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

onwardjames said:
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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Nice, so the wife's suspicions were confirmed eh lol?

My Grado Platinum will be next, the 8MZ stylus mounted in either of my prestige bodies just isn't the same, so the Wood body will be going nude.

I wonder if it'll be able to knock off the Grace carts after, or maybe I should go in a completely different direction and look for another LOMC in need of a retip lol.
 
Grenadeslio said:
Nice, so the wife's suspicions were confirmed eh lol?

My Grado Platinum will be next, the 8MZ stylus mounted in either of my prestige bodies just isn't the same, so the Wood body will be going nude.

I wonder if it'll be able to knock off the Grace carts after, or maybe I should go in a completely different direction and look for another LOMC in need of a retip lol.
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Please let us know how that goes. I have the 8mz on a grado black. It's pretty nice, but it can't begin to play in the league that this Pickering (and my MF-100 Astatic) play in.
 
onwardjames said:
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...
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Bought a Sanyo Plus Q25 TT last summer at a yard sale for next to nothing. It came with an XSV-3000 with an intact D3000 stylus. I took the XSV-3000 off the Sanyo and have it on a Kenwood KD-3070. I ran into the same issue with the tracking force. It sounded terrible until I read about adding a gram when in use with the brush. I tried to make sense out of the logic behind adding another gram with the brush on. If you have the tonearm balanced with the brush on, why add another gram of tracking force? The only thing I can think of is that since the brush is mounted on a hinged arm hanging down off the end of the cartridge, the brush exerts the equivalent of 1 gram of upward lever force on the cartridge. But my understanding doesn't matter, it sounds better than anything else I own.
 
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bluemooze said:
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.
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So I got out the old XSV/3000 and mounted it up on a JVC JL-A20 that I just picked up off Craigslist for not much coin. It’s a semiautomatic belt drive from the mid 70’s with an S-shaped tonearm. It’s in near mint condition (except one of the headshell wires looks pretty dodgy). So far the Pickering is playing like crap - sounds “bad” and not even tracking well on a perfectly flat disc. I started out setting the tracking force one gram high due to the brush (2.5g), then added another half gram, then another half gram. 3.5g is way higher than I expected to go, and still not tracking well. So am getting an education here in compliance mismatching? I know I need to learn a lot more about that topic, but was hoping I could defer that for now. Oh well!

Onwardjames: you mentioned the possibility of the cart’s suspension having suffered - what are the symptoms of that, and is that possibly what I’m running up against?

I do have two other tables I could put the Pickering on but would like to troubleshoot it on the JVC first unless it’s a total mismatch for that tonearm, since I’m hesitant to touch those headshell wires if not necessary. Also - should I start my own thread for this question? Thanks guys!!
 
I have two Needlestein retips.

1- He retipped a very old MCZ stylus that had a broken cantilever and i like it better than the MCZ I bought direct from Grado a few years back, and he retipped it for less than cost of a new.
2 - He retippped a Stanton 681EEE by leaving the Stanton cantilever in place but adding what he calls a Stereohedron clone stylus. This one is amazing.

I have a DL301 mk II that has a failed cantilever. I’m going to send it for repair. If that is not possible I’ll let him re-tip it.
 
GlasgowGrip said:
So I got out the old XSV/3000 and mounted it up on a JVC JL-A20 that I just picked up off Craigslist for not much coin. It’s a semiautomatic belt drive from the mid 70’s with an S-shaped tonearm. It’s in near mint condition (except one of the headshell wires looks pretty dodgy). So far the Pickering is playing like crap - sounds “bad” and not even tracking well on a perfectly flat disc. I started out setting the tracking force one gram high due to the brush (2.5g), then added another half gram, then another half gram. 3.5g is way higher than I expected to go, and still not tracking well. So am getting an education here in compliance mismatching? I know I need to learn a lot more about that topic, but was hoping I could defer that for now. Oh well!

