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Pickering and Stanton Users and Collectors.

needlestein said:
If one has a tendency to hoard, this is what you want to hoard. My vast collection still fits inside one U-Haul medium-sized moving box. For me and my life and my family's health, it's much better than collecting cats, dogs, cars, power tools, turntables, clothing, shoes, kitchen appliances, knick knacks, radios, clocks, furniture, hats, bobble heads, sports memorabilia, books, lamps, typewriters, cameras (I speak from experience, here), tea tins, teacups, glassware, beer steins, stereo separates, 17th century ladies support undergarments, guns, fountain pens, Medieval torture devices, feather quills, historic documents of national interest, Civil War memorabilia, Dixie cups, vintage computers, musical instruments like guitars, calculators, architectural drafting equipment, farming implements, highway signage, dolls, used dental floss, toys, signs, any of various small nocturnal rodents popular with pet lovers, even LP's (basically all that stuff you see littering the wall display shelves at T.G.I. Friday's) and *ahem* girlfriends and especially offspring (at least with my budget). I don't have a ton of stereo equipment, either and my speakers are only bookshelf speakers--besides the woofer.

About the only think I can think of that one could collect that is so small and yet have so much fun with might be souvenir thimbles, paperclips, used staples or spoons, lug nuts
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Great list! Encyclopedic. You either have Chapter 1 of a NYT bestseller on hoarding — or too much time on your hands.
 
Using a Stanton 681 for transferring records to CD for my 93 year old grand father.
Have a Stanton 980 on a Yamaha YP-D10 that I am really enjoying going through Pickering P-20 Pre-Preamp
Also have two Pickering XLZ7500s One is on a Hitachi HT-860 hooked straight to Yamaha CA-810 MC phono sounding great.
 
needlestein said:
Um, no. I collect cartridges. If one has a tendency to hoard, this is what you want to hoard. My vast collection still fits inside one U-Haul medium-sized moving box. For me and my life and my family's health, it's much better than collecting cats, dogs, cars, power tools, turntables, clothing, shoes, kitchen appliances, knick knacks, radios, clocks, furniture, hats, bobble heads, sports memorabilia, books, lamps, typewriters, cameras (I speak from experience, here), tea tins, teacups, glassware, beer steins, stereo separates, 17th century ladies support undergarments, guns, fountain pens, Medieval torture devices, feather quills, historic documents of national interest, Civil War memorabilia, Dixie cups, vintage computers, musical instruments like guitars, calculators, architectural drafting equipment, farming implements, highway signage, dolls, used dental floss, toys, signs, any of various small nocturnal rodents popular with pet lovers, even LP's (basically all that stuff you see littering the wall display shelves at T.G.I. Friday's) and *ahem* girlfriends and especially offspring (at least with my budget). I don't have a ton of stereo equipment, either and my speakers are only bookshelf speakers--besides the woofer.

About the only thing I can think of that one could collect that is so small and yet have so much fun with might be souvenir thimbles, paperclips, used staples or spoons, lug nuts . . . maybe Hot Wheels.
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this very well could be the funniest thing i have ever read on ak in 9 years of reading post.
 
Here's a vintage comparison of the Pickering XV-15/750E, Shure V15-II Improved, and Stanton 681EE -- you can see the Stanton is ruler-flat up to 10 kHz, while the Pickering has a bit of a "smile" to it, which may explain its reputation of sounding "more musical". And all three have the characteristic bump above 10 kHz.

Pickering750E.jpg
 
vwestlife said:
the Stanton is ruler-flat up to 10 kHz, while the Pickering has a bit of a "smile" to it, which may explain its reputation of sounding "more musical"
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I know distortion is the bubonic plague of Audio today, and accuracy is the Holy Grail.

I'll take "more musical" every time. Music is why I listen.
 
Looks like a pretty small amount of error anyway. I'd bet many people's phono preamps are not more accurate. At some level "sounds better" is just better.
 
