NOS SHURE V 15 Type IV Turntable Cartridge with Stylus Compatibility


I have a NOS SHURE V 15 Type IV cartridge with original stylus that I was thinking of using with my Aiwa LP3000 turntable. I have questions of the compatibility of the two because the cartridge was originally designed for very low-mass tonearms, and my research leans towards the LP-3000 auto-return tonearm being more suited for medium-compliance cartridges.  I am hoping to get some advice from this forum about compatibility of the two and if it's even worth it to replace my current Sumiko Amethyst cartridge.

nhouseconsulting

Nice TT, these are solid performers, direct drive, linear tracking, auto features and programming are all a treat!

There is the world of ’medium’ which you only know by trying or someone else telling you my ___ works with _____ I would mount it and try it.

Without knowing the specs of each TT/arm: that Aiwa arm looks a lot like my friend’s Mitsubishi LT-22, he uses an AT540ml medium/high compliance on it, as well as a few others without problems.

I have the vertical version, Mitsubishi LT-5V, same similar arm, and use the earlier AT440ml medium/high on it, as well as my Shure V15VxMR high compliance without problems.

 

My Shure IS a problem on my JVC Victor UA-7082 arm, it is too heavy an arm for that high compliance and light 1.0 gm tracking. I raised it to 1.25 gm, mistracking went away, but ... I don't use the Shure on that arm.

On a compatible arm, I use the optional Shure brush for warped records (not often), dust/static prevention (not often), mostly I use it up.

They track lighter than others, Shure’s brush is ’damped’ to help light tracking deal with warps. The compliance comes more from the suspension, I would not rely of the brush to solve a compliance mis-match. Tracking force of only 1.25g is the same with or without the brush, you ’add’ .5 gm tracking, the brush ’pushes up’ ,5 g, so the compliance of the suspension is the same with or without the brush.

btw, Jico’s replacement stylus for some Shure Cartridges have a brush, but I asked and they told me it is ’not damped’.

Bill Richardson has a Mitsubishi LT-_____, similar arm to my friend’s, mine, and your Aiwa. He could tell you which of his cartridges work with it.

 

IMHO, much of the old data on tonearm matching regarding primary resonance is outdated. Korf posits that high compliance cartridges are compatible with many higher mass tonearms, here:

https://korfaudio.com/blog67

And here:

https://korfaudio.com/calculator

And in the last few years we have seen a crop of extremely high mass tonearms, like the Kuzma Sapphire at 60 grams effective mass in it’s 9" (shortest) version, and they seem to be doing fine with medium compliance cartridges, though I would not use one of my several Shure’s on them.

I appreciate the responses which cause me to do further research and I am leaning towards selling the SHURE and purchasing a Sumiko Songbird High MC Cartridge