need set up advise - Stanton 681EEE

Sitka

Sitka

Active Member
Hi All,

I need advise setting up my recently acquired Stanton 681EEE carts. Research says they are very good carts from the 70's. Two carts - one is bad, needs a new stylus, but the other looks new and unused , excellent condition . :)

Installed the new looking Stanton in a headshell and mounted on the tone arm, set tracking weight to 1 gr. (using digital gram scale for carts). The cart tracks very well, but SQ is poor - the base is bloated, boomy. Not sure what the issue is here. I switched back to my MC cart and all sounded fine.

I can change the settings on the phono stage and experiment with that - but what would cause the base overload?
 
Register to hide this ad
The 681 cartridge is an MM type. You’ll need to set the phono stage to MM. Since your MC cartridge sounds fine, the phono stage setting is currently set for MC type.
 
Last edited:
Aud10file said:
The 681 cartridge is an MM type. You’ll need to set the phono stage to MM. Since your MC cartridge sounds fine, the phono stage setting is currently set for MC type.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the note, would this account for the bloated base? - I'll check it in the a.m. Once I have the Stanton set correctly, I'd like to do some comparative listening with my other MM carts - a Shure M91ED and a Grado Green.
 
Sitka said:
Thanks for the note, would this account for the bloated base? - I'll check it in the a.m. Once I have the Stanton set correctly, I'd like to do some comparative listening with my other MM carts - a Shure M91ED and a Grado Green.
Click to expand...
Defo loaded wrong. When you switch yto mm you will be fine.
Get these retipped when needed don't buy after market stylus non are as good as retipped originals. Even if the stylus is snapped it is still better to retip these.
Chris
 
if your phono input on the amp is set for MC (MC cart sounds good), then the sensitivity and gain are set for microvolts rather than millivolts and that overloads the amp. And yes, that would sound muddy and boomy.
Additionally, if the 681 stylus comes with the brush, that requires an extra gram of tracking force to offset the brush. Quick rule: If you balance the tonearm with the brush on, then you need 2g of 2.2g of tracking force. If you balance the tonearm without the brush, you set it to 1-1.2g. And if you decide to mount the brush afterwards, no resetting of tracking force required. The brush weighs about 1g so it provides the extra gram by itself. That's how I've been using mine for years.
 
cafe latte said:
Defo loaded wrong. When you switch yto mm you will be fine.
Get these retipped when needed don't buy after market stylus non are as good as retipped originals. Even if the stylus is snapped it is still better to retip these.
Chris
Click to expand...
I am looking for vendor that can repair the stylus - recomendations?
 
SaSi said:
if your phono input on the amp is set for MC (MC cart sounds good), then the sensitivity and gain are set for microvolts rather than millivolts and that overloads the amp. And yes, that would sound muddy and boomy.
Additionally, if the 681 stylus comes with the brush, that requires an extra gram of tracking force to offset the brush. Quick rule: If you balance the tonearm with the brush on, then you need 2g of 2.2g of tracking force. If you balance the tonearm without the brush, you set it to 1-1.2g. And if you decide to mount the brush afterwards, no resetting of tracking force required. The brush weighs about 1g so it provides the extra gram by itself. That's how I've been using mine for years.
Click to expand...
Yes - you are correct! Dumb mistake! I set the phono stage to MM and turned all the impedance DIP switches off. Reinstalled the Stanton at 1gr. I don't use the brush, I just clean my records.

This cart sounds super good! I will give it a few days playing different records, but first impressions ( Klemmer, Touch) are excellent SQ. Very detailed, no sibilance, base is tight/fast, I think it may become one of my favorites.

I need to look at the other (bad) Stanton with a magnifier, the stylus may be the problem. Have read that the replacements available now are poor, not sure what my options are.
 
If you have an original brush it's worth trying out. Feels like some arms benefit more.

New brushes are never cut right it seems, if they're cut at all.
 
The brush is not there for cleaning the groove. It's a resonance stabilizer. Worth using it if the toneram is medium-high effective mass.
As far as stylus condition: Make sure the stylus is not dirty. Some of the grime from grooves tend to stick to the stylus and not go away with casual brushing.
 
SaSi said:
As far as stylus condition: Make sure the stylus is not dirty. Some of the grime from grooves tend to stick to the stylus and not go away with casual brushing.
Click to expand...
I'll drink to that! I purchased a Stanton 680EE on the 'bay recently, and the OEM 6800 stylus it came with had fossilized gunk on the diamond that nearly needed dynamite to remove...
 
Last edited:
If you are using the Stanton brush that came with the stylus assembly then you should add 1/2 to 3/4 of a gram to the measured tracking weight. There is always a debate about whether the brush helped or detracted from the final sound delivered to the listener. I always used the brush whether using the 881S stylus with the 881 or the 981 HZL stylus assembly or the CS 1000 assembly with my 881 cartridge body. I always used the brush Shure provided for it V-15 models, too. and added the appropriate extra weight.
 
twiiii said:
If you are using the Stanton brush that came with the stylus assembly then you should add 1/2 to 3/4 of a gram to the measured tracking weight. There is always a debate about whether the brush helped or detracted from the final sound delivered to the listener. I always used the brush whether using the 881S stylus with the 881 or the 981 HZL stylus assembly or the CS 1000 assembly with my 881 cartridge body. I always used the brush Shure provided for it V-15 models, too. and added the appropriate extra weight.
Click to expand...
Stanton does recommend 1g added for the brush. Only 0.5g would likely result in the cartridge underperforming. New brushes are a crap shoot, I only use the originals.

Shure recommend 0.5g for their brush.
 
SaSi said:
The brush is not there for cleaning the groove. It's a resonance stabilizer. Worth using it if the toneram is medium-high effective mass.
As far as stylus condition: Make sure the stylus is not dirty. Some of the grime from grooves tend to stick to the stylus and not go away with casual brushing.
Click to expand...
That is interesting, I don't know if my tone arm is "medium-high effective mass"? The TT is a Technics SL1300, stock/orginal arm.

I do have the Stanton brushes, could give it a try and listen for changes.

My Shure cart did not come with a brush, nor any other carts in the lot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom