I purchased a Technics SL 1360 from a guy on Craigslist Saturday with the idea of cleaning it up for one of my kids. It came with a Shure V15 type iii cartridge, which I was told was working but needed a new stylus. With that cartridge, it seemed like a good deal. The guy sent me a video showing it worked with all auto functions and playing music. I am avoiding indoor meetings for health reasons so met in a parking lot. The deck was pretty clean and dust cover in good shape, hinges and feet looked good. I took it home to find out that only one channel was working, and that partially. Upon taking the headshell off and examining the situation, I found that the cartridge had a crack in it and was toast. I also need a new headshell since its wires were in poor shape with a shoddy soldering job. I contacted the guy but after an initial response, he went silent. Caveat Emptor. The good news is that the electronics are all working, auto start and return, switches, and speed are good. I think it will be a good TT for my kid once I clean and relube it. I need to buy a new cartridge and headshell for the TT. Can anyone please recommend a moderately priced cartridge for this table? I think it's the same spec as the SL 1350. Someone recommended the AT 95EN or ML. I don't know much about either option and my general cartridge knowledge is limited. Thanks in advance for your patience and any advice you can offer.
Technics SL 1360 Cartridge Advice Needed
- Thread starter msobeldc
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why not buy a JICO replacement stylus. Should perform better than the AT 95.
Hello msobeldc. I have an SL1360 and it is a great turntable in my opinion. I use several different cartridges with it and they all sound good. Of course, each has a small bit of difference between them. None are crazy expensive but are moderately priced. Ones that I use and like are:
Audio Technica AT3600L. Very cheap, sounds good. Conical tip
Audio Technica AT85EP. Cheap. This is a p-mount type mounted on an adapter. Sounds surprisingly good. Elliptical tip.
Used AT 1111E with new nude elliptical stylus from Voice of Music. Sounds very good.
My 1360 once lost signal in one channel and all it needed was a little electronics cleaner in between the tone arm and headshell connection. I also did some TLC to improve its operation. I carefully lifted the platter and cleaned the motor magnets and the platter contact. That made quite a difference. Now, when the tone arm returns and shuts off the motor, the platter continues to spin for 18 second. I measured it, haha! The speed is spot on and it runs very smooth.
IMO either the AT VM95C, conical tip or VM95E, elliptical tip would do nicely. Buy it with the headshell already attached and you should be good to go. Good luck with the new table and hope this helps.
Audio Technica AT3600L. Very cheap, sounds good. Conical tip
Audio Technica AT85EP. Cheap. This is a p-mount type mounted on an adapter. Sounds surprisingly good. Elliptical tip.
Used AT 1111E with new nude elliptical stylus from Voice of Music. Sounds very good.
My 1360 once lost signal in one channel and all it needed was a little electronics cleaner in between the tone arm and headshell connection. I also did some TLC to improve its operation. I carefully lifted the platter and cleaned the motor magnets and the platter contact. That made quite a difference. Now, when the tone arm returns and shuts off the motor, the platter continues to spin for 18 second. I measured it, haha! The speed is spot on and it runs very smooth.
IMO either the AT VM95C, conical tip or VM95E, elliptical tip would do nicely. Buy it with the headshell already attached and you should be good to go. Good luck with the new table and hope this helps.
Thank you all for your suggestions. Unfortunately, the cartridge is cracked and literally fell apart when I took the screws out of the headshell. I had hoped to just replace the stylus but now the whole thing needs to be replaced. The seller must have known it was a problem but apparently used a different headshell/Shure combo for his demo video. Fortunately, the price I paid was still fair for a working SL 1360 even with having to replace the cartridge. Thank you all for your great suggestions. I will clean up the mechanisms, apply deoxit to the controls, and buy a new cartridge with the headshell attached to save that hassle. I greatly appreciate everyone's quick responses and advice. Thank you all.