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Voice of Music Model 815

J

jdjohnsey

New Member
Hey guys, new to the forum and trying to gain some knowledge.

I've been trying to do my research on the V-M Model 815. There is a good deal for on here in town and I'm considering jumping on it. I have never owned a ceramic cartridge record player and am a little weary to buy one. I have ready several forums for and against them. So I wanted to see what peoples experience has been with V-M with a ceramic cartridge?

Is this a bad idea to purchase? The changer, amps, and speakers all work. I will do some initial maintenance on everything to get it better running order, but I just don't want to run into the issue of my LPs getting destroyed.

I called and talked with Gary Stork for a bit and he was pretty reassuring that the ceramic V-Ms would not wear out the vinyl.

Does anyone have any advice or expertise on the subject?

Thanks,
 
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I've restored a couple V-M changers of that era. They come apart pretty easily and are fun to work on. You're always going to have lots of rumble by their nature. Matched to the right amp a ceramic cartridge can sound ok. I think record wear and tracking force is still debatable. You're probably talking about 4-6 grams of tracking force with a conical, plus the changer action of dropping the records on top of each other. You're going to wear records out faster that way. Will you play them enough that significant wear will happen and that you'll notice it? I couldn't say.
 
charlesdemar said:
I've restored a couple V-M changers of that era. They come apart pretty easily and are fun to work on. You're always going to have lots of rumble by their nature. Matched to the right amp a ceramic cartridge can sound ok. I think record wear and tracking force is still debatable. You're probably talking about 4-6 grams of tracking force with a conical, plus the changer action of dropping the records on top of each other. You're going to wear records out faster that way. Will you play them enough that significant wear will happen and that you'll notice it? I couldn't say.
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I know I wont be playing records a ton, just casual listening. I went and checked out th V-M 815 and the needle was missing. He's going to install a new needle and if everything checks out I'll probably get it. The pre-amp took about a minute or so to get warmed up, but other than that the player looks like it's in great shape. The cartridge and needle have been serviced a few times in fact, so someone spent some time keeping it up throughout the years.
 
No issue with ceramic cartridges. Most VM changers, even the early ones, can be made to track at 3 grams. Cartridge dependent of course. Most can have a different cartridge fitted. I've been using Tetrad and the Banpa BP2ATC.
 
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