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Did Shure stop making cartridges?

johnjhazel said:
I also have a Lab 80. Love it ! I have 3 headshells armed. LOL.
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I found a NOS prepackaged Lab 80 head shell in a bakelite box already fitted with a Shure M80e (the one with the springs) and I love watching that cart ride over a slightly warped LP.
 
Got plenty of Shure carts mostly all from old table I purchased. First thing I would do is remove those carts to replace with ones I liked better. The other day I picked up a new stylus for a V III that I have but now I cant locate where I put it. I figured I would give it a second chance before I start getting rid of some stuff.

For MM I like the Grace F9 better.
 
A few months ago I got a v15II for less than 30 bucks. A couple months later I got a nos vn15e for about the same. I paid more for a phanstiehl stylus with a hard suspension. I have an assortment of nos Shure and radio shack stylus off the auction site. All cheap. N75c, n75ed, ndc-EJ, 3x, 5x, vn7, n97gd, n44e, n70ej, n70b and a few others. I have a n27e in the mail, probably not nude but still 2x7. I bid low and sometimes things get overlooked. You have to take a chance sometimes. The vn15e was from Goodwill and they had no idea if it was used. It was not. Plus there were 2 together and I got the 2nd one. I think people thought it was a double post, the other one went for 3x my bid. Just when you think there are no more deals, one pops up. Happy hunting.
 
I bought an M97Xe on Amazon years ago for $80. Didn’t like it at first but it took a while to break in. I now love it and have added a JICO stylus which is much brighter than the stock Shure stylus. I also have a pair of V-15 type III and IV with JICO styli but still prefer the M97Xe with the original Shure stylus.
 
haven't you heard Lp's have been a dead obsolete format since the introduction of the CD. Is that why I bought a new Mark Levinson TT last year with a Dynavector Cartridge. and have close to 500 or more LP's? Some one isn't telling us the truth. They must be, I have over 2000 CD's. Oh! Who to believe. I have the answer buy Ortofon and be done with it. No, thats not right either or I wouldn't have bought Dynavector. There are plenty of choices out there. Shure and Stanton haven't been relevant since the V-15 mk V MR and the 981 hzl. See if all of you Shure owners would have updated your cartridges like good little boys as we did in the 70's Shure would still be making cartridges. But you quit only buying replacement styli. What would have happened to Ford and Chevrolet if we all quit buy new cars in the 70's and just bought new power trains or rebuilt the old ones. Its not Shures fault. Its your fault! So quit crying. Its pretty bad when a regular old Ortofon bronze can out track a V-15 MR today. Where's the V-15 10 or the Stanton 2021 we should all be trying to purchase? Not there are they. There is only one American TT manufacturer. How come? I know its my fault, too. Enough said?
 
Got a Shure M91ED on a turntable I just had fixed up and it sounded GREAT with the Original Shure Stylus the shop has when we tested it. It sounds OK with the Part-Express stylus I got for now, but I'll likely move up to something better with either a LPGear of JICO stylus next

After that I picked up a M104e and have a V15V-P on the way. I don't have a true P-Mount table, but have 2 headshells set up so that I can swap in p-mount cartridges and the Shure P-Mounts can be found very cheaply with quite a few stylus options. M104e sounds better than the 91ED with a similarly priced basic stylus, but I suspect all will sound better with upgraded styluses. Really looking forward to the v15v-p, and will likely spend more to set up a good stylus on that.

I suspect Shure could find a good market if they relaunched, but it would likely be a outsourced item with their label slapped on the side.
 
You can still find a M97 (NOT M97xe) and get a Vivid Line stylus. It won't be as pricey but it sounds amazing! I've been using one for the last few months during COVID-19. Ah, the angels come!!!!
 
I find it interesting that somehow the customer is to blame. No blame on me if I wasn't enticed to buy Shures latest products. The reviews for their latest products weren't convincing that they had something better than some of their old products which are mostly cheap and widely available on the used market. Pity that.

In terms of innovation, Shure sat on their successes while their competitors continued to introduce enticing new products. The new products Shure introduced were too much like the same products they'd been selling for decades. I can buy old Shure products that perform close enough to their new products for a fraction of the cost. The market is flooded with used Shure carts often at great prices. You have to provide a reason for someone to want the latest product. My personal impression was that Shure was still selling the equivalent of warmed over 1970's cars wtih fresh paint on them up to the time they quit the business. (And impressions count!) Don't get me wrong they were nice 1970's cars, but you need to entice the customer to the next big thing and Shure wasn't investing to do that. Pity that.

Did Shure muck up their pricing and marketing strategy and make their situation worse? IDK, but any wrong move in the free market just makes it harder to compete. There are now and have been lots of great new/innovative choices in this market and the competition is fierce. At some point a struggling producer that has unenticing products will make a decision to cut their losses and give up. Probably Shure went down that path. The end result is that Shure isn't in that market anymore. Pity that.

