Cartridge for turntable

[pksnathan]

Friends,

I want to replace a cartridge for my Cosmic direct drive turntable.Which brand is suitable for this and where in Chennai can I source this?I request our friends to kindly help me in this regard.

Thanking you,
Sincerely,

pksnathan

 

[Anil kumar]

Hi pksnathan, contact murali n at chennai, he is selling his new Audio Technica AT 91 stylus.


Regards,
Anil

Friends,

I want to replace a cartridge for my Cosmic direct drive turntable.Which brand is suitable for this and where in Chennai can I source this?I request our friends to kindly help me in this regard.

Thanking you,
Sincerely,

pksnathan

 

[murali_n]

Hi all,

I want to highlight my experience here. I purchased a new Shure M97xE MM Cart from Amazon.com about a year back, and might have used for about 50-100 hours. Since beginning there was a issue with the volume imbalance between the channels which I later overcame with slight adjustment in the headshell alignment. Now suddenly last week, one of the channel became dead, when I checked with multi-meter the coil was open. I want to know whether anyone has had similar experience with this cartridge before. There are lot of posts in International forum about the quality of this cart. But the Sound Quality of the cart when it was working was top notch. I had also ordered for a spare stylus for the cart. So I want to try my luck, and am ordering another piece from Kabusa.com this week, if it also fails, would never venture for the same. Meanwhile if anyone can suggest me a good cartridge model in the price range of $75-100 along with the place of purchase, probably from brands like Grado or Ortofon, Audio-Technica etc, will be helpful. I am very much disappointed with Shure for the simple reason that my Audio-Technica AT-91 cart is still going strong with its original stylus, after running in for about 300-350 hours of usage in the past 4 years.

Thanks for reading,

N.Murali

 

[gangof4]

Hi all,

I want to highlight my experience here. I purchased a new Shure M97xE MM Cart from Amazon.com about a year back, and might have used for about 50-100 hours. Since beginning there was a issue with the volume imbalance between the channels which I later overcame with slight adjustment in the headshell alignment. Now suddenly last week, one of the channel became dead, when I checked with multi-meter the coil was open. I want to know whether anyone has had similar experience with this cartridge before. There are lot of posts in International forum about the quality of this cart. But the Sound Quality of the cart when it was working was top notch. I had also ordered for a spare stylus for the cart. So I want to try my luck, and am ordering another piece from Kabusa.com this week, if it also fails, would never venture for the same. Meanwhile if anyone can suggest me a good cartridge model in the price range of $75-100 along with the place of purchase, probably from brands like Grado or Ortofon, Audio-Technica etc, will be helpful. I am very much disappointed with Shure for the simple reason that my Audio-Technica AT-91 cart is still going strong with its original stylus, after running in for about 300-350 hours of usage in the past 4 years.

Thanks for reading,

N.Murali

Hi Murali,

I have two Shure v15 type 3 carts and one of them has a slight channel imbalance in a sense that the sound from the left channel is just a bit softer than the sound from the right channel. What could be the issue and how can it be fixed?

Cheers

 

[murali_n]

Hi gof4,

Try the cart in another TT, check the connecting leads to headshell(check for loose connection, if need clean the leads and re-fix), also check for alignment in the tonearm, using any protractor(refer Vinylengine.com). Must be one of the above problem. But yesteryear Shure carts were built very well and no issues with QC. Its only the present generation of Shure M97xE that is not reliable, thats why I posted above.:sad:

N.Murali.

 

[Asit]

Hi Murali,

Here is my experience. On my old Dual CS5000 TT, I tried a Shure M97xE bought for Rs 4750 from the authorized Shure dealer in Kolkata. On setting it up, one channel was absent, while the other channel was perfect. I had Sangram check the whole chain out with his meter to check if anything else could be suspected. Our conclusion was that the cart was defective. So I brought it back to the dealer, and the dealer without even any testing just accepted my word and returned my money. I suppose they had a few other cases like this, so it did not take at all any convincing on my part. They told me if they get another one, they would call me. Ultimately I got another one at the same price from the dealer after about 3 months. This one worked well. This cart if working properly is a very good one for the price. However, a few days after the second M97xE was installed, the motor went kaput. So that kart is now lying there idle after a few hours of operation. Malvai later told me that the current plant in Mexico that is apparently producing these cartridges does not have good QC.

Regards.

 

[malvai]

^^
that is true asit... the Mexico plant apparently has QC issues that has caused a lot of problems for many Shure buyers all over the world... the good thing is that Shure dealers are pretty clued in and give replacemnts without any hassels...

Its a superb cart, though... it came really cloise to my old Shure V15 mk III and THAT is saying a lot for it!

alternatively the audio technica carts in the same price range are pretty good contenders too. (especially for the Akai DD, Technics & the Cosmic Congram... The Cosmic Congram was an imported Akai DD Kit rebadged by the cosmic people in India - good turntable!)

 

[gangof4]

Hi gof4,

Try the cart in another TT, check the connecting leads to headshell(check for loose connection, if need clean the leads and re-fix), also check for alignment in the tonearm, using any protractor(refer Vinylengine.com). Must be one of the above problem. But yesteryear Shure carts were built very well and no issues with QC. Its only the present generation of Shure M97xE that is not reliable, thats why I posted above.:sad:

N.Murali.

hi,

the alignment is not an issue i am sure. the leads must be the issue. thanks a lot anyway.

 

[malvai]

hi,

the alignment is not an issue i am sure. the leads must be the issue. thanks a lot anyway.

try and swap the L & R leads... see if the sound from the same speaker is still soft... if it is then it is either a prob in your phono stage or amp or maybe in the cartridge itself...

 

[gangof4]

try and swap the L & R leads... see if the sound from the same speaker is still soft... if it is then it is either a prob in your phono stage or amp or maybe in the cartridge itself...

yes, will try and do this today....cheers

 

[Rajiv]

Meanwhile if anyone can suggest me a good cartridge model in the price range of $75-100 along with the place of purchase, probably from brands like Grado or Ortofon, Audio-Technica etc, will be helpful.

Hi,

Murali, I have an older Grado cartridge with a broken stylus. Any of the newer Prestige series styli (Black to Gold) will fit this cartridge.

Grado Labs Phono Stylus (Needle) Home Page

I do not forsee myself using this cartridge.If you are interested you can have it and get yourself a replacement stylus from Grado.

If you fit a Green or Blue stylus (most cost effective in my opinion)you will have a cartridge that is equal to the current Grado Green /Blue.

Regards
Rajiv