JFRACE said:
Nice,let me know how it sounds in a week or so as well. Curious
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If you own a xv15, and are considering a new stylus, my new vivid line D1800S .02x.07 at $79.95 from lpgear is getting enough time on it for a review, i have been switching it off and on this morning with a Nagaoka mp110 that is a .04x..07 with maybe only 20 hours on each. I have the vl1800s tracking at 1.75 grams on the stylus, 2.75 with brush, vta is rather high , but the brush holds the needle up at a more level angle , even with the added tracking gram. not a big deal at all, actually pickering was on to something with the brush acting as a additional needle for stability (that i am designing a version of), I think a big part of the Pickering /Stanton genius is , dropping the needle, and letting the bristles choose their grooves to ride along with, to help the stylus with stability, most think its a groove cleaning gimmick, wrong thats not all, Is a stability brush offering today to much to worry about for consumers that already have to many variables to figure out for a good setup, now they have to add another gram beyond the stylus ? Yes i think so. Simply this is the sound opinion. The tails of the instruments are the difference here, after piano notes are struck on the nagaoka it sounds really good, realistic, and then the next instrument sounds great and the music is music, clean, nice average soundstage on the Nagaoka, The XV 15 d1800s, has instrument tail notes that run out a tiny bit longer as other instruments are joining in the song, pretty complex and enjoyable, also what this does is create a deeper front to back layer where the piano or guitar image stays longer when it is played as it fades to the back of the stage, most reviewers talk of soundstage width, i also listen for a layer of depth, possibly from stylus speed and frequency timing probably from the deeper .02 compared to the nags .04. Low end is fast on the nag, possibly more defined than the XV15, the deeper stage depth with the d1800s could be sacrificing a very tiny bit of tighter low end, trust me i looked for the best adjustments tweaking with more tracking weight and changing vta to see if any improvements could be made, it is still a fantastic low end, very tiny diff. Compared to other carts the Pickering XV 15 with its best setup, still needs a little more on the treble knob to match up, even though its said that they have a bump in the higher freqs, You could think of the nag as being a Solid State , and the Moving Iron as a Tube , In the sib test with my joe jackson torture test they were both great, no trying to dial out sib at all, i expected some with the VL , but it was clean by my standards, I love the new stylus ,it is what i would think of as audiophile sweet, more complex to me comparing to other mid price carts, maybe not great to some , but all i will ever need. has me playing records non stop. I am using one of the best sound stage speakers available i think, the kef R series, with a mani pre, parasound amp. audioquest and pangea cables. Sl1200mk5 with a octagrip 422 mg record weight. I will be ordering 2 more of these stylus to keep on hand and for a while I am done trying and swapping for the grail sound. If i want a change in fun, the stanton 500 gives me my boogie, if i need a dose of crazy broadcast sounding awsomeness!!!:music:
 
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needlestein said:
Stanton built a numer of phono pres for studio use which some people probably used at home. They come up at auction once in a while.

I have a Pickering PLZ phono pre pre; that is: a head amp for their low impedance cartridges. I don't think I've ever seen a regular mm phono stage from Pickering. Got any more info?

http://www.pickeringuk.com/plz.html
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i will search ebay again i saw a tube phono pre it said modified, looking a little butchered by the pics
 
needlestein said:
Stanton built a numer of phono pres for studio use which some people probably used at home. They come up at auction once in a while.

I have a Pickering PLZ phono pre pre; that is: a head amp for their low impedance cartridges. I don't think I've ever seen a regular mm phono stage from Pickering. Got any more info?

http://www.pickeringuk.com/plz.html
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230 h was a mono pre, possibly late 50s, nothing i need, i like the stanton 310, has some nice features, one sold for $110 on auction, ill be on the lookout
 
if you are using a replacement stylus with a pickering style brush, the mount can vibrate and rattle from a stiff new brush and create a slight background noise, you will notice it most between songs, simply pop the brush off and squeeze the mount clips together a tiny bit for a tighter fit and eliminate vibration.
 
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