I'm curious - since there are so many West Coasters on the list - if any of you are coming to the Conference for the first time. It's always great to meet folks you only know about on the newsgroup. Less than 3 weeks away! Steve Ramm
**************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money & Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001) From [email protected] Fri Mar 7 14:35:44 2008 From: [email protected] (Robert Wright) Date: Fri Mar 7 14:35:57 2008 Subject: [Phono-L] Shellac records and damage from steel needles References: <[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]> <003501c8809b$ba93be30$6400a...@hpa1514n> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Greg, That's great to hear you say -- I consider you an audio expert as well as a phono guy. As a fellow (recording, mixing, and restoration) engineer, it's very gratifying and reassuring that my findings with regard to the Shure V15 series are receiving additional confirmation from a source I respect. And that second paragraph is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time. You obviously have some very passionate feelings about the state of audiophiledom, present and past! (I can tell you're holding back, too.) What is it about that squiggly little spiral that drives us to such lengths to excavate the max amount of information from it? Best, Robert ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Bogantz" <[email protected]> > Robert, I agree with you that the Shure V15 MR series are among the > best cartridges ever made. So far as I have been able to determine there > is very little difference between the V15-V (5) and the V15-III (3) except > a slightly flatter frequency response with the V. I remember doing a > frequency response run on these models many years ago when they were new > (along with dozens of other models) and this was what I found then. As I > have said before, the MicroRidge (MR) styli which are a line contact (LC) > or micro-line (ML) type of design is the best design you can get. The > tracking ability of the III and the V MR designs is virtually the same, > even though Shure wanted you to pay more for the later V design. > Actually, the MR styli began to be marketed with the introduction of the V > model. At that time, it made the V-15-V the best Shure cartridge ever. > But then Shure began to offer the MR styli for the III and the IV models > as replacements and it became clear that they all performed equally well > in tracking ability. So I was happy to save a considerable amount of > money by using the III instead of the V stylus. > > As far as spending more money for any cartridge, I have seen no need > for it. I have tested some of the early golden-ear cartridges, both > moving magnet (MM) and moving-coil (MC) designs that are so revered by the > terminally tone deaf. NONE of them could hold a candle in tracking > ability to the scientifically correctly designed Shure V15s. The > excessively priced audiophool models are meant to appeal to the golden ear > crowd who wouldn't know mistracking if they heard it. I know this from > first-hand (ear?) experience by noting that several of my golden-ear > friends are completely clueless when it comes to setting up their tonearms > for correct tracking force and anti-skate compensation. But they are more > than willing to shell out ridiculous amounts of money for a cartridge, > preamp, amp, or whatever so long as that model has been "blessed" by J. > Gordon Dolt or some other wack golden ear bloviator in one of the > far-too-many magazines devoted to the cult of spending money. > > The only other cartridges that are on a par with the Shure V15 MRs are > the Shibata-equipped Audio-Technicas (880 and 440ML). These carts have a > little lower compliance due to their support of the supersonic frequency > range, but they still track extremely well at 2 grams which poses no > significant threat to records due to their ML stylus shape. I have found > the occasional Ortofon (OM-30 and 40) and B&O (MMC-20CL and the later > MMC-1 and 2) to be very good as well, but they are all out of production > now, I believe, including their replacement styli. The golden-ear > fascination with the moving coil types has always been overblown. Way > back when, the MC types established their reputation because they had > lower effective tip mass (ETM), but with more modern permanent magnet > technologies, the MM carts actually exhibit lower ETM than the MC types. > Consequently, the newest MM types work better and have the additional > advantage that they have much higher output voltage which improves their > signal to noise ratio. > > Greg Bogantz
