Anyone familiar with the Empire brand of cartridges?


  • I recently bought a Harmon Kardon Rabco st-7 turntable that came with an EMPIRE 2000Z MM Cartridge installed ,anyone have any good experiences with this cartridge or brand ?
audiophiletom
@fuzztone ¨They stopped making them 1990. No one stocks reasonable $$ replacement styluses.
Just use it until worn down if not already.¨

Have you tried the  replacements from Lp gear already?  I,m about to get it for a worn Empire 750LTD and the vital line replacement that lp gear sells is about 80 dlls. Of course that,s about how much I paid for that cart 10 years ago. But if it is something on a similar level to the original LAC it might be worth.



Thanks Fuzz ! I’ll check out Lp gear and probably should get several before they really get expensive 👍👍👍✅🌹
I got a 2000Z NOS/NIB years ago. I just put it in a drawer and forgot about it — I was using only Moving Coils cartridges. I finally tried the Z recently and it blew my mind. I have carts I'd call analytical or mellow or romantic, but my first thought on hearing this one was "Exciting!"
A friend is a cartridge retipper. Over the years he's heard just about every cartridge ever made. He calls the 2000Z a "WOW!" cartridge.

Mine is over 40 years old and still thrills, so longevity is not an issue.
Because mine is NOS, I haven't looked for a new stylus, so I can't advise you there... unless you want it retipped.  LP Gear offers two; the more expensive one has a finer stylus and might be better than the original.