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Technics EPC-U25 Cartridge: Who's running one?

rread13

rread13

AK Member
I wanted to reach out and ask who's got one of these rare little rascals and ask the AKer's for feedback.

I discovered this cartridge by way of reading here about P-Mounts "Do you like em" and the long string that followed. Someone commented about the Technics P-Mounts (P-22, 23,24,28, 33, etc) and someone chimed in about the offspring U25 being a 1/2" Std. mount version of the P-Mount's. I initially bought some P-Mounts P23, P24, & P28....the P23 first , the P24 & P28 were a pkg. deal. Then I went on a quest to find and buy a U25, this took about 2 months or so. I bought one eventually and tried it out with my HK/Rabco ST-7 with a Pfanstiehl 718-DE.

And now "The back story" I liked the sound of the P23 & Pfanstiehl 718-DE alot on a Sony PS-LX500 linear table in my bedroom system that is comprised of newer and older gear (Speakers: Polk LSi9 and Pioneer SA-6500II/TX5500II)

Last week I found on Ebay a seller finally offering a EVG/Jico PM2855DE stylus for a very fair price, I bought two!
Anxiously waited a few days for them to arrive and then install one on my U25 and a couple of albums later with some break-in time. This stylus is magic! I know it's just the basic elliptical but it has passed the hardest test record I own: Peter Gabriel's So album. I only have a couple of cartridges/stylus combinations that play that albums songs without the SSSS's blasting through. I now have close to 20 albums or so played on the setup and am in a happy place. A very sweet sounding cartridge/stylus compliment: a very balanced sound across the sound spectrum, great bass, mid's and highs with no fatigue at higher volume playing a few hours worth of albums.

Does anyone else have the EVG/Jico stylus PM2855DE and the Pfanstiehl 718-DE? I can say the EVG is better overall since it passed the sibilance test record. I had my mouth drop open and was happily shocked it played the album so well, and everything else sounds tremendous too!

I can happily say this is a keeper, and definitely the word is getting out more...it's was flying below the radar or above it slightly. I now have it in my normal rotation on my HK/Rabco ST-7 and the P23 running on my linear table, very enjoyable!
 
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Cool! My U25 is sitting around with nothing to do, so this may be just the thing. Did your stylus come from a seller in Canada?

I now have an East German (!) pressing of So to test this stylus with.
 
Cool! I had no idea there were reasonably-priced ellipticals for this cartridge.

Yours is the half-inch mount, right? I know they were sold with several Technics models in the early 80s, both p-mount and standard mount. But they seem to be somewhat rare in the US, and I wonder if the EPC-U25 (standard mount) was only sold in Europe.

Always wanted to try one. Photos?
 
Yes the U25 is the 1/2" Std. mount, and yes this is the off-spring of the P-Mounts. I think it's kinda funny that some P-mounts began life as modified Std. Mounts and were redesigned to comply with the specs for P-Mounts design standards.

Here are some pictures of my U25.
20160204_112149 (2).jpg 20160204_112245 (2).jpg 20160204_112311 (2).jpg 20160204_112347 (2).jpg
 
The Canadian one was cheaper still, but it's out of stock now. It will be interesting to compare, because one seller's PM2855DE isn't necessarily the same as another's. Anderson usually has good stuff. If mine turns out to be a dud, I'll get the one from Anderson.

My pressing of So is, well, German-looking. Released on the Amiga label, it was a product of VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin in 1986. Very good quality and the disc was well cared for. It's a very interesting and strange record, and some cartridge/styli can give it a convincing sound without covering up the harshness, while others just make it sound plain harsh and unpleasant, even though they appear to be tracking it well. I listen to it on my East German RFT HOK 80 orthodynamic headphones. I also have the two remastered CD releases to use as bases for comparison.
 
I bought from Anderson's in the last few months two new stock of Pfanstiehl's 718-DE's in Orange. The Pfanstiehl's were $4 less than the EVG/Jico. I had been wanting the EVG/Jico to compare and suffice to say I think it is a slightly smoother sounding stylus. I have not used the EVG on my P-Mount system yet, when I do I will leave my findings here.

Visually I could see the EVG cantilever appears to be a bit thinner and longer than the Pfanstiehl's. I'll take some pictures of side by side and post for others to compare. I initially installed the EVG and let an album play and noticed the bass output was off some, meaning less bass than what I had heard a few minutes prior when I had the Pfanstiehl installed. I got out my overhang gauge and noticed it required the body to be adjusted back 1 mm and once optimized for the EVG a replay was needed. The bass response improved dramatically, the sound stage bloomed, a smooth full, open sound, very balanced, a sweet sounding set up.
 
Took some pictures of the EVG and the Pfanstiehl this morning with my phones camera. Good for basic comparisons for now. See photo's and you'll definitely see what I see. The cantilever on the EVG is at least 1 mm or more longer, the overhang on a P-Mount installation is going to effect sound for sure. I have no idea which is in spec or out of spec. I put the second EVG stylus on my bedrooms system (Sony PS-LX500 with Technics P-23, Pioneer SA-6500II, and Polk LSi9's). Spinning the Police Ghost In The Machine and it's sounding great, no loss of bass output nor highs. 20160205_095141.jpg 20160205_094529.jpg
 
Aha. Thanks for the pix. I have seen some 4718 styli with ridiculously short cantilevers, even shorter than the one in your photos.
 
3x7 elliptical, disappointingly enough. At least, that's what it looks like under a 60x magnifier. Flats front and back.
 
We should say that the P202, like the P22, was the top of the line of the lower tier, the upper tier being occupied by such exotica as the P205C Mk 3 and 4, and the 310MC moving coil. I still haven't found specs for the 202 specifically, but everything points to it being the Mk 2 of the P22, and here are the specs, such as they are, for the EPC-P22 with the 22ED stylus:
Technics P22 specs- the headshell referred to is the SH-90S.jpg
The 8.5g added by the headshell is referring to the fancy/rare/expensive SH-90S.
 
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Found the 202 specs in a writeup of the SL-7 turntable:
specs Capture.JPG
 
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Good job, JP. Those are more complete and stated in the way I'm used to seeing specs on other Technics styli. Lots of useful stuff there. I cropped down to the EPC-P202C specs:
Technics EPC-202C specs Japanese.jpg
 
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I don't have a flat bed scanner so I used an iPhone scanner app - didn't turn out so well.
 
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