Well, I've ordered an N104E and a D71E for the Stanton L720E, which should also fit the 500 series. I'd been wanting a 'gentler' stylus for the 500 for a while, so I'll let you know how the Jico one does, when I've had a chance to try it. It was $17 which makes it less expensive than Stanton's original part, too.
Radio Shack RXT6 aka Shure M111E
- Thread starter Paul C
- Start date
Hmm. D71E arrived today, I swapped it for the PD07C I had in the cart (already mounted and aligned), re-set VTF and...
thoroughly unimpressed so far
. Kind of dead-sounding, the sound just 'lies there.' I'll have to give it some more time, but I'll tell you, making a Stanton 500 sound dead is quite the accomplishment... that cart sounds good with a sewing pin jammed into it, almost.
Some styli are duds. It's prolly more than half of what actually makes the sound we want. Good styli can wake up an otherwise mediocre cartridge. Sounds like it can go the other way, too bad
I'm trying it at lower pressures (I should be able to get away with fairly little, I'm using a good arm - SME 3009) and will play around with VTA, too...
I'll keep you guys posted. I can't wait for the M111HE cart to get here (for the N104E stylus.)
hakaplan
Needs professional help
Good luck. That's something I've pondered.
I'm getting closer, I think - the stylus comes apart. The actual stylus (+ grip) is a rather tiny piece that goes into the larger brush assembly a bit like a puzzle piece (sorry for the lack of a better description) ... I've got them apart and it looks like using the brush with other styli will not require more than glueing it to the front, done carefully and with light glue so it can be removed, of course.
I'll post pics when I'm back from work.
I'll post pics when I'm back from work.
Well, I said I'd post pictures but was thinking of 'before' pictures (ie. before attempting anything.)
But I sort of got ahead of myself and, well, all I can offer are 'after' pictures
:
It probably doesn't look 'right' since all I did was glue the brush assembly to the front of the stylus at the angle both pieces allowed, but I don't think the angle of the brush is critical as long as it's not 'bottomed out' (it isn't.)
I also don't think that the fact that it is a bit more ahead of the stylus than originally intended is affecting anything. Maybe a bit more skating force?
So, has it added or changed anything? Yes, I do feel it has. It looks sexy, for one thing, and cueing is harder
.
I'm tracking at 1.75 grams now (so 1.25 nominal VTF and 0.5 grams for the brush) and it does track better than it did yesterday at 1.25 sans brush - I had to raise it to 1.3-1.4 grams before I was satisfied. Now I don't feel the need to, and (here comes the harder-to-describe part) everything seems to have become more solid.
I'm getting that feeling you get when you have everything set up just right, when you almost forget you're listening to a record and instead it just sounds like music. If that makes sense. I've always thought that that's what listening to a master tape must feel like.
The brush seems to be operating properly, I've been looking at it from up close while playing and tried a few things, ie. knocked on the plinth a bit to see if it skipped (it doesn't and you can see the brush softly go up and down instead,) etc. and it seems to have improved things in almost every way I can think of.
So the experiment was worth the time.
Thoughts?
But I sort of got ahead of myself and, well, all I can offer are 'after' pictures
:
It probably doesn't look 'right' since all I did was glue the brush assembly to the front of the stylus at the angle both pieces allowed, but I don't think the angle of the brush is critical as long as it's not 'bottomed out' (it isn't.)
I also don't think that the fact that it is a bit more ahead of the stylus than originally intended is affecting anything. Maybe a bit more skating force?
So, has it added or changed anything? Yes, I do feel it has. It looks sexy, for one thing, and cueing is harder
. I'm tracking at 1.75 grams now (so 1.25 nominal VTF and 0.5 grams for the brush) and it does track better than it did yesterday at 1.25 sans brush - I had to raise it to 1.3-1.4 grams before I was satisfied. Now I don't feel the need to, and (here comes the harder-to-describe part) everything seems to have become more solid.
I'm getting that feeling you get when you have everything set up just right, when you almost forget you're listening to a record and instead it just sounds like music. If that makes sense. I've always thought that that's what listening to a master tape must feel like.
The brush seems to be operating properly, I've been looking at it from up close while playing and tried a few things, ie. knocked on the plinth a bit to see if it skipped (it doesn't and you can see the brush softly go up and down instead,) etc. and it seems to have improved things in almost every way I can think of.
So the experiment was worth the time.
Thoughts?
hakaplan
Needs professional help
While the brush helps with tracking and reducing static, the main reason it was designed was to damp the resonance of the stylus. When a higher mass arm is mated to a stylus that requires low tracking force, as is the case will all of Shure's best styli, that resonance occurs at a less than ideal frequency. The brush serves to damp that resonance, thereby negating the factor that makes the match less than ideal. By using the resonance test on the Shure Era IV test record, I have confirmed that the brush works very well. So that would be the ultimate test to see if your Frankenstein passes muster. I'll have to try the surgery myself and see.
