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ATN 70/71 Stylus Identification - Conical or Elliptical?

wintersdawn

wintersdawn

Active Member
I have several original Audio Technica ATN 70/71 styli and wondered if the colour signifies whether they are conical or elliptical?

Green Stylus - says Toshiba on the stylus mirrored face (ATN71 on label)
Grey Stylus - says Toshiba on the stylus mirrored face (ATN70/71/ND136G on label)
Orange Stylus - says Audio Technica on the stylus mirrored face (ATN70/71/ND136G on label.

At the moment I have a brown ATN70/71 installed on my Pioneer PL-12D, assuming this is conical?

Thanks for any help with what these colours mean, if anything.
 

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I believe the Green is elliptical and orange is conical, at least that is what I recall with genuine AT styli, but this is going back some. I am unsure about the grey one as I've never seen one. Perhaps someone with more recent experience can confirm.
 
Always hard to tell, 'cause OEM variants might deviate from the original colour scheme or not. Anyway, originally there were four conicals and two ellipticals in the AT70 family, namely the ATN70L (grey; ~ 3.5 g), the ATN70 (red; ~ 2.5 g), the ATN71 (yellow; ~ 2 g) and the ATN72 (brown; ~ 1.5 g) as well as the ATN71E (green; ~ 2 g) and the ATN72E (blue; ~ 1.5 g).

But if you want to make sure, why not simply grab a good loupe and have a look? The typical front and back cut facets of entry-level ellipticals are pretty easy to spot...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
vincei said:
I believe the Green is elliptical and orange is conical, at least that is what I recall with genuine AT styli, but this is going back some. I am unsure about the grey one as I've never seen one. Perhaps someone with more recent experience can confirm.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, I found some other info online about the green one being elliptical but they seem to have 'ATN71E' on the packaging. My green one just says 'ATN71 Green'.
 
lini said:
Always hard to tell, 'cause OEM variants might deviate from the original colour scheme or not. Anyway, originally there were four conicals and two ellipticals in the AT70 family, namely the ATN70L (grey; ~ 3.5 g), the ATN70 (red; ~ 2.5 g), the ATN71 (yellow; ~ 2 g) and the ATN72 (brown; ~ 1.5 g) as well as the ATN71E (green; ~ 2 g) and the ATN72E (blue; ~ 1.5 g).

But if you want to make sure, why not simply grab a good loupe and have a look? The typical front and back cut facets of entry-level ellipticals are pretty easy to spot...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
Click to expand...

Thanks Manfred for the info. I assumed the colour did not signify anything but will adjust the VTF according to which colour I install. I will also take a magnifying glass that I have and identify the cut of the green one to establish whether it is elliptical or not.

The cartridge that I have was originally on a Hitachi turntable and is a MT-30, which I believe is the same as the audio technica AT70?
 
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One other question, is there only an AT70 cartridge (and no AT71 or AT72 cartridge), with the stylus making it different i.e. ATN72 etc? Thanks.
 
I sold a Pioneer TT w/AT-71 cart to a local guy. He wanted to upgrade but decided to keep that one for testing used vinyl.
 
wd: Well, the labels on top of the body are different, but technically all AT70 family bodies are the same - also including the AT771 and AT771E, which sport needle variants with visor guard.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
Thanks all for the feedback & the info about the AT70 cartridge being the same with the styli making the difference.

I have learned that the 'pretty' different colours are not for decoration but actually mean something! Should have known there would be more to it as with all vinyl/TT related things. That's good though as it really is a hobby all its own with so much to learn.
 
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I wondered if someone could confirm this hopefully best Audio Technica match for my turntable:

Pioneer PL-12D turntable with AT70 cartridge (originally MT-30 from Hitachi turntable).

Either an original Audio Technica ATN70 (yellow, 2g, conical) or an ATN71E (green, 2g, elliptical).

Many thanks,

Martin
 
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Martin: I guess you meant the ATN71 and ATN71E - and yup, those should both fit well to the arm of the Pioneer.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
lini said:
Martin: I guess you meant the ATN71 and ATN71E - and yup, those should both fit well to the arm of the Pioneer.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
Click to expand...

Thanks Manfred, yes I was mistaken, it is ATN71 (yellow) and ATN71E (green).

I have a ATN71 and have been able to purchase two ATN71E.

Thanks & Best wishes
 
Also, would the ATN72 (conicial, brown, 1.5g) & ATN72E (elliptical, blue, 1.5g) be a good match for the Pioneer PL-12D?

Many thanks.
 
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