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My $55 M97xE arrived today

ricohman said:
I went and ordered one from J&R which is a U.S company for $54.99. And the shipping is only $5.95 so $60.94 total.
And although I never get anything shipped if it isn't USPS to Canada they say all the brokerage is included.
We shall see if they try and get another $20-30 out of me.
Either way its a screaming deal for anyone in Canada. Local shop is $189.99 for the same cart. I hate to save money this way as I like keeping the local shops afloat but this is over $100 in savings and I can't ignore that.
Click to expand...

Give us a heads up if it makes it through. Otherwise there are Canadian alternatives:

http://www.acclaim-music.com/Shure-M97XE-Audiophile-Cartridge.html
 
G'day mate, probably not, but interestingly enough high quality DIY audio kits are actually excellent value over here. Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
Slightly off on a tangent but I discovered my local Best Buy now has vinyl and I just had to get Jimi Hendrix "Valleys of Neptune."

My M97xE got the honors of playing it and it sounded fabulous!

It certainly is nice flipping through records these days after thinking it would never be again years ago.

Doug
 
The M97xe came in yesterday. As mentioned before it has an impressive case for an affordable cartridge. Setup was easy enough and it's good looking to boot. After playing just a few songs I was very impressed with it and I'm sure it will get even better as time goes on.
 
Alright, based on all the reviews here I decided to breakdown and buy
an M97xe. It should be here either Wednesday, or Thursday. I got it as an open box, but never installed off of Audiogon for $ 50.00 delivered. I will install it over the weekend and give it a go. It will go onto my Thorens TD-150/Rega RB300 and displace (at least for now) the current Stanton 681EEE Black Body that I have come to love.
I may go ahead and order the Jico stylus for it while I am waiting so that I can try it against the factory installed stylus.

Al. Wise
 
My JICO SAS stylus arrived today.

I put it on the M97xE.

I dropped the needle (carefully) into the lead-in track on Oregon's self-titled ECM LP.

I waited.

The music started.

I looked at the jacket, and then I looked at the disc, to make sure I was playing the record I thought I was. The difference in detail is that amazing.

Truly. Amazing. Difference. Detail and tone improved, both subtly and not so.

Unfriggin-believable.
 
G'day mate, I'm not surprised. Yes, it's 'that' good! :yes: :thmbsp: Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
Kinda off topic, but not too far off...

I also got the JICO SAS stylus for my V15-III today (wife is not a happy camper).

I do not hear nearly the difference from the Ed Saunders' stylus I have been using with my V15. It's better for sure, but it's not the quantum leap that I hear on the M97xE. Actually, the V15-III is in line with my expectations, whereas the M97xE greatly exceeded them.
 
G'day mate, very interesting stuff. Your observations are pretty well in line with what I've read elsewhere and indeed my own observations with the Jico SAS stylus on the Shure M97xE.

This all seems to add weight to the belief that the 'problem' with the Shure M97xE is the supplied stylus and not the cartridge generator/ body.

At least one can improve things significantly with the 'standard' stylus by tweaking the load resistance, but after all is said and done, the Jico SAS stylus for the Shure M97xE is clearly a superior stylus at 47 k! :thmbsp: :music: Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
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M97 dampers and SAS

Hi Folks

I "created" a P-Mount M97 using an old 1000E fitted with the M97xE SAS Stylus.

The sound is fantastic - a truly veil lifting experience.

It is currently running on an arm which is not really right for the cartridge (too heavy) - resulting in a resonant frequency around 7Hz (both measured using HiFi News LP and calculated from arm mass).

What I noticed is that when measuring the resonant frequency, the cartridge oscillations (at resonant freq) were massively reduced.... so the damper really is having an effect. - Note that it did not change the resonant frequency - so the compliance remains the same.

This leads back to the earlier discussion about arm up and arm down - there is clearly a damping influence on the arm cartridge from the "damper" (duh!)...

Is this what is making the difference?

If the arm is already sufficiently damped, is the arm becoming "over damped"?

The Dual's (at least the later ones) are known for having low mass tonearms, this should put the resonant frequency in the perfect spot for the M97's therefore no need for damper.

With a heavier arm - and a resonant frequency below 8Hz - the damper should improve things....

I will compare my combo in the Ultra Low Mass Revox as opposed to the mid to heavy Toshiba later....

As another comment - I ran the N99E stylus on the same cartridge .... big difference between the eliptical and the SAS, also on the HiFi News LP the SAS tracks up to track 8 on side 1 (300Hz +16db) - where the N99E will only do track 7 (300Hz +14db).

And even the SAS just skipped over track 9 (300Hz +18db)....

I will be doing the same tests on the Revox to see what difference the tonearm makes...

That SAS stylus both measures and sounds fabulous - and for what it costs, fantastic value!

I considered getting a HE stylus as well for academic comparison purposes.... but didn't (couldn't justify the additional $), so I can't compare...
 
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