Upgrading stylus on Realistic LAB-400

[crspyzcchini]

Hi!

I'm looking to upgrade the stylus on 1 of my 2 cartridges... I currently have an AT-110e, with a pretty worned out stylus, on my Realistic LAB-400 but I also have the original R1000ED cartridge (with no stylus) in a box.

Should I upgrade the stylus on the already installed AT-110e or change cartridges and buy a new stylus for the R1000ED? Willing to spend ~100$ on a new stylus.

Thank you!

 

[Lavane]

The R1000ED is a rebadged Shure M91ED. So a replacement stylus for a M91ED is what to look for. LP Gear has them. Bonded elliptical like the original, nude elliptial, etc. I gave a LAB-400 to my son. I thought the cartridge sounded good.

 

[crspyzcchini]

The R1000ED is a rebadged Shure M91ED. So a replacement stylus for a M91ED is what to look for. LP Gear has them. Bonded elliptical like the original, nude elliptial, etc. I gave a LAB-400 to my son. I thought the cartridge sounded good.

Good to hear thank you !

 

[oldman54]

Be sure it's an r1000ed. The r1000edt is a rebadged m75ed. An n75ed will fit either cart but an n91ed will not fit an r1000edt. The metal capsule and guts are the same but the plastic is different. There are about a 100 different carts with these same guts. They made them until they stopped making carts and now Jico is making them.

 

[crspyzcchini]

Be sure it's an r1000ed. The r1000edt is a rebadged m75ed. An n75ed will fit either cart but an n91ed will not fit an r1000edt. The metal capsule and guts are the same but the plastic is different. There are about a 100 different carts with these same guts. They made them until they stopped making carts and now Jico is making them.

Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it

 

[Old Guy8]

I had a LP Gear N91VL Vivid microline stylus on my M91ed, LAB400. Bought in 2015. They went up in price to $119, now. If you can stretch your budget. I thought it was very nice.

 

[crspyzcchini]

I had a LP Gear N91VL Vivid microline stylus on my M91ed, LAB400. Bought in 2015. They went up in price to $119, now. If you can stretch your budget. I thought it was very nice.

Will check it out, thank you!

 

[wualta]

It's worth noting for people trying to ID these old cartridges that Radio Shack goofed up the R1000ED photo when laying out their 1979 catalog (p.34). This was corrected in the 1980 catalog (p.65), but it's a continuing source of confusion.


It appears that the M75-based R1000ED replaced the M91-based R1000E.

 

[ETI_5000]

It has to be said that while the R1000E was a pretty decent cartridge, it wasn’t a very good match to the medium mass tonearm in the Realistic Lab 400 – in fact, it was a quite poor match, with a resonant frequency of 6.5Hz (High Fidelity review), right in the record warp range. So it will be rather susceptible to mistracking from warps, acoustic feedback, rumble, and external shocks. They did say that they found it impossible to raise or lower the dustcover without making the stylus mistrack.

I’d be more inclined to use something which tracks at about 2g to 2.5g, which will match the arm much better. So an N75EJ stylus would be better for the R1000E (or an N93E stylus, if it’s based on the M91/M92/M93-series). The N75EJ stylus should fit either M91 or M75-based cartridges, but the N91ED/N93E styli won’t fit the M75-based ones, as they have ‘taller’ (higher) stylus grip plastic sides which are too high to fit the M75.

For the Audio-Technica cartridge, a good replacement stylus which Audio-Technica recommends would be either of the current-model VMN20EB, VMN30EN or (best) VMN40ML styli. They all track at 2g, so will match your tonearm better than the original R1000E or R1000ED, and will be similar (probably better, given they’re 40-50 years newer) than the N93E or N75EJ stylus options for that.

 

[Lavane]

It's worth noting for people trying to ID these old cartridges that Radio Shack goofed up the R1000ED photo when laying out their 1979 catalog (p.34). This was corrected in the 1980 catalog (p.65), but it's a continuing source of confusion.
View attachment 2393145 View attachment 2393146

It appears that the M75-based R1000ED replaced the M91-based R1000E.

That's been the confusion then. I've read various thread where it was stated the LAB-400 had a rebadged M91, others would state M75. This should clear things up then, hopefully. It did for me. Thanks for posting.