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NOS Pickering DTL-2S (Stereohedron) cartridge and stylus: US$50.

210.54.34.97
Posted on July 27, 2015 at 23:49:34
jusbe
Audiophile

Posts: 5950
Location: North Island
Joined: April 4, 2000
 Hurry. Before they disappear again!





Big J

"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."


 

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RE: NOS Pickering DTL-2S (Stereohedron) cartridge and stylus: US$50., posted on July 29, 2015 at 18:18:17
flood2
Audiophile

Posts: 2558
Joined: January 11, 2011
 Are you getting any using YouShop? The guy only ships to US... However, I would extend the same caution I posted some time ago on ageing of elastomers - see link!
Regards Anthony

"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats

 

I bought 4. He ships directly to NZ. , posted on July 30, 2015 at 00:15:52
jusbe
Audiophile

Posts: 5950
Location: North Island
Joined: April 4, 2000
 At $40 a pop (my offer), it's worth a bite, IMO.
Big J

"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."


 

RE: I bought 4. He ships directly to NZ. , posted on July 30, 2015 at 02:31:01
flood2
Audiophile

Posts: 2558
Joined: January 11, 2011
 Sure..at that price. These are MI styli so will fit on your XV15 body too. I've just had WAaaay too many Stanton/Pickering styli with wonky alignment to bother with them anymore - I'll just retip my cherry-picked styli now.
Did you score any of the XLZ3500E cartridges that Audiodenny were selling about a year ago?
Regards Anthony

"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats

 

I asked the seller to select closely, posted on July 30, 2015 at 05:02:14
jusbe
Audiophile

Posts: 5950
Location: North Island
Joined: April 4, 2000
 and send me straight ones only. He agreed. Guess we'll see!

Missed out on those XLZs but still keep an eye out for the ultra-low output Pickerings or Stantons at a decent price.


Big J

"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."


 

That's really odd., posted on July 31, 2015 at 10:55:45
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 I have a Pickering DL-2S cart with a couple DTL-2S styli and the stylus assemblies don't look like that at all. Mine are the "conventional" Pickering shape with the integral Pickering brush.

 

What's a conventional Pickering shape?, posted on July 31, 2015 at 21:19:02
jusbe
Audiophile

Posts: 5950
Location: North Island
Joined: April 4, 2000
 All of the Pickering styli I have look like this. The difference seems to be whether a brush is included or not. The T4P cartridges I have seen (Pickering) don't seem to include the brush, for some reason.

Regarding the shape, this low-cut design is exactly the same as the other dozen or so NOS Pickering styli I have. I have seen diagrams of the high-sided Pickering stylus on the original issue T4P cartridges, but have never seen one in the flesh. It may be that, in order to suggest difference between this OEM design and the standard version of the same, a different stylus housing shape was used. From what I can tell, it still has the 'PC' stamp on the front of it. Will know for sure when we get ours.

Right now, I'm more concerned that they are straight and still flexible!


Big J

"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."


 

Here's what mine look like., posted on August 1, 2015 at 04:34:26
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 I just thought they all looked like this. Great cart, P-mount or not.

 

Yes. And yes., posted on August 2, 2015 at 01:21:38
jusbe
Audiophile

Posts: 5950
Location: North Island
Joined: April 4, 2000
 I'm secretly looking forward to receiving my clutch of them. I only hope they are all still playable.

And you should have been taking commission since your reports on them are partly responsible for my seeking out better styli for my XV15! :^)


Big J

"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."


 

RE: Yes. And yes., posted on August 2, 2015 at 04:53:07
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 Thanks. Nice to know, and I hope they work out for you.

 

RE: What's a conventional Pickering shape?, posted on August 3, 2015 at 16:15:19
flood2
Audiophile

Posts: 2558
Joined: January 11, 2011
 The T4P versions don't include the brush because the P-mount specification defines a VTF of 1.25g as the nominal value. The (P-mount version) L680EL has an additional mass placed on the top of the body to increase the effective VTF due to the body mass increase. The P-mount specification also defines the recommended body mass of 5g (IIRC) so it was intended to be literally plug and play as long as the manufacturers of the cartridge made everything to specification! The brush would just mess everything up unless an additional mass were placed on top of the body like the L680EL. Then you would have the problem that people who preferred to remove the brush would be tracking waaaaay too high!

BTW you may notice that the P-mount body angle is different to the standard mount bodies. The SRA is adjusted to compensate for this. However, you will typically get better performance if you use these styli in your XV15 body - the nominal SRA for standard styli is a little on the low side and the production tolerances are sufficiently wide that you would normally get anywhere from (negative) to +1.5 degree (based on the measurements of my large sample of styli)
With the P-mount styli mounted in a standard body, the effective SRA is pushed towards the 2 degree accepted optimum. For example I use my D84S styli in my 881 bodies and get much lower IMD compared to my D81IIS styli.


Regards Anthony

"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats

 

Useful info on SRA., posted on August 5, 2015 at 00:48:59
jusbe
Audiophile

Posts: 5950
Location: North Island
Joined: April 4, 2000
 Thanks for that!

Well, they arrived fast and in mint condition. One of the four appears to be dead straight. The other three appear to need a few degrees of azimuth adjustment. Any suggestions for how to tackle that?


Big J

"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."


 

RE: Useful info on SRA., posted on August 5, 2015 at 01:06:46
flood2
Audiophile

Posts: 2558
Joined: January 11, 2011
 "Back in the day" as it were (mid to late 90s) I used to buy 4 or 5 at a time to select the "one good one" - only about 1 in 5 were correctly aligned. Price was no insurance either - out of the 3 CS100 styli I have, only 1 was correctly aligned for azimuth, but all have some fault either SRA, azimuth or skewed cantilever (in one case the cantilever wasn't coated in sapphire!). My 981HZS has a skewed cantilever with mild azimuth error... the list goes on!I put them to one side for nearly 15 years, then when I came back to test them, I found most failed to meet spec - hence my warning to you! They "sound OK" but if you measure the frequency response, you will find they roll off early and won't meet the HF cutoff spec.

Hopefully tracking is OK! What separates the models within a particular series (i.e. MM or MI) is the tracking ability. At 1.25g you can expect about 60um or so. The 681EEE was actually specified for 70um in official Stanton literature that I came across at the Library of Congress. First time I actually found a tracking ability spec for this cartridge!
Do you have a fixed headshell arm or a "universal" headshell type arm like Technics/Ortofon/SME3009 and the like?

If you have the latter then the LPGear Zupreme headshell has azimuth adjustment. It is an OEM design that Sumiko have branded as well, but this is the cheapest one I've found.

Otherwise you will have to shim the appropriate side when screw the cartridge into the headshell. It will help if you actually work out the error using a photograph on your screen, then you can calculate the shim thickness. I used to do this with my dad's old Philips turntable which was a fixed shell design.
Regards Anthony

"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats

 

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