Shinon Red

RE: Shinon Red , posted on January 24, 2015 at 18:37:11
unclestu Dealer Posts: 5851 Joined: April 13, 2010	Shinon was brought in by a Canadian distributor but died back in the late 80's when Japan adopted EPA and OSHA laws. Boron in cantilever can be carcinogenic, if inhaled or dust ingested. Great cartridge though,: dynamic n with enough output for most tube phono sections

RE: Shinon Red , posted on January 24, 2015 at 19:34:35
M3 lover Audiophile Posts: 6604 Location: SW Mich Joined: May 29, 2005 Contributor Since: July 4, 2007	A Shinon Red Boron just sold on eBay for $600. Apparently this is still strong interest in these wonderful cartridges. Anyone know the year they were last produced? "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing, if you can fake that you've got it made." Groucho

RE: Shinon Red , posted on January 25, 2015 at 02:45:07
markinuk Audiophile Posts: 456 Location: Surrey Joined: January 13, 2003	Hi Surely safety regulations concerning boron can't be the reason. Here's a shortlist of currently available boron-cantilevered cartridges: Ortofon Quintet Black Ortofon Cadenza Black (plus their esoteric designs such as the MC Anna) Nagaoka MP-200, 300 and 500 Audio-Technica AT-OC9 (and higher-end models) I'm sure there must be others! Mark

RE: Shinon Red , posted on January 25, 2015 at 14:02:21
Pix4work2 Audiophile Posts: 39 Location: Middle TN Joined: March 1, 2014	Thanks everyone. I also think there must be some other reason besides the cantilever the importer stopped bringing them into North America. Perhaps the importer is out of business, or manufacturing ceased? Does anyone have contact info for the importer or Shinon itself?

RE: Shinon Red , posted on January 25, 2015 at 14:12:06

unclestu
Dealer

Posts: 5851
Joined: April 13, 2010

Used to work for a dealer. There was a time period when anything boron ceased production and Shinon got caught by this adaptation to new EPA like requirements. The Canadian distributor was not really a designer and merely had them made for his sales, and had no other product to carry on.

Closest to the Shinon I could get was the Benz lineup which has also materially changed in the past few years.

At the time, boron cantilevers seem add tremendous dynamic range; as witness the Talisman B ( B for boron cantilever, they had an aluminum one and a sapphire one too).

I would assume that someone could start up manufacture again. The cantilever/styli were made by Namiki, IIRC. Body looks similar to older AQ aluminum bodies, rather generic, to be honest.

LOL!!!!, posted on January 25, 2015 at 14:25:54

unclestu
Dealer

Posts: 5851
Joined: April 13, 2010

At the time certain EPA rulings were fairly lax ( this was c.1990). While boron production and use resumed after, it took several years for the manufacturing companies to install special ventilation systems (clean air rooms) and air fed respirator systems for workers. Such systems are not cheap, nor can they be instantly installed.

Ignorance of regulatory rulings has affected many products within the audio world, Polystyrene film ceased production in ALL first world countries back in around the late 1990's because one byproduct of polystyrene production is dioxin. Yeah polystyrene is made again, but primarily in Mainland China where regulatory restrictions are very lax.

The same reason is why speaker magnet production has moved to Mainland China. Most modern magnets are doped with heavy and rare earth elements. In the US and Europe, there are strict respiratory requirements for the workers and any waste ( dust, shavings, etc) must be handled as toxic waste: very expensive. In China you can just sweep it into the street....(just about)

RE: LOL!!!!, posted on January 25, 2015 at 14:58:54

markinuk
Audiophile

Posts: 456
Location: Surrey
Joined: January 13, 2003

Ah, interesting!

Of course, it's never entirely clear who makes the cantilever/stylus assemblies for each cartridge, especially when the maker is a small company. It appears only a tiny number of firms have the capability - and presumably their main business is elsewhere (like Nagaoka, for example).

Taking up your point, Pro-Ject use an outside contractor to make their carbon-fibre arm-tubes, as this is also a pretty nasty material to work with in the 'raw' state.

RE: LOL!!!!, posted on January 25, 2015 at 15:56:25

unclestu
Dealer

Posts: 5851
Joined: April 13, 2010

Namiki was the largest cantilever styli maker in Japan. They could make sapphire/ruby cantilevers and even made the diamond ones for Dynavector , IIRC

Ernst Benz dominated the European scene. IIRC, he actually designed the laser cutters to cut and shape the diamond styli. He also pioneered the use of UV cured glues for adhering the styli. Prior Styli were mounted in a socket, or had a small hole milled out in the cantilever end for the stylus to be inserted.

Benz, maybe in response to the EPA requirements simply flattened the cantilever end and mounted the stylus against the flat building up a small fillet of glue around the base of the styli. The claim was that the stylus then made a more intimate contact with the cantilever rather than floating around in a sleeve of glue.

Ernst was a very pleasant to gentleman to speak to, He once laughingly told me he could carry a palm full of naked styli worth a million dollars....He once made more money supplying OEM styli rather building his own cartridges

Still have mine from the late eighties, posted on January 26, 2015 at 08:28:52
E-Stat Audiophile Posts: 37666 Joined: May 12, 2000 Contributor Since: April 5, 2002	used in the garage system with a new Soundsmith ruby cantilever - they don't do boron!

Andy Kim does boron., posted on January 26, 2015 at 13:42:04
Jeff Maxson Audiophile Posts: 969 Joined: January 6, 2002	He retipped a Koetsu for me w/boron and a micro-ridge

Interesting, posted on January 26, 2015 at 13:53:45
E-Stat Audiophile Posts: 37666 Joined: May 12, 2000 Contributor Since: April 5, 2002	And I thought he only sung bubblegum. :)

RE: Still have mine from the late eighties, posted on January 31, 2015 at 00:25:18
Retipper Manufacturer Posts: 179 Location: New York Joined: December 17, 2006	Yes,- we do Boron all the time. Peter Ledermann/Soundsmith

Interesting, posted on January 31, 2015 at 06:18:00
E-Stat Audiophile Posts: 37666 Joined: May 12, 2000 Contributor Since: April 5, 2002	That didn't seem to be an available option when you retipped my Shinon in 2012. I have the Ruby cantilever instead. I'll remember that for the next time!

RE: Still have mine from the late eighties, posted on January 31, 2015 at 19:26:03

griffithds@jaws.bz
Audiophile

Posts: 77
Location: Idaho
Joined: December 22, 2011

Hello Peter,

This statement by you has come as quite a surprise! It is the impression that you do 3 levels of cantilever replacements. One is Aluminum and the other two are Ruby. I have not seen any mention of Boron anywhere on your web site. You have lost some business from me and I am sure also from quite a few others due to this lack of knowledge on our part. Perhaps you have kept this information quite to prevent a major backlog?
Best regards,
Don
Don Griffith

Vinyl Asylum

Shinon Red

172.1.249.15