Your favorite cartridge from Pickering

RE: Your favorite , posted on June 27, 2017 at 13:05:44
hifitommy Audiophile Posts: 15387 Location: canyon country califiornia, orig from buffalo ny Joined: June 9, 2000	xsv 3000 and 4000. ...regards...tr

RE: Your favorite , posted on June 27, 2017 at 18:24:07
Tube747 Audiophile Posts: 419 Joined: May 11, 2004	What are the major differences between the CSV 3000 / 4000 and XV15 625E?

favorite , posted on June 27, 2017 at 18:58:43
hifitommy Audiophile Posts: 15387 Location: canyon country califiornia, orig from buffalo ny Joined: June 9, 2000	whereas i HAVE heard the xsv3000, i haven't heard the 4000 and it has been decades since i heard any pickering. what i remember is that it is quite refined due to its shibata like stylus shape. more recently, i heard a stanton 881s which is delightful and pretty much the brother to the xsv3000. same company and the styli are interchangeable. ...regards...tr

RE: Your favorite cartridge from Pickering, posted on June 27, 2017 at 20:45:54
AudioSoul Audiophile Posts: 4594 Location: north central AZ Joined: July 9, 2005	You must be a liberal. You a low choices but only from a prescribed few. Why only Pickering carts?

RE: Your favorite cartridge from Pickering, posted on June 27, 2017 at 20:59:58
Tube747 Audiophile Posts: 419 Joined: May 11, 2004	no particular reason, just because I like the sonic signature by having either standton or pickering mate with tube phono. I listen to the 681EEE recently, and found it's very good sounding in a CJ system! I consider to get one from used market (either Stanton or Pickering), so would like gather more info. Mine is Citation I and II combo

RE: Your favorite cartridge from Pickering, posted on June 28, 2017 at 02:35:50
Kingshead Audiophile Posts: 574 Location: Florida Joined: September 14, 2016	Of those I've heard, it's the XV15 1200E/D1200, definitely prefer it over my 625E

TL-2S, posted on June 28, 2017 at 05:17:21

Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001

Just happened on to this one, or maybe someone recommended it long ago. It's the only Pickering in my current stable of 9 carts. Just a very pleasant-sounding one to which I return frequently, though not quite the equal of my Grace F9E and about equal to my Sonus Blue/Gold among vintage carts. Actually bought a replacement stylus as back-up. I've convinced myself that the Stereohedron stylus shape has something to do with how much I like it.

Downside: it's a P-mount, so must be used with an adaptor (that came with it).

Thanks, Dave..., posted on June 28, 2017 at 08:04:38
Lew Audiophile Posts: 10911 Location: Bethesda, Maryland Joined: December 11, 2000	I was trying to remember the model number of your Pickering. Hearing it at your house was what opened my mind to the possible excellence of MM cartridges, in general. Pickering and Stanton are highly related brands. I have long been a proponent of the 980LZS. Some say the 980HZS is as good or better (higher output). These are analogous to the Pickering XSV7500, I think.

Pickering XSV Cartridge Body and Aftermarket D-4500Q Stylus., posted on June 28, 2017 at 21:17:15

mr.bear
Audiophile

Posts: 4167
Joined: November 13, 2001

Currently I'm enjoying a sweet vintage Pickering XSV/XUV hybrid. I bought a replacement stylus for my XSV-3000 claimed to be an EVG Games, part number 4608-DQX, from The Voice of Music in Wisconsin. Those folks were very helpful and supportive to say the least. The stylus was claimed to be an exact replacement for the D-4500Q in the Pickering XUV4500Q. That cart was quad-compatible with a frequency response to ~50kHz and a "quadrahedral" tip shape. The tip shape is described in the VoM website as "hyperelleptical." Who knows? It's some sort of Shibata variant if it yields frequency response to 50 kHz.

The replacement stylus came in looking very good-- sporting a very thin, cantilever and a beautiful clean diamond, no glue blobs, etc.; the diamond is mounted in a very compact bushing, not "nude." The cartridge is on my little old Sony PS-X55s (IMO, a giant killer) with its ultra-lightweight tonearm. VTF is at 1.2gm, and the arm dead level. Mounting was simple and it tracks beautifully.

Overall my impressions of the sound are that it performs with the smoothness of my ADC XLM-II, with the liveliness (liveness?) of my previous MC cartridges. It strikes a great balance between the lean "audiophile" sound of MC's and the warmth of MM's. The sound is lively, three-dimensional and realistic. You hear breath, hands on strings, the way the pitch bends when a tuned drumhead is struck by the hand, and other tiny musical events from some of my favorite records. Image quality is very good, preserving a good feel for the size of the room and the space between musicians. Listening to The Grateful Dead's mostly acoustic album "Reckoning" (Arista 1981) the sense of the space is immersive and engaging. The bass seems perfect, not lean, not boomy.

