A few vintage, high-compliance cartridges

Posted by mr.bear (A) on January 8, 2017 at 00:02:46

I recently revived a couple vintage carts that had been "in a coma" for a few decades. I wanted to see if you could get great sound for around 150 bucks.

The units exhumed were ones I'd admired a long time ago, but never got a chance to own. My current table has a low mass arm and I've been listening to ADC XLM variants for a couple years now -- a baseline --very good performers that satisfy my current system performance goals.

#1 Cart started with a Pickering XSV-3000 body from a turntable wreck. It is now sporting an aftermarket "Stereohedron" XUV-4500Q stylus sourced from The Voice of Music; I think the list price is about 90 bucks. Decent looking Pickering bodies show up at auction for around 60 bucks often. Tracking at 1.2gm

#2 Cart started as a Signet TK3Ea body purchase via auction for under 50 bucks. It's been fitted with a genuine Audio Technica ATN120E elliptical stylus, sourced from LP Tunes, for about 85 bucks. This stylus seems a very close replacement for the original Signet elliptical. Tracking at 1.6gm

The sound of the Pickering is superb- detailed, good octave-to-octave balance, solid image, and subtly lively. Notes emerge from a black background; the level of detail is comparable to a pretty good MC (just one Bear's opinion-- I had been listening to my Dynavector XX and Denon DL-301 most recently). On the whole, it's slugging way above its weight; I like it better than my best ADC XLMii Improved cart after all.

The Signet is good, solid performer but won't amaze anyone. There are endearing aspects of its sound-- it mellows things a bit, forgoing detail for a measure of smoothness. It seems immune to surface noise. It doesn't throw a big soundstage however and PRAT doesn't grab you. You can listen to it all day though, it doesn't do one thing wrong. It's a good backup unit.

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Topic - A few vintage, high-compliance cartridges - mr.bear 00:02:46 01/08/17 (12)

RE: A few vintage, high-compliance cartridges - Wojciech 19:00:24 01/11/17 (1)

RE: A few vintage, high-compliance cartridges - flood2 12:44:02 01/13/17 (0)

RE: A few vintage, high-compliance cartridges - rindolini 14:40:11 01/08/17 (2)

RE: A few vintage, high-compliance cartridges - flood2 02:50:28 01/09/17 (0)

RE: A few vintage, high-compliance cartridges - mr.bear 01:36:42 01/09/17 (0)

Do you have a Pickering XV-15 that could use the 4500Q stylus? - alaskahiatt 11:20:57 01/08/17 (6)

RE: Do you have a Pickering XV-15 that could use the 4500Q stylus? - flood2 02:38:37 01/09/17 (5)

Anthony, if my reading is correct, my XV-15 can accept the MI D2000Q stylus. - alaskahiatt 17:08:51 01/09/17 (3)

RE: Anthony, if my reading is correct, my XV-15 can accept the MI D2000Q stylus. - flood2 18:00:59 01/09/17 (2)

Thanks again Anthony. To make sure I understand your answer, - alaskahiatt 15:46:04 01/11/17 (1)

RE: Thanks again Anthony. To make sure I understand your answer, - flood2 18:07:21 01/11/17 (0)

Thank you very much. I can see that I need to do a little more reading. nt - alaskahiatt 07:39:46 01/09/17 (0)

A few vintage, high-compliance cartridges

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