I'll have to try the surgery myself and see.I don't have the Shure IV test LP, but I do have one (an Erato/RCA 2-disc set with music and all sorts of crazy tones.) The instructions are in German, though, so all I can understand are the frequencies and such, looking at the track listing. What am I looking for?While the brush helps with tracking and reducing static, the main reason it was designed was to damp the resonance of the stylus. When a higher mass arm is mated to a stylus that requires low tracking force, as is the case will all of Shure's best styli, that resonance occurs at a less than ideal frequency. The brush serves to damp that resonance, thereby negating the factor that makes the match less than ideal. By using the resonance test on the Shure Era IV test record, I have confirmed that the brush works very well. So that would be the ultimate test to see if your Frankenstein passes muster.
I'll take a pic of the stylus bit I removed so you can see (or, well, infer because the other bit is already glued to the N104E) how it's put together.
Also, a question for Howard or anyone: the shank that goes into the cart on this V15-like stylus I took the brush from, was the same size (girth) as the ones on all my other Shure styli.
I thought V15s had slightly thinner shanks, but this one goes into an M75 (or, as you see, into an M111HE) just fine. Was this stylus actually from a V15? It looks essentially identical to me, but I've never had a V15 and some of Shure's later styli confuse me.
Help... ?
I thought V15s had slightly thinner shanks, but this one goes into an M75 (or, as you see, into an M111HE) just fine. Was this stylus actually from a V15? It looks essentially identical to me, but I've never had a V15 and some of Shure's later styli confuse me.
Help... ?
hakaplan
Needs professional help
I assume you're talking about the Stylus with the red brush assembly that came with your M111HE. That style was not unique to the V15. It was used on several M carts as well, the M111E (white) and HE (red--the one you have), and the current M97xE (blue) among them. It was also used on the V15VxMR (red), the very last V15 produced and that one did use the larger shank. Most of the previous V15 models used the narrower shank. The V15VMR, the model that preceded the V15VxMR, used that same brush type, but with the narrow shank and that brush guard was dark grey in color.
So to sum up:
Large shank: V15VxMR, V15RS, and all M carts.
Narrow shank: V15 type II, III, IV and V.
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hakaplan
Needs professional help
I have both. I will look to see if there are differences in the shade of red. Beyond that there might be differences in the cantilever (some were telescoped), but unfortunately my Vx is broken off--all I have is the brush part. Beyond that, there may not be any way. But yours is an N111HE. There's no logical reason anyone would have put a Vx stylus on it. Although they look the same, they aren't the same functionally.
Do you mean they won't work if you mix them up?
This is, apparently, a VxMR:
This other one an N111HE:
The shade of red doesn't seem to be the same - mine looks more like the first one, that red wine-ish tint. Also, looking at them - mine has the raised 'pip' at the front of the brush assembly, the white marker to aid cueing. The bottom one has a sunken-in mark instead.
It doesn't really make a difference, having said that - the stylus is what sets them apart, I'd think, and it's broken off. But the brush works well enough, and it was free so...
I just spent the whole evening listening to records, hadn't done that in a while, it just kept asking for more.
Edit: also, there's no logical reason anyone would mount a cartridge using Superglue and yet this one was all caked in it... so I don't think we can trust the previous owner too much
.
Stanton681EEES
Addicted Member
To the list of styli that will work with these carts?
hakaplan
Needs professional help
Do you mean they won't work if you mix them up?
This is, apparently, a VxMR:
This other one an N111HE:
The shade of red doesn't seem to be the same - mine looks more like the first one, that red wine-ish tint. Also, looking at them - mine has the raised 'pip' at the front of the brush assembly, the white marker to aid cueing. The bottom one has a sunken-in mark instead.
It doesn't really make a difference, having said that - the stylus is what sets them apart, I'd think, and it's broken off. But the brush works well enough, and it was free so...
I just spent the whole evening listening to records, hadn't done that in a while, it just kept asking for more.
Edit: also, there's no logical reason anyone would mount a cartridge using Superglue and yet this one was all caked in it... so I don't think we can trust the previous owner too much
I checked my N111HE and VN5xMR styli and the brushes are identical as shown in your first picture. No variation in color or design whatsoever. Both with the raised white mark. I'm guessing that Shure may have changed the design slightly at one time or another. So without knowing exactly what the cantilever looked like, there is no way to tell. There's no reason the owner of an N111HE would put a V15 stylus in it--just because it's red. It wouldn't have even occurred to anyone to do that in the past. We talk about it, because we explore experimentation with cartridges and styli, but in the past, when these cartridges dated from, a time without the internet and message boards, no one would have ever thought to use a stylus from a different cartridge.
I've one question now that I've been using the Frankencart for a few days: is it normal to hear a faint 'fizzy' sound from the brush when the stylus is on an LP? Speakers off, I mean, I don't hear anything abnormal through the speakers - in fact I'm getting a much 'blacker' background.
But when I cue an LP, for the first few seconds before the music starts, I can hear this tiny fizzing sound coming from the brush (I know it's the brush 'cause it starts a split second before the stylus touches the record) if I stick my ear close to the turntable.
Is this normal? The brush fibers seem to be fairly stiff, overall...
But when I cue an LP, for the first few seconds before the music starts, I can hear this tiny fizzing sound coming from the brush (I know it's the brush 'cause it starts a split second before the stylus touches the record) if I stick my ear close to the turntable.
Is this normal? The brush fibers seem to be fairly stiff, overall...