Onwardjames: you mentioned the possibility of the cart’s suspension having suffered - what are the symptoms of that, and is that possibly what I’m running up against?

I do have two other tables I could put the Pickering on but would like to troubleshoot it on the JVC first unless it’s a total mismatch for that tonearm, since I’m hesitant to touch those headshell wires if not necessary. Also - should I start my own thread for this question? Thanks guys!!
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You say you just picked up the JVC JL-A20. Have you tried the JVC with any other cartridges that you know track correctly? Just to ensure the problem isn't with the tonearm bearings on the JVC. Yes, I would try the XSV-3000 on your other turntables to see if the tracking problem duplicates itself on other decks.

Another issue I found with mine, it's relatively easy to get the brush mounted incorrectly on the cartridge. The brush should pivot up and down effortlessly. I had mine mounted wrong and it caused the stylus to ride slightly high out of the groove. You could also take the brush off completely, balance the arm without the brush, set tracking force to 1.0 - 1.5g and see how it tracks without the brush.
 
More on the Denon cartridge after the retip. The Kenwood KD770D is definitely the best table I currently own, but with the great Synergy of the Grace cartridges on the Grace arm the KD500 was right there with it, I really like this table.

The KD770D was sporting a Clearaudio Concepts V2 that sounded spectacular but I knew the table was capable of more. Now with the Denon DL301 the KD770D has left the rest of the pack gasping. I've always had moving iron or moving magnet, this is my first moving coil, now I get it.

I want to say the bass is better defined, fuller with more body, the cymbals have more shimmer and light, the piano more sustain, more weight, and while all that is true it's just so much more, there's just so much more more if you know what I mean. Im just completely blown away by how great this sounds, guess it's going to be another late night lol.
 
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GlasgowGrip said:
So I got out the old XSV/3000 and mounted it up on a JVC JL-A20 that I just picked up off Craigslist for not much coin. It’s a semiautomatic belt drive from the mid 70’s with an S-shaped tonearm. It’s in near mint condition (except one of the headshell wires looks pretty dodgy). So far the Pickering is playing like crap - sounds “bad” and not even tracking well on a perfectly flat disc. I started out setting the tracking force one gram high due to the brush (2.5g), then added another half gram, then another half gram. 3.5g is way higher than I expected to go, and still not tracking well. So am getting an education here in compliance mismatching? I know I need to learn a lot more about that topic, but was hoping I could defer that for now. Oh well!

Onwardjames: you mentioned the possibility of the cart’s suspension having suffered - what are the symptoms of that, and is that possibly what I’m running up against?

I do have two other tables I could put the Pickering on but would like to troubleshoot it on the JVC first unless it’s a total mismatch for that tonearm, since I’m hesitant to touch those headshell wires if not necessary. Also - should I start my own thread for this question? Thanks guys!!
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First, no need for a separate thread, I think we can get ya dialed in here.

JamVal is right on the money - let's see if that "new" table might be the issue first. As for the suspension, let's hold off on that, too. I suspect either the stylus is dirty and/or worn, and that the JVC has some issues. If your suspension has "hardened" over time, that would cause bad sound and mistracking, but I'm not ready to state that is the problem just yet.
 
onwardjames said:
First, no need for a separate thread, I think we can get ya dialed in here.

JamVal is right on the money - let's see if that "new" table might be the issue first. As for the suspension, let's hold off on that, too. I suspect either the stylus is dirty and/or worn, and that the JVC has some issues. If your suspension has "hardened" over time, that would cause bad sound and mistracking, but I'm not ready to state that is the problem just yet.
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JamVal said:
Bought a Sanyo Plus Q25 TT last summer at a yard sale for next to nothing. It came with an XSV-3000 with an intact D3000 stylus. I took the XSV-3000 off the Sanyo and have it on a Kenwood KD-3070. I ran into the same issue with the tracking force. It sounded terrible until I read about adding a gram when in use with the brush. I tried to make sense out of the logic behind adding another gram with the brush on. If you have the tonearm balanced with the brush on, why add another gram of tracking force? The only thing I can think of is that since the brush is mounted on a hinged arm hanging down off the end of the cartridge, the brush exerts the equivalent of 1 gram of upward lever force on the cartridge. But my understanding doesn't matter, it sounds better than anything else I own.
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I have xsv-3000/d3000 with h/k t60 and tracking force is 1,9g with brush. No problems and sounds good. Probably very old and listened much but still sounds great.
 
