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In Reply to: RE: Cartridge manufacturer quality and reliability? posted by TubeDriver on August 17, 2012 at 08:15:39
Get your OEM AT13Ea styli while you still can!
Unfavorable review of generic replacement is forthcoming.
-reub
Follow Ups:
I have an OC9 II which I hardly use - less than 100 hours before one channel went dead. It's been sitting around as my third/spare cartridge. Then one day I noticed one channel was not working. Visual examination with a microscope showed no broken wiring or detached soldering. However, my meter measured an open circuit.
My previous OC9 had no issue. AT had (past tense?) a good reputation for reliability. But how about recent productions?
Something about the generator (maybe the whole thing) is a wee bit off center, but all else is aligned. The test report is also less than perfect, sporting different numbers for the L and R outputs. I measured the DC resistance and came up with slightly different numbers.
What was I to do, send it back? I decided to give it a try, and it sounds fine. So, Audio-Technica might not really be worthy of an honorable mention for quality, but this discussion is worth while.
After messing around with the generic replacement stylus for the AT13Ea, I bought two more OEM styli. I was impressed with having three that look identical.
-reub
I wouldn't quite second the AT nomination, 'cause slightly sideways pointing cantilevers and azimuth deviations are not that rare on AT needles (and not only the cheap ones). Gladly enough, these most usually are easily user-repairable. But some aren't - for example an ATN95E of a German forum aquaintance, on which the diamond iself wasn't oriented correctly, so that the front/back flats of the (pseudo-)elliptical tip were looking some 30° (!!!) sideways. Granted though, for the very low price of an AT95E one probably can't really expect stellar quality control anymore...
Greetings from Munich!
Manfred / lini
P.S.: And no worries, I've already got four spare ATN13s for my AT13EaV. The ATN13EaV and ATN13EaX are lower quality, bonded ones, btw - so if one would like the nice, high quality nudie with rectangular shank, the regular ATN13 (with golden AT logo) is the version to look for...
Not knowing any better, I just picked up three of 'the best' ATN13EaX from LP gear (needless to say, I liked the first one). You're right, they're bonded on a tapered shaft. I have no regrets about these, in fact I'm glad to have them.
Long story short, I bought my cartridge used at a dealer back in the day. The original stylus is nude to a round shaft, with a gold AT logo. This is the first I have heard of a square shank. Is it possible you have the shatiba stylus?
And, before I go nuts, my cartridge body is heavily tarnished and has me thinking... do the bodies ever go bad?
-reub
Uhm, Reuben, actually the regular ATN13 (yup, the one with the golden AT logo but no further imprint) should sport a rectangular shank (haven't measured, but I'd think most probably 0.2 x 0.1 mm, maybe 0.14 x 0.07 mm) nudie, just like its unfortunately incompatible sister ATS13 and the later ATN130E/132EP. I'm aware that there sometimes were exceptions, though - a forum aquaintance over from AK recently even got a bonded and hardly polished ATN13. However, that was a replacement vendor repacked exemplar - although that doesn't necessarily have to be a problem, 'cause my new old stock exemplars also weren't originally AT packed, but nevertheless all do sport the rectangular shank nudie on tapered alu cantilever combination.
Greetings from Munich!
Manfred / lini
P.S.: A bit of corrosion on the outside of the generator shell usually doesn't matter. The copper wiring inside is laquered, so it's pretty well protected. And AT's choice of materials for their carts always was pretty good, so unless your AT13Ea body had been sun-dried out in the desert or rotting in a swamp for the last 25 years, there's not much too worry about.
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