Cartridge find Audio Technica AT155LC - any good?


Anyone have experience with this cartridge? I think it's a MM, did a google search and couldn't find what the output or VTF is. Any help is appreciated :-)
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Showing 2 responses by anthonymaw

I have had one since 1984 still works great despite frequent use.  Sound is quite excellent compared to my other cartridges (Shure V15, Ortofon OM10) seems to have a very crisp sound.  I kind of suspect Audio-Technica "tweaked" the electrical characteristics to make this cartridge sound "brighter" but I"m OK with that!  No problems with durability or materials degradation (especially the elastomer stylus bearing). I like the light tracking force 1.4 grams it's easy on my precious old one-of-a-kind vinyl records.  From what I can remember from when I selected it, i is a high compliance cartridge so it's not suitable for linear tracking turntables, only pivoting arm conventional ones.
Getting the correct phono preamp impedance is important to achieve flat frequency response.  Audio Technica specifies for AT-155LC a terminating impedance of 47,000 ohms.  However many phono preamps have an input impedance 50,000 ohms (like my Sony TA-1000ES preamp).  Combined with the capacitance of the cable and preamp and inductance of the cartridge's coils, this results in a GAIN of a few dB around 15kHz in the audio band (its the college RLC circuit calculation).  Some might consider this to be a sharper and clearer sound but in reality it's not FLAT response curve.