Notice That There Are Not Many Survivors of the MC from the early 19080's or so?
Every once in awhile I will see an odd Audioquest 404 for sale. But otherwise not too many cartridges from this generation. I have always wondered about whatever happened to the Sumiko SHO cartridges. Were they the predecessor to the Blue Point or the Blackbird? Always wondered how they sounded, never got to hear one.
I wonder if it is the use of the hollow rod cantilevers that caused them to become lost cartridges. I don't think you could retip them, but the best you could do is trade them in for a discount.
The other cartridge I see from time to time are the Shinon, and every once in a great while I will see one come up for sale. Oh an odd Ortofon or two, and that is about all I remember for this era of moving coils ever coming available.
I need to be more in control, I couldn’t stand not knowing, and I would probably move it to a headshell with azimuth adjustability, i.e. get some advantage of moving it. I would write and ask what kind of metal it is made of, when you don’t have sides, which I like, you want no flexibility, but not too much weight.
this, 1 pin, silver wires, aluminum/magnesium same seller, 2 pins, he could change it to silver wires if you asked
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@elliottbnewcombjr, that appears to be a good choice. But the ad does not list the weight. Do you have that? |
I just did a quickie search on hifishark, just to post examples, and remind people, you need to know if your fitting only accepts 1 pin, or if it allows two pins. Two days ago other designs showed up, I have a variety of headshells, several similar looking Audio Technica are various weights, their model #s may indicate their weight in grams, but you can ask a seller to weigh it. Steve or Ray Leung at VAS can modify many headshells to make them azimuth adjustable, or sell you one of his. https://vasnyinc.com/repair-service/ If the tonearm has optional counter-weights, get them, some cartridges are quite light, others heavy. There are weights than can be added to get the headshell/cartridge combo heavier, either shims between the underside of the headshell (reset your VTA), or that fit/sit on top of the headshell. Some headshells have threaded holes to receive them. I mounted one ’upside down’ looks funny but does the job. I just added these bubble levels to the top of several headshells, put them on before you calibrate tracking force. Note: headshells are not always ’perfectly parallel’ with the arm, so set the headshell level when the stylus is in the groove with proper tracking weight. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NRG8HX6?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1 I used these 10mm adhesive dots to adhere them (removable) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKJJV58Q They aren’t perfect, but they let you know you are close, then I use a mirror to refine reality rather than the top of the headshell. I just set a cartridge where the bottom of the cartridge was not level to the headshell, it’s the stylus that wants to be aligned properly. |
Ortofon SPU. Born in 1958, same as me. My Dad had one for playing mono records in the late 1960s, on a Rek-O-Kut studio turntable mounted in a cast iron base with linoleum plinth. I don't remember the tonearm, maybe an Empire. I've had SPUs in my systems on and off over the years. I love their sound mated to tube gear but they need compatible tonearms and MC head amps or Step-Up transformers. But when setup correctly very magical. |
