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Possibly the ultimate Pickering XSV-3000?? Perhaps??

onwardjames

onwardjames

Hoardimus Maximus
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Hello everyone!!

Recently, an AK'er was kind enough to gift to me a Pickering XSV-3000 with missing stylus and cantilever, super cool move.

I sent it to Joseph on that auction site, and within 3 weeks, he put the cantilver (boron) from a Clearaudio Maestro with a micro ridge Namiki stylus onto the Pickering.

EDIT - I had it a bit wrong - Here's from the retipper's own words.

"Only one correction. The boron cantilever I installed in your D3000 was not from a Clearaudio Maestro. It was sourced directly from Ogura as a brand new part complete with the 8/70 nude line contact. It happens to be the same one Clearaudio uses on the Maestro, but they also use Namiki MicroRidge too, which is a little different. "

Please forgive me, I might have those names wrong. Apparently, the Clearaudio Maestro is a serious cart. I know nothing, lol.

Once I received the beauty, I was disappointed that tracking was awful, and the sibilance was just amazingly bad. BUT......

turns out I hadn't accounted for the weight of the brush, which is around 1 gm, and so I was essentially trying to track at about .5 grams (had it dialed in at 1.5).

Once I got it to 2 grams (actual tracking weight 1 gram) dear god, she came together.

I spun a lovingly played copy of War "The World is a Ghetto" and the spittle in the saxophones was right there to hear. All those harmonies were separated and distinguishable, like some urban Beach Boys or something.

Listening to Kings of Leon, "Walls" which is a very busy sounding record, and far too hot, if I wanted to be critical, was absolutely sublime. This cart handled those busy passages easily, with no smearing.

The last track I got to spin was "The Battle of Evermore". Sandy Denny's vocals were so present in the room, I felt like I could reach out and hug her.
Then I flipped that record and went straight to "When the Levee Breaks". The brilliance of that recording (drums at the end of a long hall, and compressed heavily) shone thru. The LZ magic was very apparent.

I have good carts. Vintage Empires, Shibata-clad V15's, etc. This one even bested my MF-100 Astatic, which I hold in high regard.

Here's some pics that Joseph provided. His work wasn't cheap, but neither was the parts he was using. All in all, I'm one very pleased person.

20190815_085743[1].jpg 20190815_085752[1].jpg

If you're interested in saving some cart you have, I cannot recommend his work enough. I do not wish to break any rules I'm unaware about, so if you wish to know more, PM me.

Thanks everyone!!
 
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Having heard the original stereohedron stylus, I fell in love with the Pickering long ago, but I have to say, this boron cantilever and micro ridge is considerably better.

I think the word I kept hearing in my head is "composed". The cart never bellows at you, never shrieks. Very controlled, clean and engaging.

Here's the opinion of the man who did the work. I agree with his very well-stated thoughts, below -

"My listening impressions were that it was awesome. I’ve done others with the boron only partially up the cantilever and they sound good too, but surprisingly mellow. They were just like original, but a little more detailed. Yours, with the complete boron transmission line just gives more more more. More bass, more midrange, more treble, cleaner tracking, clearer midrange, tighter bass, and just so much energy. I was relieved to also observe that tracking is clean even at 1g and sailed through my torture records and keeping the mellow sibilants that Pickering is known for. "

Yep yep!!
 
onwardjames said:
Having heard the original stereohedron stylus, I fell in love with the Pickering long ago, but I have to say, this boron cantilever and micro ridge is considerably better.

I think the word I kept hearing in my head is "composed". The cart never bellows at you, never shrieks. Very controlled, clean and engaging.

Here's the opinion of the man who did the work. I agree with his very well-stated thoughts, below -

"My listening impressions were that it was awesome. I’ve done others with the boron only partially up the cantilever and they sound good too, but surprisingly mellow. They were just like original, but a little more detailed. Yours, with the complete boron transmission line just gives more more more. More bass, more midrange, more treble, cleaner tracking, clearer midrange, tighter bass, and just so much energy. I was relieved to also observe that tracking is clean even at 1g and sailed through my torture records and keeping the mellow sibilants that Pickering is known for. "

Yep yep!!
Click to expand...
I wonder if this would be a good move for my 981 I just posted about
 
Or you can just order a AT-OC9/ii, it comes with a gold plated boron cantilever with a fine line stylus from the factory. ;)
 
Ken Boyd said:
Or you can just order a AT-OC9/ii, it comes with a gold plated boron cantilever with a fine line stylus from the factory. ;)
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Blewpernt said:
And then spend additional $300 on a decent new MC phono stage, and then potentially sort out the extra noise issues if you’re going to go cheap with the step up equipment, and then spend more on shielded interconnects, and then still realize you prefer the Pickering sound to the OC9, which by the way won’t track for crap at 1g ;)
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I may be wrong, but it might be that Ken's comment was meant for Mark 1234??

