GE VRII & 78s

beatcomber

beatcomber

AK Member
As seen in another thread, I just set up a GE VRII on a Rek-O-Kut Model 160 mono arm for playing mono microgroove LPs/45s and well as 78s on my TD-124.

The NOS USA-made Pfanstiehl .7mil microgroove stylus sounds fantastic, but the (new) EVG 2.5mil 78 stylus sounds... weird. It has a serious midrange suck-out and almost sounds out of phase, ie: sorta hollow.

What the heck is going on? Do I have a bum stylus? Is the suspension on the 78 side of the GE messed up? Is this what a sapphire 78 stylus sounds like?

I was planning to buy a diamond 3mil stylus from thevoiceofmusic.com, but I'm hesitant to spend the $$ if the results will be the same.

Any thoughts?
 
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Well, its a different cartridge, but, from the same family,…
I have both the RPX and VRII. I never cared for the RPX, as i thought it sounded really tinny, and weird. I'd play both the VRII and RPX, and could tell a big difference between them.
I took to studying the two different styli, and found that the suspension/damping blocks on the RPX had literally melted away, leaving the stylus without support.
So I took a razor blade, and carefully cut away the remnant of the melted-out suspension/damper block. I then took a piece of neoprene foam that happened to be adhesive backed. I cut a small square block, and inserted it into the RPX stylus, and it came roaring back to life.
I don't think that I need a new needle point, as its clearly clean and sharp. I'll replace it with another eventually, but that neoprene insert really made a huge difference.
All of this to say,.. thats its that easy to have something make a difference, either good or bad.
 
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Hmmm... the foam at both ends looks OK. Maybe I'll swap the two styli around and see if I get the same results.
 
How timely, I was just mulling over where to get a 78 stylus for my VR II.
Just got a 1 mil diamond from VOM for lps (NOS Astatic) and that worked out fine, why I didnt order the 78 needle at the same time is beyond me.
Anyway, I think I will wait a bit more till I hear the end result of this before making up my mind .
Just curious..on your new 78 stylus, is the tip of the EVG at about a 30 degree kick from the cantilever? My old needles were pretty close to flat going, but this new stylus has quite the angle at the tip.
 
Celt said:
Overly-resonant I bet.
Click to expand...

:yes:

It sounds fine at 33 or 45, but maybe the velocity of movement at 78, in that wide groove, is creating problems with this armboard.

I should have the new armboard done tomorrow or Thursday, and will post a follow-up.

bobaloniny said:
Just curious..on your new 78 stylus, is the tip of the EVG at about a 30 degree kick from the cantilever? My old needles were pretty close to flat going, but this new stylus has quite the angle at the tip.
Click to expand...

You mean bent, horizontally? Uh huh. I thought it might be defective because of that.
 
Yip, on the horizontal plane.
Just checking because if whatever 78 stylus I end up with doesnt have that happening, then I would have to reset the arm height every time I switched from lp to 78.
I tend to be a creature of convenience.
 
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