Hi All,
I picked up a JVC TT this past weekend and it came with an Empire cart/stylus that I have tried to research and haven't had any luck finding info on it.
See attached pics.
Plays and sound pretty good.
Cart is labeled Empire TT/E III. Stylus is labeled Empire I on the front and is translucent purple-ish color. When I google it, all that comes up is the 2000 E-III.
Appreciate the help!
“What we have here, is failure to communicate.”
Well at least Empire failed to communicate to the world that they only made two basic models of that “blob” style cart you purchased. The 66 and the 2000. (They had 2 other special high end model lines for cd-4 like 4000d and another special model line 2000z for the flattest hifi phono output).
You have there my favorite one of those models (the 66 model with the totl clear purple stylus) that will perform beautifully if the stylus is in good shape with respect to diamond wear and suspension condition. So well done!
Only way to find out if it is good isto set it up and try it out. Chances are it will perform well.
Empire made literally hundreds of different model numbers for each of their same cartridge bodies to sell to private vendors or overseas. Yes. Hundreds of different models all boiling down to two different models of blob cart.
It doesn’t matter what model numbers are on it. You have to measure the resistance or inductance to see what empire cart it really is, if they are marked with one of empires famous clone model number like yours.
Choices: One of the two regular line models 66 or 2000, or one of the two high end speciality models, 2000z or 4000d. The 2000z and its clones have a special smaller shanked stylus that you can’t use in any other blob empire cart. It is its own dog. Can’t be confused with the other gold blob bodied carts. So that model is easy to identify without a measurement.
The 4000d was a special low inductance body designed for cd-4 (4 channel quadraphonic albums). It has a special cut diamond and low induction to produce the high frequency carrier signal for cd-4.
So there you have it.
Disclaimer: Empire would do something weird to create sales and rename a cart with some new fancy looking stylus like the 2000X. It was not a brand new model but rather a 4000d bodied cart with a fancy gripped metallic red stylus that wasn’t the cd-4 cut.
I hope this clears up everything Empire.
Welcome to the Empire cool kids club. ECKC for short.