Glad to hear that you all are lovin' your Joseph re-tips! He does really nice work. I am spinning my SL10 with Joseph re-tipped EPC 310MC. Dang is it sweet! Enjoy.
 
As far as I'm concerned, this can be a retip thread. Thanks for all who have contributed.

I honestly feel this Pickering has reached a high point I didn't previously know.
 
onwardjames said:
First, no need for a separate thread, I think we can get ya dialed in here.

JamVal is right on the money - let's see if that "new" table might be the issue first. As for the suspension, let's hold off on that, too. I suspect either the stylus is dirty and/or worn, and that the JVC has some issues. If your suspension has "hardened" over time, that would cause bad sound and mistracking, but I'm not ready to state that is the problem just yet.
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Thanks for the advice, you guys are exactly right. Basic troubleshooting, shame on me - I should be trying the Pickering on a known good table first! I did try one final test run on the JVC table for kicks: I removed the brush from the Pickering, reset tracking force and anti-skating to 1.5 g, triple-checked that the stylus is clean, and proved there was no improvement in sound or tracking.

So I have an Onkyo CP-1030F (I'm the original owner) that currently has an Ortofon OM10 on it (with a missing stylus tip). So I'll mount up the Pickering on that and see what I can make it do. The Onkyo has a straight pipe arm and the spec states "Usable Cartridge Weight: Min. 5.0 g, Max. 8.5 g". I can't find the actual weight for the XSV/3000 in the literature, but I would think it should be compatible.

As for this JVC table, I'm going to go through the service manual and do basic maintenance first, like I should have done in the first place. Plus I'm going to re-wire the headshell, has a couple of really frail looking leads. Then I'll take the JVC to its own thread, assuming the Pickering proves to be a viable cart. I was assuming way too much with the JVC table.

Thanks again, guys!
 
onwardjames said:
Please let us know how that goes. I have the 8mz on a grado black. It's pretty nice, but it can't begin to play in the league that this Pickering (and my MF-100 Astatic) play in.
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Grado and Pickerings is what I use too.
New nude on a 8MZ with a Blue or F3+ both sound very good, but the Pickerings are still my favorite. They reproduce all parts of the record sound equally without bloated bass and while having a crisp high end. The D3000 goes well with the EMIT tweeters on the Infinities I listen to.
Someday I too am going to go all out on a D3000 and find out what it can do. Boron cantilever, Microline, etc. Whatever I can learn from a XSV/D3000 AK thread.
Certainly there are many better new cartridges but I'm a "budget" audio guy and the high end models are way out of my price range.
I'll stick with the XSV for now. Pickering seemed to do it right back when they released this model. 1977-78???
 
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Your not blind but in this case the two cartridges use the same stylus as was
confirmed by Joseph.

On my to do list is sending in the D5000 for a re and re to complete the pair.
 
ETI_5000 said:
It weighs 5.8g, according to a Pickering brochure, so falls within the acceptable range for your arm.
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Hi guys, I finally got the XSV/3000 mounted up on the Onkyo CP-1030F and it seems to track fine. I set the tracking force and anti-skate to 2.5, so it's a net of 1.5g after allowing for the Pickering brush.

But the sound quality is still bad, not remotely listenable, and no better than it was on the JVC JL-A20. So next I will rule out the phono section on my integrated amp (Onkyo A-7070) just to be thorough. I have a known good and totally working Marantz 6100 with a Shure V91 playing through a Marantz 2245, so I will swap the two TT's wholesale, rather than swap cartridges.
 
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