Azden Cartridges

Same cartridge, different styli.

Raul where are you?

Hello all, so Mofi if this is true, which is a more desirable of the the 3? I've always been under the impression that Line contact were the more desirable, Is this true?

I'm betting that it has to do with which era of pressings dominate your collection....

please elaborate
cheers
-b

The job of the stylus is to trace, (or retrace) the groove as close as possible to the actual cutting stylus. So, in this case, yes the line contact will have a closer profile to the cutting stylus.

Dear Braab8: Common sense tell us that line contact could has better quality performance, why I say " could "?

Well, the line contact stylus on cartridge needs a more precise cartridge set up: VTA/SRA, VTF, Azymuth, etc, etc, if not then we can aware of the line contact stylus shape advantages.

Now, if you read through the MM/MI thread you can see that several non line contact cartridges performs better that other line contact stylus shape cartridges even in the same model like in Ortofon M20FL Super ( line contact ) where almost all the owners with the FL and the E ( elipthical. ) version prefer this one .

I buy through garage-a-records the E version of the Azden that I try briefly and sounds good but not better than the VL version but I need more time ( 20 hours at least ) with the E one.

In the other side seems to me that the cartridge body is the same for all models.
I know that Dgob own both cartridges: the 50VL and the 50E, maybe he can comes and put additional " light " on the subject.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Raul/Jmowbray,

The body of the 50VL is gold and that on the 50E (and of the 50C) is silver. I hear differences when switching the styli. Meaning that I get similar performance from both dependent on which stylus is used, which leads me to believe that the styli are the real difference.

Thanks Dgob. I noticed the color difference (in photos) which is why I was wondering if they were the same or not.

If you look at the specs for the 4 P-mount cartridges:

http://cgi.ebay.com/AZDEN-YM-P50C-MOVING-MAGNET-STEREO-CARTRIDGE-W-STYLUS_W0QQitemZ170452248102QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item27afbee626

you can see that the YM-P20E uses the same stylus as the P50E but has only 24dB channel separation where the P50E has 28dB. Both have the same frequency response specifications. Looking at these 2 cartridges, it is clear that the P20E has a different cartridge body than the 50 series.

When you look at the specs for the 50 series cartridges, the differences between the 3 in their channel separation and frequency response specs seem to correspond with improving stylus shape. This make sense logically.

I asked the original question because I have an apparently defective YM-P50VL (no left channel) and want to take the stylus assembly from the defective cartridge and put it on a YM-P50C body. On paper it seems like it will work but I'll have no reference point for comparison purposes unless I can somehow get the original P50VL to work.

Jack

Jmowbray,

I think Van den Hul might be able to mend your 50VL. It will definitely be worth contacting your local agent to inquire. If you do, please let us know how it works out.

I've not really given the 50L and 50E sufficient time but they both sound the same to me (dependent on styli). I've currently got the 50E set up with the 50VL stylus on it and am enjoying this enormously in the brief stints that I've found to play it so far.

Good luck

Just to follow up - I was able to use the VL stylus on the YM-P50C body and it sounds fine (again, no way to compare to see if it's as good as the P50VL cartridge body). I'll let it break in and report back later if anything changes.

Assuming they are the same cartridge body, if anyone missed out on getting a YM-P50VL, they might be able to get close by snagging a YM-P50C ($50 on ebay) and replacing the conical stylus with any of the elliptical stylii that seem to be available for $25-30.

Just a thought.

Jack