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Shure M55 - Nude Elliptical vs Bonded Vivid Line?

Electone

Electone

Well-Known Member
I have a vintage Shure M44E cartridge and would like to buy a new stylus for it. I'm looking at two LP Gear replacements (supposedly made by Jico). One is a nude .3x.7 elliptical. The other is a bonded "Vivid Line" (line contact) stylus. The turntable is a Technics SL1200mkII.

The question is simple - which one would be the better choice?
 
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The only experience I can speak from is with an LP Gear vivid line for an ATN3600L (< $80), and it's a pretty impressive profile for the price. It's notably more detailed and transparent than the stock AT bonded conical that came with the 3600. It's also notably more detailed and transparent than the AT bonded elliptical on my AT-80E and AT-VM95E. It's not as refined as my VM95SH nude shibata ($169), but it's not that far off. I feel that it's closer to the nude shibata than it is to the bonded ellipticals....I will play and enjoy both the shibata and the VL for extended periods, not so with the bonded ellipticals. For a fairly low price, the VL has given me a "go-to" worry free stylus to use and enjoy while playing older Christmas albums without putting miles on my shibata. That's just my opinion and observations based on my system, so YMMV, but it's hard for me not to recommend the VL.
 
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The difference between the EVG Swiss nude elliptical and the VL is one of addition and subtraction.

The VL is a tip bonded to a small slug of titanium, pushed into the cantilever. It gives you extended treble and nice tracking at the expense of detail. The titanium adds considerable mass to the tip.

The Swiss nude profile is very similar to the VL tip. It has very similar groove contact. It extends the treble in a near identical way. But it adds a lot more detail due to the reduced tip mass and nude mounting.
 
The title indicates N55 but the post states N44. I checked both on LPGear and I do not see a nude elliptical. Did I miss it ???? JICO does not make nude ellipticals.

Looks like I missed it !!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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Does LPG sell the Swiss nudes? I had heard they do, some models. But I haven’t personally checked; I could be wrong.

The difference in an M55 and an M44 cartridge body is just the stencil ink on the nose.

FD3422A1-336F-4393-B756-A026B14A713A.jpeg
 
Wolfie62 said:
Does LPG sell the Swiss nudes? I had heard they do, some models. But I haven’t personally checked; I could be wrong.

The difference in an M55 and an M44 cartridge body is just the stencil ink on the nose.

View attachment 2047929
Click to expand...

Not to my knowledge they do not. I checked, there is not a nude for the N44E or N55E. I'll send you some info.

I missed it !!!!!
 
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This is the nude elliptical from LP Gear (it says made in Japan):
https://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=SHN055ELNG
And here is the bonded Vivid Line (also Japanese):
https://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=SHN055VLIMPL

The description for the nude model is confusing as it says "N55E with special Nude elliptical diamond tip for very high fidelity", then a couple lines below " 0.3 x 0.7 mil elliptical diamond tip titanium bonded to custom alloy cantilever"
 
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Not confusing if you know how to read “LP Gear-speak!”

The upper description is for their every day elliptical. Here:
391FF59C-E97C-4D7E-B248-A0D7C53DEBB2.jpeg

Further down is the description for the nude. It is NOT Japanese. I can almost guarantee you for that price it is the Swiss nude, repackaged by LP Gear:
17A6DFAE-70C7-438B-AB9C-E4D141E3FBB2.jpeg
 
But maybe I’m wrong. Was checking LPG for nude replacement ADC styli. They have this one. Definitely not a Swiss made. Bar magnet.

But no special Japanese Shananigan made these..,

8B68E692-04BF-4F0B-BFDA-FD180DFFA8FD.jpeg
 
I went between a number of these mentioned in the thread for some time but come back to the Vivid-line most often. I'm on my third. However...
The real eye-opener for me was their newer nude vividline (SV) available for their Vessel carts (which are Excel made). That cart gives me the tonality I'm after most days, and combined with a nude version of that profile it's on an entirely different level, for an outlay still less than Shibata. I'm in love with the combo... my new do-it-all daily driver.

See the A3SV version here in the lineup:
https://www.lpgear.com/category/THEVESSELC.html

- Tracking ability at 2.0g : 70 µm
- Cantilever: Special type aluminum pipe
- Stylus type: Nude Super Vivid Line Contact
- Stylus tip radius: 5µm × 20µm
 
The Vessel isn’t an M44/M55 cartridge.

Just last night I was listening on my best headphones. I compared the VL stylus to the Swiss nude stylus, using a Shure M97HE cart.

They track and render detail so closely to each other that they *almost* sounded identical. The Swiss nude, being nude, edged out the VL. For 1/3 the price. Small background sounds and instruments came out clearly on the nude. The VL, those small sounds were hidden.

M55E nude elliptical transforms the M44 into a truly stellar cartridge.
 
These nudes are popping up all over. Ebay vendor river.tone, who was style-tone and is river.tone again is selling repacked nudies, no mention of EVG. The guy in Korea has EVG. Probably all from same swiss factory.
 
Competition is good! EVG stepped on it when they didn’t make sure their QC was top notch. Now, others are getting in on the market. I’ve now seen quite a few nudes offered by LPG that have no indication of being Japan-sourced.

If you think about, synthetic nudes should be cheaper to make than bonded. Fewer steps. As long as the synthetic diamond is cheap, which it is.
 
Electone said:
I have a vintage Shure M44E cartridge and would like to buy a new stylus for it. I'm looking at two LP Gear replacements (supposedly made by Jico). One is a nude .3x.7 elliptical. The other is a bonded "Vivid Line" (line contact) stylus. The turntable is a Technics SL1200mkII.

The question is simple - which one would be the better choice?
Click to expand...
Jico makes a nude elliptical for the m44 ?
Here's what I will say based on my experience with a nos shure n75ed (nude elliptical) and a VividLine N75he.
The vividline has a slight emphasis to overall sound, its forthcoming in the upper midrange and the highs. a bit bold so to speak.
The n75ed nude elliptical treats everything gently. It will present it but with less emphasis.
So you can pick the one depending on what kind of difference in sound you are expecting.
I'd say if your music is pop/rock and you like punch go with the vividline. If its more classical, instrumental, vocal, jazz then go with the nude elliptical if they make it.
 
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