 QE/X cartridge go to another member some years ago. ... Anyone have experience with this particular stylus?
Click to expand...
Before reporting my own experience with a single example of a S66/X aka S906 (239-D7C), you don't have to find another QE/X body for any of the 66 family styli. Any 66-equivalent body, including any of the zillions of 66 bodies appearing under zillions of made-up names, will work. Widening your search will save you both time and money. You'll want the seller to provide resistance measurements; they should hover around 500 ohms. Apologies if you were hunting the QE/X for appearance's sake or simply missing a favorite cartridge and wanting to find it again.

In reviewing what I wrote about the particular S906 I have (no longer available from tVOM), I noticed that right out of the box it sounded good overall but seemed to need some break-in. Tracked well, wide separation, but the sound, the frequency response, seemed off compared to my other Empire styli. I even gave it a rubber treatment, which helped but didn't "cure" the odd sound profile. I consider it nontypical, since my 237-D7C, the "Smokey" 2000, sounds great, just like the more expensive styli in the Pfan 237 lineup. Since we now know that rubber treatments can require months to take full effect, I should listen to it again, though with older ears.

My advice? Don't in any way be afraid to try a genuine 239-D7C. Chances are, yours won't sound like mine. I'll put money with mouth and get another one soon.
 
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Poking around the jukeboxrecords site, I see that the 236-ZDE I mentioned is gone, but they still have the smokey-green S44E (242-DET) for most of the Dynamic Interface/Chunky models for reasonable money and reasonable shipping (~$5). For 888 fans, there's a genuine blue S888SE (232-SDE) and for 999 fans, a green S999E/X (235-DE) and S999/X (235-D7). You can search by using the Pfanstiehl index names.
 
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wualta said:
Poking around the jukeboxrecords site, I see that the 236-ZDE I mentioned is gone, but they still have the smokey-green S44TC (242-DET) for reasonable money and reasonable shipping (~$5). For 888 fans, there's a genuine blue S888SE (232-SDE) and for 999 fans, a green S999E/X (235-DE) and S999/X (235-D7). You can search by using the Pfanstiehl index names.
Click to expand...
Unless they pick up more stock, I bought the last 242-DET for my Chunky. Thanks, Wualta.

That website belongs in a museum of bad old websites. Thank you for finding it.
 
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wualta said:
Before reporting my own experience with a single example of a S66/X aka S906 (239-D7C), you don't have to find another QE/X body for any of the 66 family styli. Any 66-equivalent body, including any of the zillions of 66 bodies appearing under zillions of made-up names, will work. Widening your search will save you both time and money. You'll want the seller to provide resistance measurements; they should hover around 500 ohms. Apologies if you were hunting the QE/X for appearance's sake or simply missing a favorite cartridge and wanting to find it again.
Click to expand...

Thanks Walt. Yes, agree any of the 66 series / 500 ohm cartridges will work. I have a lead on a 66QE/X cartridge which is a favorite with the S912E.
 
Pfanstiehl goof on the 234-DE:
Empire 909E_X-a see Onkyo OC-30.jpg
If you're in the market for an affordable elliptical for your 1000ZE/X slash 999 slash 909 family cartridge, namely the 234-DE, the stylus that came with the 909E/X, you may have spotted Pfanstiehl listings and packages that say the diamond is a 2x7. Tracking at up to 4g. Yikes. But it's actually 4x7, so don't avoid this stylus.
 
wualta said:
Pfanstiehl goof on the 234-DE:
View attachment 3618469
If you're in the market for an affordable elliptical for your 1000ZE/X slash 999 slash 909 family cartridge, namely the 234-DE, the stylus that came with the 909E/X, you may have spotted Pfanstiehl listings and packages that say the diamond is a 2x7. Tracking at up to 4g. Yikes. But it's actually 4x7, so don't avoid this stylus.
Click to expand...
Why is it upside down (diamond)?
 
20251022_103742.jpg
Hello, I would need information about this cell, 1080LT Linear Tracking. What is the reference for the original stylus and is it possible to fit a different stylus, and if so, which reference? Thank you for your answers ;)
 
Jeannot61 said:
Hello, I would need information about this cell, 1080LT Linear Tracking. What is the reference for the original stylus and is it possible to fit a different stylus, and if so, which reference? Thank you for your answers ;)
Click to expand...
Here are the specifications ("specs") for the p-mount 1080 LT and the standard-mount 900 GT, part of the late Golden Touch (GT) series:
1080 LT specs.jpg Empire 900 GT specs.jpg
Any other Dynamic Interface (aka "Chunky") stylus will fit, and most of the D.I. styli will deliver a flat response curve. The styli that will roll off the top octave in a 1080 LT body are the ones meant for the 600 LAC, 500 ID, LAC 75, ID 50, the ones with low-inductance bodies. The advantage of using a GT stylus is the low effective/equivalent/moving mass of the stylus assembly, about one-third that of the S600LAC. Think of them as the D.I. equivalent of the 1976 2000Z and the 1979 EDR.9.

I hope that answers your question.
 
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Jeannot61 said:
Could we then, for example, mount an S900GT diamond on this module?
Click to expand...
Yes. The only significant difference is the cut of the diamond. You could even put one of your 2000E/III styli on it. I've added 900 GT specs to my earlier post.
 
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