Help and Opinion - V15 V MR worn stylus or bad cut?

[Carl in FL]

Folks,
I purchased a 1600x USB microscope to check my stylus on my V15 VMR stylus; I'm the original owner (!) and I know I've not played more than 100 records on this stylus. I've added photos to this post to see if anyone sees what I do; a misshapen stylus as if one side is more worn than the other. It's mounted on a SME Type III arm on a Thorens TD126 MK III turntable. Is it enough to be concerned, or is it within tolerance and usable?

The last image is view from top to check wear:

I know factors like azimuth, anti-skate and table leveling are factors if this wasn't the result of a poorly cut diamond. Has anyone else seen one shaped like this?

 

[for_p1]

Folks,
I purchased a 1600x USB microscope to check my stylus on my V15 VMR stylus; I'm the original owner (!) and I know I've not played more than 100 records on this stylus. I've added photos to this post to see if anyone sees what I do; a misshapen stylus as if one side is more worn than the other. It's mounted on a SME Type III arm on a Thorens TD126 MK III turntable. Is it enough to be concerned, or is it within tolerance and usable?

I know factors like azimuth, anti-skate and table leveling are factors if this wasn't the result of a poorly cut diamond. Has anyone else seen one shaped like this?

This does NOT look like V15 stylus at all. Likely you got a fake one.

 

[tubeactive]

It looks well worn, unfortunately. But, that could be the uploaded pics at fault, too. Could you tame the magnification a bit, more like 200-300 and re-post ? Also, did you clean the stylus well, before the pics ? With the tip looking rounded at the bottom, it almost looks like a 78 rpm spherical. 1600X is a lot of magnification. You should probably be able to see a clean micro-ridge easily with less than a third of that magnification. And, you only used it for 100 discs ? Uh oh...

 

[Pio1980]

I calculate ca 150 hours use from your info. For me, the trigger point for inspection and replacement was sound quality from the inner detailing in the upper midrange on the last cut sounding fuzzy around the edges. Keep a spare stylus for comparison.

 

[tubeactive]

If discs are clean and kept clean, any quality, cleaned often diamond should last 500-1000 hours or more. Throw in some dirty discs every now and then and time is diminished.

Shure had already had enough cartridge rubber problems since the 1980s. Then, their diamonds went bad ? So much for outsourcing...LOL...

 

[Blue Shadow]

Focus must be on the very tip of the diamond as the wear spots would be the size of a period in these threads on the full image. It is very small and hard to get pics of wear without the right gear.

The look of the nail may also be off because of the focus point. Maybe more trial and error on taking pics will get better shots.

 

[Carl in FL]

It looks well worn, unfortunately. But, that could be the uploaded pics at fault, too. Could you tame the magnification a bit, more like 200-300 and re-post ? Also, did you clean the stylus well, before the pics ? With the tip looking rounded at the bottom, it almost looks like a 78 rpm spherical. 1600X is a lot of magnification. You should probably be able to see a clean micro-ridge easily with less than a third of that magnification. And, you only used it for 100 discs ? Uh oh...

I cleaned the stylus and tried my best to take better pictures:

Are these better images?

Thanks for all your help!

Carl

 

[cafe latte]

I cleaned the stylus and tried my best to take better pictures:

Are these better images?

Thanks for all your help!

Carl

As I said on VE need much more magnification
Chris

 

[Pio1980]

Nice stone, regardless.

 

[Wildcat]

That's an old V15-V stylus, as it has the serial number on the front. (The Type V came out in 1982 or 1983, and I owned one of the early versions that shipped with the HE--hyperelliptical--stylus before they came along with the MR stylus.) I never had a bad one, even when they switched production to Mexico and the serial number went away.

At that age, I'd be more concerned about the rubber stylus mount hardening--I found an older one in storage and the cantilever was frozen solid. Known issue on these, in the right conditions of course.

 

[Carl in FL]

A couple more shots:

 

[Blue Shadow]

You are getting close to being able to see wear. The middle pics with the white dots in each side of the diamond are where flat spots would show in a proper setup with side illumination of the nail one lamp on each side.

The new stylus with rounded contact point will have small dots if reflected light and a worn stylus will have larger usually different sized white spots of light reflecting off the flat worn area. Different size because most antiskate isn't accurate to keep the needle centered in the groove and one side gets more wear.

 

[Carl in FL]

That's an old V15-V stylus, as it has the serial number on the front. (The Type V came out in 1982 or 1983, and I owned one of the early versions that shipped with the HE--hyperelliptical--stylus before they came along with the MR stylus.) I never had a bad one, even when they switched production to Mexico and the serial number went away.

At that age, I'd be more concerned about the rubber stylus mount hardening--I found an older one in storage and the cantilever was frozen solid. Known issue on these, in the right conditions of course.

I was concerned about that also; but yesterday I played my "obstacle course" record, the Telarc 1812 Overature - Erich Kunzel / Cincinnati Orchestra, and it tracked beautifully with no audible distortion. Before my posts I spend a considerable amount of time rebalancing the arm, re-checking the azimuth and the turntable leveling. I've also tweaked the height for my new cork pad, replacing the Platter Matter I bought 30 some years ago. As a backup I also have an Audio Technica AT-155LC and a Shure M97HE; although I'm fairly certain I'll have to replace the stylus on the AT-155LC; it was mounted on the turntable when I purchased it, and I put some miles on it after the original owner did.

 

[Wildcat]

@Carl in FL Shure also had an Obstacle Course test record (issued around the time the Type V was introduced) that you could use to set anti-skating and check on the tracking ability. If you can track that 1812 record, I think you're safe. I have a lot of 12-inch singles that are cut really hot, and it's rare that cartridges can get through them without distortion. The Shure was the only one I've ever owned that could track those flawlessly. (Although I really haven't used my turntable much in the past few years, so there are many I haven't tried with newer cartridges to see how well they track.)

This Nagaoka was bang-on perfect when I set it up. It's similar to a Grado in that it's a moving iron type yet it has a really skinny, lightweight cantilever and the best diamond Nagaoka offers, so it's been respectable. Sounds nice through my CJ EV-1 phono stage.

 

[cafe latte]

You are getting close to being able to see wear. The middle pics with the white dots in each side of the diamond are where flat spots would show in a proper setup with side illumination of the nail one lamp on each side.

The new stylus with rounded contact point will have small dots if reflected light and a worn stylus will have larger usually different sized white spots of light reflecting off the flat worn area. Different size because most antiskate isn't accurate to keep the needle centered in the groove and one side gets more wear.

it does not show wear magnification is not nearly enough.
Chris