Cartridge for a Pioneer Pl-518

[Chuck awker]

Steal of a deal at a garage sale.Pioneer pl 518 was just sitting there with weight off the tone arm so they thought it was broke,got it for 20.00,yippe!Found the Wright in the box took it home cleaned it up and works perfectly.So,here is my question:
I have a Pickering xv15/625e on it right now what would be,on a modest budget,a cart that I should use,just looking for suggestions.It sounds good now but my budget would be from 100.00 to 150.00.

 

[Crab33]

You could look for a decent aftermarket stylus for the Pickering. For a new cartridge within your budget, I would look at the Audio Technica VM95 range - possibly the VM95EN, which has a nude elliptical stylus. This should give you a fairly neutral sound. For a warmer sound, there are the Grado Prestige and Sumiko cartridges. Another good option is the Ortofon Super-OM10 for an open, detailed sound on a budget - it has a high-ish compliance stylus but works fine on medium-mass arms such as yours.

 

[gary7]

Quite a few 518's popping up on AK lately. I got one at GW last Sunday. Last week my local Record Store had one with a nice ADC XLM cart, sold it for $200.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

You could look for a decent aftermarket stylus for the Pickering. For a new cartridge within your budget, I would look at the Audio Technica VM95 range - possibly the VM95EN, which has a nude elliptical stylus. This should give you a fairly neutral sound. For a warmer sound, there are the Grado Prestige and Sumiko cartridges. Another good option is the Ortofon Super-OM10 for an open, detailed sound on a budget - it has a high-ish compliance stylus but works fine on medium-mass arms such as yours.

I'd install the Ortofon OM-10 or a Grado Black for the money. Either work well on the PL-518 arm. Do remember overhang is 49 mm, so don't use the Concorde (which is 52 mm overhang). Biggest weakness would be the rubber feet, they dry rot and sag. You can buy nicer upgrade feet which fit the PL-518 on eBay.

 

[MitsuMan]

I'd install the Ortofon OM-10 or a Grado Black for the money. Either work well on the PL-518 arm. Do remember overhang is 49 mm, so don't use the Concorde (which is 52 mm overhang). Biggest weakness would be the rubber feet, they dry rot and sag. You can buy nicer upgrade feet which fit the PL-518 on eBay.

Yes, I ran the older Grado GF-1+ on a 518 many years ago. It was a good match.

 

[Chuck awker]

I'd install the Ortofon OM-10 or a Grado Black for the money. Either work well on the PL-518 arm. Do remember overhang is 49 mm, so don't use the Concorde (which is 52 mm overhang). Biggest weakness would be the rubber feet, they dry rot and sag. You can buy nicer upgrade feet which fit the PL-518 on eBay.

So,I already ordered the feet as this had none,lol.Whats strange is I had an extra stylys looked new with no darkening of part that fits in cart,put it on,and WOW,it sounds so much better.I have an entry level Pro-Ject with a Ortofon 2M Blue also.I put the same album on each one and A-Bd them and I could not tell the difference,actually the Pickering had a little tighter bass and was a little brighter which I enjoyed.So I think I will keep the Pickering for now until I find a deal on something else....will stay with Ortofon,though.