Tonear resonance mismatch V15 III w/Jico SAS

[alectrevelya]

I was recently enjoying my newly acquired Jico SAS stylus for my Shure V15 III mounted on a Technics SL 1300 MK1 until I threw a copy of the Beatles' White Album on just to see what it would sound like. As soon as the stylus dropped, a noticed a lot of distortion and the cartridge was vibrating along with the tonearm. I also noticed this happening with a different LP of mine which was a classical music recording by Deusche Grammophon I believe.

I found a video online months ago that showed exactly this scenario and the author of the video concluded that the Jico SAS combined with the V15 III is not particularly suited to medium mass S-shaped tonearms like the one found on the Technics SL 1300.

I decided to try my Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridge on the SL 1300 to see if it would solve the issue and it did! I had to use a different headshell too of course as the original technics headshell has the top Mount overhang screw only.

The Jico SAS tracks fine on MOST records, but I was surprised to see that it was a mismatch for the SL 1300. Now I will likely try the V15 III and Jico SAS on my humble Denon DP 300F turntable.

 

[ripblade]

As far as I know the Shures are fairly high compliance by design, as are the Jico replacements. I would look for a lighter shell for the Technics...perhaps an SME?

 

[wualta]

An SME or even one of the unregarded "cheese grater" headshells that are copies of the Supex SL-4. That'll shave a few grams right where they count the most (effective mass increases with the square of the distance from the pivot).

SUPEX SL-4 universal-type headshell

 

[boreas]

I decided to try my Ortofon 2M Bronze cartridge on the SL 1300 to see if it would solve the issue and it did! I had to use a different headshell too of course as the original Technics headshell has the top Mount overhang screw only.

As wualta says, you might be able to solve the resonance problem by going with a lighter headshell. The stock headshell for the SL-1300 weighs in at about 9 grams including wires. I think the Stanton headshell in your video weighs about the same, if indeed it is a Stanton. If it's one if the Technics copies it weighs a bit more. The cheap "cheese grater" headshells on eBay weigh less than 7 grams.

Now, the stock SL-1300 headshell has a larger range of adjustment than you appear to realize. The home in the plastic "sled" is off center. This makes it possible to position the sled so that the cartridge mounting holes are shifted to the rear in one orientation or, by rotating the sled 180 degrees, shifted toward the front. The resulting overall range of adjustment is pretty large.

John

 

[alectrevelya]

Thank you for the replies everyone. I have ordered a generic headshell off Amazon and in the meantime pulled out old Thorens TD 160 and mounted the Ortofon 2M Bronze on it and it sounds wonderful. It is the best TT I have.

 

[AdamAnt316]

I've had resonance issues with my Shure V-15 III/JICO SAS on various turntables, including a Technics SL-1200Mk1, a Pioneer PL-12D, and a Pioneer PL-530. It has worked fairly well thus far with both a Dual 1019, as well as a Denon DP-33F. I think it's something about that thin cantilever which causes resonance issues with certain arms.
-Adam

 

[bobins08]

My V15-III w/ SAS sounds fabulous on my low mass SME 3009 series II (improved) arm with fixed headshell. It likes a light tonearm. I added a fluid damper and it got even better.

For matching to the Technics I would make sure the table is well isolated from external vibration and use a lighter Headshell. Arm damping is a plus.

Definitely thinking less than 10grams of mass is best for this stylus.

Bob