Stylus recommendation please

[ziegi]

Hi all,

I just got my TT services and the guy put in a new stylus. I'm not a huge fan of it and I'm not even sure it's right. Can someone please suggest some stylus for this cartridge and confirm that the one that's in there is correct?

It's an Audio Technica AT-122EP cartridge.

The stylus that was put in is a Pfanstiehl 4212-DE .. from what I read that's for the 102EP cartridge?

Can someone please confirm that this stylus is ok for this cartridge and an upgrade path towards something better to excellent? The TT is quite capable from what little I can find on it (Telefunken S300D).

Thanks,
~M

 

[marcmorin]

Hi all,

I just got my TT services and the guy put in a new stylus. I'm not a huge fan of it and I'm not even sure it's right. Can someone please suggest some stylus for this cartridge and confirm that the one that's in there is correct?

It's an Audio Technica AT-122EP cartridge.

The stylus that was put in is a Pfanstiehl 4212-DE .. from what I read that's for the 102EP cartridge?

Can someone please confirm that this stylus is ok for this cartridge and an upgrade path towards something better to excellent? The TT is quite capable from what little I can find on it (Telefunken S300D).

Thanks,
~M

Put a real 132EP in it...........or if ya wanna get off the rent money, put a 152LP in it

 

[ziegi]

Put a real 132EP in it...........or if ya wanna get off the rent money, put a 152LP in it

OK thanks. From what I see these are both elliptical stylus, are there any Line Contact or Shibata that would be worth considering and that would mate well?

 

[revox-b77]

ATN122 LP, ATN142LP, and ATN152LP are all line contact styli. The ATN132EP is a very nice nude .2x.7 and sounds awesome.

 

[marcmorin]

OK thanks. From what I see these are both elliptical stylus, are there any Line Contact or Shibata that would be worth considering and that would mate well?

As Revox mentioned, the 122lp is line contact, however, I believe the 132EP is the better sounding of the two, and less money.
The 152LP, on the other hand is in the tops of AT styli (nos can still be found)

 

[ziegi]

Perfect, thanks for the advice guys! I'll keep my eye out for a good deal on a 132EP and 152LP...

 

[lini]

ziegi: Imo using an ATN132EP or ATN152LP on the arm of the S300D isn't such a good idea. I'd suggest to consider the less highly compliant ATN7V instead, which would also be compatible with your AT122EP body.

That said, how about the tonearm orientation with the AT122EP whilst playback? Is the arm pointing a bit upwards (a few mm at the front)? Because a T4P cart like the AT122EP with halfinch-mount adaptor usually is pretty tall (~ 20 mm), while on many tables there'll be less space between headshell an record with the arm in horizonal position - which often causes a suboptimal SRA/VTA and may even let the bottom of the cart/needle make a touch-down on the record whilst riding over slight warps, unless you'd mount the cart with a wedge for compensation (the other direction (i.e. cart a little too low, so that the tonearm points slightly downwards) is less problematic, 'cause in that case one can usually compensate that with slightly higher tracking force, which typically even improves trackability a bit...). So in that case it might be smarter to forget about the AT122EP and grab a complete AT7V instead.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[ziegi]

Hi Manfred,
Very interesting comment. It looks like the previous owner has chosen a very thin anti-static mat for the platter for this reason. It's hard for me to explain but the tone arm orientation, or rather, the cartridge alignment with the record when placed is a bit up? that is, it's not parallel with the record. the front of the cartridge plane is about 1 or a bit more mm higher than the back of the cartridge. Does that make sense?

Looking at the AT7V, it's a highly rated cartridge. Do you know this this table by chance? how would it sound with this tonearm/table etc?

Thank you, greetings from Canada
~Mike