EDIT - perhaps not. Hadn't heard of that cart, thank you, Ken.

I spun Jeff Beck's "Live At Ronnie Scott's" last night (thank you, @4-2-7 ) and for the duration of that record, I forgot it was vinyl.

All I heard was Vinnie Colaitu's amazing drumming work, Jeff Beck's gnarly fingers, and Tal Wilkenfeld's adept bass playing. It was sublime.

This cart is a serious performer, and really deserves a better TT than my humble Technics SL1400mk2.
 
onwardjames said:
I may be wrong, but it might be that Ken's comment was meant for Mark 1234??

EDIT - perhaps not. Hadn't heard of that cart, thank you, Ken.

I spun Jeff Beck's "Live At Ronnie Scott's" last night (thank you, @4-2-7 ) and for the duration of that record, I forgot it was vinyl.

All I heard was Vinnie Colaitu's amazing drumming work, Jeff Beck's gnarly fingers, and Tal Wilkenfeld's adept bass playing. It was sublime.

This cart is a serious performer, and really deserves a better TT than my humble Technics SL1400mk2.
Click to expand...

Just received a USPS update, my cartridge is scheduled to arrive today. But with work and preparations for the upcoming storm it might be some time before I get to install it.
 
I am the original owner of a Pickering XSV/3000 with the original factory Stereohedron stylus still installed. It's been stored for about 35 years, I replaced it with an Ortofon OM-10 somewhere around 1984 when I switched to a new TT. No idea how many hours I put on the XSV/3000 back in the day, not a trivial amount, but it was still very serviceable at the time I retired it. It was well protected in original packaging all these years (it came in a very cool little case, pretty fancy looking).

So I'm looking for opinions on what to do with it, if I want to put it back into service. Is a re-tipping in my immediate future? What are the chances it is still a viable cartridge/stylus? Also, any tips on things to look out for, is there any maintenance (e.g. lubrication) likely to be needed, etc.?
 
GlasgowGrip said:
I am the original owner of a Pickering XSV/3000 with the original factory Stereohedron stylus still installed. It's been stored for about 35 years, I replaced it with an Ortofon OM-10 somewhere around 1984 when I switched to a new TT. No idea how many hours I put on the XSV/3000 back in the day, not a trivial amount, but it was still very serviceable at the time I retired it. It was well protected in original packaging all these years (it came in a very cool little case, pretty fancy looking).

So I'm looking for opinions on what to do with it, if I want to put it back into service. Is a re-tipping in my immediate future? What are the chances it is still a viable cartridge/stylus? Also, any tips on things to look out for, is there any maintenance (e.g. lubrication) likely to be needed, etc.?
Click to expand...

First, since you're new, WELCOME TO AUDIOKARMA !!!

It's possible she'll work just fine. Have you tried it yet?? At worst, the suspension might have suffered. If so, let us know. I have a solution for you.

If you end up wanting to go the route I went, I happen to know that my retipper can put a brand new Pickering stereohedron on that baby for a very fair price.

However, I bet if stored correctly, it's fine.
 
GlasgowGrip said:
I am the original owner of a Pickering XSV/3000 with the original factory Stereohedron stylus still installed. It's been stored for about 35 years, I replaced it with an Ortofon OM-10 somewhere around 1984 when I switched to a new TT. No idea how many hours I put on the XSV/3000 back in the day, not a trivial amount, but it was still very serviceable at the time I retired it. It was well protected in original packaging all these years (it came in a very cool little case, pretty fancy looking).

So I'm looking for opinions on what to do with it, if I want to put it back into service. Is a re-tipping in my immediate future? What are the chances it is still a viable cartridge/stylus? Also, any tips on things to look out for, is there any maintenance (e.g. lubrication) likely to be needed, etc.?
Click to expand...
It should work just fine. Mount it on the tone arm and play a not-valuable record to test it. No need to re-tip. Good luck and enjoy.
 
onwardjames said:
Dang, nice!!! I bet it'll sound sweet. Please feel free to post your observations in this thread, if it suits ya.
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The cartridge arrived today so had to install it. Breaking it in, started with a little Stone's "Blue & Lonesome", now "The Song Remains The Same".

Gotta say this is the best I've heard my table sound, I'm hooked on LOMC carts now. The Kenny in the main room doesn't support them but that's easily enough remedied heh heh heh.

20190829_233846.jpg
20190829_234031.jpg
 
That is a sweet looking setup @Grenadeslio !!! Glad to hear you're satisfied with your own retip.

I spun "Home At Last" from a second hand copy of Aja just last night. Not even my super clean ABC pressing, just one I had picked up somewhere. I never pass those in any decent shape.

I literally burst out laughing, it was so good. The wife thought I had finally lost what is left of my mind.
 
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