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Any of you know about old tt cartridges?
... Well the pioneer came with a Shure Bros hitrack [M91E]. ... I'll be darned if that cart isn't awesome. It's got a nice thick sound compared to the AT[95E] and is very smooth while still detailed without a hint of distortion or sibilence. How is that possible? This thing was in some bodies attic for 30 years. We're talking serious heat. It was 115 degrees today and that's out in the breeze,my attics probably 140. So 30 years of that. And it still sounds awesome. Though I did replace its stylus.
Anybody know the cart off the top of their head and would it be worth putting a better needle on it?
This was my first cartridge, and yes, it's been out of production for years. When it hit the market in 1969, it was second banana to the mighty V15 Type II. For the price, and at that time, it was amazingly good. The M91E revealed something on LPs I'd never heard before: tape hiss.
Technically, as you might expect from something this old, the M91E is completely out of date, though certainly usable, and many people still find it makes the soundtrack of their lives sound just right. So what if the response curve isn't flat? Flat, schmat. Your speakers aren't flat. Your
room isn't flat. If it sounds good, it
is good, but you know you've crossed the line into audiophilerasty when your immediate question is a frantic "Yes, but could it sound
better ??" Don't go there.
A cartridge body baking in a 140-degree F attic will not be damaged, but a stylus certainly will, and it's the stylus that actually digs the sound out of the grooves, so it's not amazing that the cart sounds okay-- you tossed the part that got cooked.
Yes, it's worth putting a better stylus on it. The jack of all trades M97 series, one of which is still in production and easy to find, will fill in nicely and provide several technical improvements (the N97xE stylus is the one to look for). Beyond that, it gets absolutely Easter-egg-hunt spendy nutty crazy. Best not to ask unless you like spending $170 for a stylus. Heh heh.
I have a V-15 V and an M95HE, both very nice.
Which V have you got? which stylus?
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Sounds amazing, like seriously, we had some issues with the bass on the "Sansui" speakers causing crazy vibrations, and until I get new carpets... yeah hobo solution, but it works, and raisis the speakers to ear level.
It's always good to have the tweeters at ear level. If the speaker's a two-way, getting the woof-mid at ear level helps too. The bass problem is exaggerated when the speaker is buried in the corner, as in your photo. Getting it up off the floor helps, but pulling it about a foot away from the corner will help too. A speaker in a corner basically turns the room into a horn and activates all the room's resonances, many of which are, you guessed it, in the bass, and that makes life miserable for your turntable. Remember: speaker placement, like FM reception, is often a game of inches.
