V15-VxMR & Jico in STEREOPHILE

[beatcomber]

Remember... the Shure damper brush requires 0.5g additional, the SAS damper requires 0.2g (according to Jico, for my N97xE-SAS.. elsewhere I have seen 0.3g suggested - but 0.2g was what I received in an e-mail from Jico when I asked the question)

While you don't have a KAB damper fitted, I would go with the brush...

Once the arm damper is in place, it might be interesting to experiment...

In a perfect world the best place to have the damping is at the headshell end... but the brush is a fixed damping amount, and the trough has much greater tunability....

So I tried out the V15 Type IV/JICO SAS with and without the brush on my modified SL-1200MK2 last night. With the brush, I had the VTF set to 1.45 grams (1.25 + .2 for the brush).

I liked it better without the brush... The brush seemed to flatten the imaging, and some of the top end sparkle disappeared.

 

[LP-THORN]

Here is a picture of the Jico Stylus 1 on Sumiko Pearl/Shelter 201 body.

A killer cartridge At just 1.15gr it tracks superbly on the rb300

May look a bit ugly but who cares

The stylus guard will soon go...........

 

[flavio81]

Use the damper. Use it, use it.

In my arm the resonance freq moves from 7Hz (bad) to about 11Hz (extremely good) after enabling the damper. And, of course, it also moves down in level.

 

[dlaloum]

I was measuring a Grado Gold1 this evening - running some of the Shure tracking tests (three tones simultaneously 200Hz, 2100Hz, 17kHz) - and taking a look at what comes up on the FFT spectrum.

Really clear harmonics and intermodulation peaks....

Adding the damping (JVC Servo damped dial-a-damping arm) dropped the 2nd harmonic peaks by around 10db+ higher odd harmonics also dropped - but not by as much (but then they were far lower to start with!)

Some may not like the results, as it has the most effect on 2nd and 4rd harmonic, which make up around 80%+ of harmonic distortion and are often considered "euphonic" - but it is definitely and measurably cleaning up the sound.

If you have the option to damp - you should damp!!!

bye for now

David

 

[Autobot]

November Stereophile?

The october 2011 stereophile on page 29 talks about the Shure V15VxMR and the Jico SAS stylus for it.
Michael Fremer in "ANALOG CORNER" said:...
"After spending a week listening to it (the stock shure & stylus) in the VPI classic 3 tt, I've come to respect it far more than before, though I've always thought it was pretty good. It resolved detail and spaciousness (contrary to the reputation of MMs), and it's response sounded remarkably flat, with deep, taut bass and extended highs."
He then says of the Jico SAS sold by LPGear for that shure:...
"The Jico SAS for the V15VxMR body is apparently better but didn't have time for it to break-in as of this writing."
He also said that "If you own a V15VxMR, don't let it lie around gathering dust because there is a great replacement stylus now being made for it!"

Lets keep our eyes on stereophile for more on Jico & the SAS in the future.

Did Michael Fremer update the Jico SAS review in Novembers issue

 

[spiralfool]

Are there any graphs available showing the frequency response of the M97xE with SAS stylus and the V15VxMR with the SAS stylus?

 

[frankxbe]

Used to have a V 15 IV it was my favorite among some Stantons and Pickerings .

 

[beatcomber]

Used to have a V 15 IV it was my favorite among some Stantons and Pickerings .

I've been moving the turntables around my systems, and the AR-XA is now in the main system. I spent some time this morning cleaning out the bearing wells and adding fresh oil, polishing the platters and pulley, etc. It's running very smoothly and quietly now.

I moved the V15-IV/SAS over to the AR-XA and, man, does it sing on that table!

 

[hifitommy]

for whatever reason, none of the stock shures have captured my interest in any enduring way. the SAS stylus has the promise as people whom whose opinion i trust have uttered positive words in that direction. almost no preamps offer variable capacitance to adjust for the real or imagined correction needed by the shures. it would be nice...

ADC XLMs otoh have always grabbed my attention and admiration. they are delicate and need to be used in low mass arms. like the dvnavector 17d and 23r, the XLMs have very short cantilevers which i surmise makes for a very direct sound.

tas reviewed the first ones and as soon as i read the review, i bought one and it sounded exactly like their description. sas makes a stylus for this too and i may just have to snag one for my old XLM. in the meantime, i can limp by with my grace f9e and f9L.

not all direct drive tables have been eschewed by tas. the goldmund for instance is a well executed dd and they loved it. its just that belt drive can be much more easily and cost effectively designed and sound in the excellent range. good sounding DDs are usually quite costly.

Nailer, please direct me to where hp says a pioneer PLL1000 sounds better than the PX2. i really dont think so. my personal experience shows that the kd500/grace 707 sounds noticeably better due to the superior 707 tonearm.

XLM IIs and beyond werent quite as good and peter pritchard went on to form Sonus after he sold to BSR. hp then had love affairs with the sonuses.

 

[dlaloum]

Are there any graphs available showing the frequency response of the M97xE with SAS stylus and the V15VxMR with the SAS stylus?

Take a look on here: https://sites.google.com/site/zevaudio/turt/cartridge-comparison-list

I've put up some of the measurements of my N97xE-SAS, and just today the measurements of my VN5MR-SAS

I also have a VN5xMR-SAS which I will measure soon.

Note: I am mounting the VN5MR in V15V and V15VP bodies
the VN5xMR and N97xE SAS are being tested in V15HRP, 1000e, MT105p, Me75p bodies - I do not own a V15Vx or V15RS.

hifitommy - having looked at two SAS styli, both show substantial high end rise - similar to quite a few MC's

The Dynavector Karat's you mention on the other hand are very flat in their frequency response....
I do like the XLM's too.... (I am only starting to get to know my DV23RS)

The SAS will NOT replicate the original OEM Shure stylus performance as its cantilever parameters are very different.
The manufacturer recomendations for capacitance and resistance are therefore irrelevant.... so it becomes critical that one adjusts (and measures) to get optimum results....

bye for now

David

 

[hifitommy]

"manufacturer recomendations for capacitance and resistance are therefore irrelevant"

that is why i wish some of the manufacturers would address the capacitance adjustability in their designs. even the new jc3 ignores that.

 

[Mawerick]

I got my Jico SAS last week. Mated it to a Shure V15 III. Sounds absolutely terrific, better than with the original VN35E stylus.

Had to do a needle drop: So What (very large flac file)