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Shure V15 III Stylus question????

scorv

scorv

Active Member
I have the following in pretty decent shape:
Shure Supertrack Plus stylus in my V15 III cartridge.

Can anyone identify the type of stylus tip this is?? Elliptical Hyper-Elliptical etc...

Is there a better sounding [warmer-more detail] stylus today like the Jico SAS etc.. OR I am better off with this original Shure stylus?


See pics

Steve,
 

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When the V15 III was made, elliptical was as sophisticated as it got. Line contacts will be different, but may or may not sound better to you. Your ears, and your system, will determine which is best. What is certain, though, is that what you already have is cheaper than what you will have to buy. You could probably sell that stylus, which would help with the purchase of the new one, but it is a bit of a shot in the dark.
 
OK Which one is that the HE [$113.90] or Jico SAS [$249.00]??

Not familiar with the name Vividline
 
You are asking a real world question, rather than an audio question. The actual normal human being answer to almost all 'is the difference really worth the price?' questions is 'Of course not'. Beyond the very bottom of the chain, every increase in price may bring improvements but they are never proportional to the price difference. This is true about almost all manufactured products - cars, refrigerators, underpants, and so on, and it is absolutely true of audio - as you go up the chain, small improvements become very expensive - manufacturing, R&D, marketing and distributing, and warantees, all cost money, and if you are only going to sell a few of your item, you need to make a bundle on each
A better way of phrasing your question is: Is the price difference worth it to you, compared to other ways you might spend or give the money. That's something only you can decide.
 
Have the HE on mine. Very please with it. Beats my EVG. Would like to try a SAS. Works well on my Dual 1219.

Eric
 
I am leaning toward the HE vividline....I dont know the price for the SAS Jico at $249 would be that much of difference in sound quality on my Dual 1229???


Steve,
 
Nat said:
When the V15 III was made, elliptical was as sophisticated as it got. Line contacts will be different, but may or may not sound better to you. Your ears, and your system, will determine which is best. What is certain, though, is that what you already have is cheaper than what you will have to buy. You could probably sell that stylus, which would help with the purchase of the new one, but it is a bit of a shot in the dark.
Click to expand...

They did make a Micro Ridge stylus for the III. It was a later (1983+) addition to available styli.
 
No, not LPGear - here's an example (unfortunately not in stock at this time). https://www.thakker.eu/en/replaceme...or-shure-v-15-iii-nudeline-swiss-made/a-10002
I don't have a real good handle on who the main vendors are yet on these. I get the feeling production has been slowly ramping up also. Voice of Music carry some. KAB carry some (Stanton and Pickering so far). Some eBay sellers (not as I've seen yet for the Shure models ... but there may be more out there I don't see as they won't ship outside the USA & I'm in Canada).
 
Can you explain teh differencce? Forgive my ignorance. Swiss Nude Elliptical vs SAS Jico and the HE Vividline.

So many choices for this cartridge!
 
Bonded means the diamond tip is affixed to a mounting block which is then affixed to the cantivever. Nude means the diamond is mounted directly to the cantilever. Nude styli are generally considered better. Conical, elliptical, hyperelliptical, Line Contact, Microridge, Shibata, Super Analog Sylus (SAS), etc are all shapes the diamond is ground to. There are many names used by different manufacturers ... some of which are very close or identical to each other. As you move along from conical to elliptical to hyperelliptical to Shibata to SAS the complexity of the shape increases, the stylus makes more contact with grooves or contacts in a different way with the groove walls. Some (e.g. Shibata) were developed for Quad stereo. Last couple decades there have been only a couple manufacturers of replacement styli. Jico in Japan and Pfanstiehl in Switzerland are the largest. Jico having the best product. Both made styli for other 'resellers' as well. Especially in the case of Jico ... so if you bought a stylus from EVG or LPGear or Turntable Needles you were probably getting a Jico made stylus. Not quite made to the same standard as the Jico-branded product hoever and Jico kept their flagship SAS to themselves. All except SAS were bonded. A while back Jico decided to stop supplying to some of the resellers. So EVG started selling Pfanstiehl. Also Pfanstiehl decided to develop this nude-mounted elliptical. So now you are seeing them come on the market, sold by EVG and other vendors.
 
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Turntableneedles, by the way, transitioned some of their supply to styli supplied by another, non-Jico, Japan-based company. We don't know who. Those styli are closer in construction to the Jico-branded and original styli (still bonded). So buy an elliptical V15 III stylus from them you get a stylus with a tension (tie) wire ... but buy a hyperelliptical or Shibata from them, you get a Jico stylus, the same as the ones they used to supply to EVG and do supply to LPGear (LPGear Vividline = Hyperelliptical). There are other companies out there like Tonar (Nagaoka) offering Japan-made styli.
 
I just order one of the HE profiles for an old V15 III that I have owned for a long time and I was never happy with it. I hope this will be better than I remember it. Currently using AT OC9III on one table a OC9II on another, a Grace 9 Ruby from Soundsmith on another, and a wood bodied Grado Sonata Reference on my other table. Wonder if the Shure will be at least a lateral move, which would make me happy. Not looking to better these other carts, just hoping that it would be able to hold its own, while it doesn't cost near as much.
 
I recently replaced the v15 III original stylus by the looks with a purported Swiss made stylus. Under magnification it is black. Price from British firm Mantra audio was about £30 plus postage and insurance. I couldn’t find anything better in Australia although one of the recent audio technica carts received good reviews and may try when the shure replacement is consumed. To my old ears everything sounds fine. It is likely not the best marriage to the tp16 arm in my old td160 tt though using the various compliance matching calculators. Mantra also sells the hyper elliptical stylus at higher cost but still reasonable.
 
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