BTW, I'm heavily loaded with Shure carts in my ~17 TT's. I'll probably pick up some more Shure carts along the way because they are a safe and quick path to good/great sound; and aftermarket stylus's are ubiquitous and affordable. I'm starting to branch out now and try new manufacture carts. Denon DL-110, AT's, etc. Just dipping my toes in the water (slowly due to cost of "new") because I have plenty of that vintage Shure sound (which I still enjoy) and just want to try something else for a while. Even if Shure was still in the game, they don't have any products in the past decade that would entice me to spend the additional money for their existing "new". Again, not my fault that I wasn't enticed to spend my money on what I felt (my impression) was their latest 1970's cars. Pity that.

BTW, I still like Shure as vintage carts from years gone by and will continue to use them - happily.

JMHO. YMMV.
 
johnjhazel said:
There are plenty of used Shure cartridges at reasonable prices on eBay. Best deal is to buy one without a stylus and get whatever stylus you like separately.
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Did exactly that. Or in some cases picked a whole turntable cheap. My Zero 92 came with a Shure V15 III. Nobody was paying attention that day on Eprey. Twenty three dollars. That went to my Dual 1219. The Garrard got a NOS M55 that the stylus dies after 6 months. Both now have Jico HEs. Kept the Garrard. That is a really interesting table. Picked a M91ED off a Dual. With prices going up their are deals if you are patient. Good luck.

Eric
 
Tim D said:
I find it interesting that somehow the customer is to blame. No blame on me if I wasn't enticed to buy Shures latest products. The reviews for their latest products weren't convincing that they had something better than some of their old products which are mostly cheap and widely available on the used market. Pity that.

In terms of innovation, Shure sat on their successes while their competitors continued to introduce enticing new products. The new products Shure introduced were too much like the same products they'd been selling for decades. I can buy old Shure products that perform close enough to their new products for a fraction of the cost. The market is flooded with used Shure carts often at great prices. You have to provide a reason for someone to want the latest product. My personal impression was that Shure was still selling the equivalent of warmed over 1970's cars wtih fresh paint on them up to the time they quit the business. (And impressions count!) Don't get me wrong they were nice 1970's cars, but you need to entice the customer to the next big thing and Shure wasn't investing to do that. Pity that.

Did Shure muck up their pricing and marketing strategy and make their situation worse? IDK, but any wrong move in the free market just makes it harder to compete. There are now and have been lots of great new/innovative choices in this market and the competition is fierce. At some point a struggling producer that has unenticing products will make a decision to cut their losses and give up. Probably Shure went down that path. The end result is that Shure isn't in that market anymore. Pity that.

BTW, I'm heavily loaded with Shure carts in my ~17 TT's. I'll probably pick up some more Shure carts along the way because they are a safe and quick path to good/great sound; and aftermarket stylus's are ubiquitous and affordable. I'm starting to branch out now and try new manufacture carts. Denon DL-110, AT's, etc. Just dipping my toes in the water (slowly due to cost of "new") because I have plenty of that vintage Shure sound (which I still enjoy) and just want to try something else for a while. Even if Shure was still in the game, they don't have any products in the past decade that would entice me to spend the additional money for their existing "new". Again, not my fault that I wasn't enticed to spend my money on what I felt (my impression) was their latest 1970's cars. Pity that.

BTW, I still like Shure as vintage carts from years gone by and will continue to use them - happily.

JMHO. YMMV.
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All 7 turntables I have Shures. I do have several Stanton and ATs kicking around

Eric
 
You my not think an Ortofon Bronze can track with an MR But I saw for myself. It tracked the Shure Test record from back in the 70's at 1.6 grams without any distortion or break- up.
 
Tim D said:
In terms of innovation, Shure sat on their successes while their competitors continued to introduce enticing new products. The new products Shure introduced were too much like the same products they'd been selling for decades. .
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Doesn't this describe most MM carts even these days? Look at AT's offerings - the VM95 series is just a slight variation on the AT95E. Same with the VM500 series - that's essentially the same cart they've been making since the late 70s. Ortofon's OM series has been made since at least the early 80s. The list goes on.

How many truly new designs exist in the mainstream consumer space?
 
Starquest said:
Doesn't this describe most MM carts even these days? Look at AT's offerings - the VM95 series is just a slight variation on the AT95E. Same with the VM500 series - that's essentially the same cart they've been making since the late 70s. Ortofon's OM series has been made since at least the early 80s. The list goes on.

How many truly new designs exist in the mainstream consumer space?
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In my view it isn't about new designs, it is about enticing innovation. Different enough to entice someone to buy the product. When I say "new" I mean "not second hand". JMHO.
 
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