ELAC STS200 Scroe!

[Panamafred]

So, I recently had a good turn of Audiokarma. At a yard sale I spy an old Fisher tube tuner for $10—scroe! And an ancient Elac changer that had no plinth. The owner begged me to take the table which I had no desire to do but I did anyways. I get it home and find the cartridge installed is an ELAC STS200, reportedly one of the first stereo cartridges ever made—1957. I was shocked to see that these actually sell for pretty big bucks.


I send away for a new stylus from VOM and now have it installed on an AR-XA tracking at 4 grams, (specs say 4-6). I’m not overly impressed right now although it did sound great playing thick DG classical albums. I would love to have an old Empire or ROK to throw this on but that is not in the cards right now. I don’t plan on playing my MFSL’s with it, but I do like the idea of playing old Jazz and Classical LP’s with it.


So now the question is what to do?


Is the AR-XA / STS200 matchup too poor to evaluate the sound of this cart?


I’m thinking of installing this on my Dual 1209, any thoughts on the arm/cart matchup here?


Or am I just ruining my records at 4 grams?


Either way, I’m determined to hear what this cart sounds like before I attempt to monetize it.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[revox-b77]

Why not fix the Elac table up and put it back on there? Elac made some pretty classic turntables. The AR is not really a 4-6 gram tracker. What model is the Elac table?

 

[Panamafred]

This isn't my picture but the table is the XA100

 

[Montycat]

That's my picture and you're welcome.

It might be kind of fun to fix that up. I actually passed mine on with a couple of other old changers to a young guy who was keen to work on them. I just had too many projects and decided to focus on my Thorens TD-134 and an Elac 50 instead. That one came with a later Elac cartridge.

 

[Panamafred]

So I have this set up now on the 1209...

Really enjoying it! Tracking at 4.5 grams, anti-skate is dialed in. Displaced my Shure M-7D. Listening to some Country Joe and The Fish right now. I'm thinking this might be a nice cartridge to rock albums that were never supposed to be audiophile masterpieces.

Had a few nice thick Impulse Jazz LpP's on earlier, sounded great! Not thrilled with presentation of the vocals with this set-up but this cartridge does ROCK. Channel seperation is absurd.

Will have to pull out an old stereo demo disc I'm sure will be a hoot.