Interesting find

[jengland]

Today at a local GW found a Stanton STR8-80 with a Stanton 890SA on it. I realize this is a bit "post vintage" and was a DJ table but it is a very solid and nice looker which will also do 78's.
The cart is a moving iron and Vinyengine lists the output at 6.5mv.
I am assuming this would not then be OK into a phono pre-amp as the output is higher than normal?
Any other knowledge on the table or the cart as I'm going through it?
Tracking force is listed at 2-5G and there was a little screw on 2g weight on top of the headshell which I removed. After alignment should I just hit the center of that range as a first step?

 

[cactuscowboy]

6.5mv output is higher than average, but not unusual. It'll work fine with any standard phono preamp.

 

[clydeselsor]

Always use a conical stylus with the straight eight tonearm...

 

[jengland]

How 'bout spherical

Vinylengine shows this to be a .7ml spherical.
How can I tell if it's that or not? It does say Stanton on the stylus but no way for me to know it it's the original.
Also have seen some talk of the 881 series fitting on this cart as a nice upgrade but I'll have to look and see what profile they are.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

DO NOT USE anything but Conical styli on it. NO OTHERS. Underhung, short straight offset tonearm. Mainly aimed at scratch DJ hip-hop use. 881 is a DON'T use on it. Won't correctly align for elliptical or line contact stylus use without chiseling grooves.

 

[voltcontrol]

Indeed, what kent said is very important, those short "ASTS" turntablist style tone arms aren't too friendly for your vinyl.

Some of the Stanton models offer the possibility to pop in an S shaped arm of conventional length.

 

[jengland]

Got it!

Thanks I will use only the scratch practice disks from Stanton that came with it to check it out. If it works I'll see about a replacement conical.
It is just an interesting one to keep around as my son is a musician and with it's capabilities he might have a little fun with it.