A fine sounding cartridge, playing the hell out of my system, for well under $100 all in.

It was fortunate that the stylus was skillfully made. Another inmate commented about the aftermarket styli showing poor quality control having errors in the actual diamond mounting resulting in a screwed-up azimuth etc.

Pickering's marketing for these upscale carts missed me entirely in the late 70's era. I recall them only as purveyors of mid-fi cartridges for dealers to mount in budget turntables. knew?!

Might be a Stanton in my future, posted on June 28, 2017 at 21:39:38

mr.bear
Audiophile

Posts: 4167
Joined: November 13, 2001

I read on-line somewhere a former Stanton engineer says that the the Pickering XSV-3000 was essentially an 881S. There's a lot of commonality in those lines.

The Stanton 681EEE MkIIS that had the "Stereohedron II" diamond with an improved low mass cantilever looks promising. The idea might be to find a decent body with bad stylus, cheap, and seek a decent aftermarket stylus.

Nobody asked, but Stanton's 681/680 styli are exact interchanges with Pickering XV-15 and there are Shibata variants in that branch of the tree. I haven't heard one of these in 35 years but I bet there are combinations that sound quite nice.

future, posted on June 28, 2017 at 22:25:39
hifitommy Audiophile Posts: 15387 Location: canyon country califiornia, orig from buffalo ny Joined: June 9, 2000	if i am not mistaken, the stereohedron and quadrahedron are essentially a shibata shape. the quadra prefix became unnecessary when the quad market failed to produce. good luck finding a nos stylus for these cartridges. i was lucky enough to buy mine before they became unobtanium. it is for my 881s which i will say is beauty in motion. ...regards...tr

RE: Might be a Stanton in my future, posted on June 28, 2017 at 23:11:44
flood2 Audiophile Posts: 2558 Joined: January 11, 2011	The XSV4000 is equivalent to the 881S electrically. The stylus has slightly different damping characteristics which result in a slightly wider bandwidth. The 881S is flatter in its response and has a slightly warmer characteristic. Regards Anthony "Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats

RE: future, posted on June 28, 2017 at 23:14:30

flood2
Audiophile

Posts: 2558
Joined: January 11, 2011

This Shibata/Stereohedron thing is a persisting bit of incorrect information!
The Stereohedron and Quadrahedron are very different to a Shibata. The Stereohedron has 4 intersecting cuts to give a diamond shaped section if you were to chop off the tip. The line is on the shank/tip axis. The Shibata has a curving line that is forward of the shank axis and is formed from 2 cuts on the back of the cone. A heart shaped section is achieved if you chop off the tip.

Regards Anthony

"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats

RE: Your favorite , posted on June 28, 2017 at 23:15:51
flood2 Audiophile Posts: 2558 Joined: January 11, 2011	Both are an MM designs with very different electrical characteristics: XSV3000 is 600 ohm/270mH XSV4000 is 900 ohm/510mH (like 881) Regards Anthony "Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats

RE: Your favorite , posted on June 29, 2017 at 08:46:36
Tube747 Audiophile Posts: 419 Joined: May 11, 2004	Refer to Pickering website, their best cartridge is TLZ-7500-S. Which model is the equivalent from Stanton?

RE: Might be a Stanton in my future, posted on June 29, 2017 at 11:46:54

Lew
Audiophile

Posts: 10911
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Joined: December 11, 2000

I own Stanton 881S mk2 and 981LZS. I also own a Pickering XSV 3000 and some bits and pieces of the XSV4000 and 7500. From all that I have ever read, those are the ones to go for. The 681 series may be good, too, but in my research back when I bought what I bought, it was not thought to be on par with the ones mentioned.

And yet, I have heard the Pickering TL-2S at Dopogue's house. It is excellent and dirt cheap, if still available on eBay.

RE: Your favorite , posted on June 29, 2017 at 16:48:32
flood2 Audiophile Posts: 2558 Joined: January 11, 2011	TLZ is the P-mount version. The normal 1/2 in mount would be XLZ. The Stanton models are prefixed by LZS and there were several models of which the 980/981LZS was the equivalent. You'll pay through the nose to get one today... original styli MUST be used to get the correct tonal balance and they are unobtanium now. Regards Anthony "Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats

RE: Your favorite cartridge from Pickering, posted on June 29, 2017 at 16:50:18
flood2 Audiophile Posts: 2558 Joined: January 11, 2011	Any of the low impedance models.... all day long! Regards Anthony "Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats

RE: Might be a Stanton in my future, posted on July 1, 2017 at 14:01:51

dean man jim
Audiophile

Posts: 2287
Location: Missouri
Joined: August 8, 2005
Contributor
Since: June 5, 2007

Speaking of stereohedron styli and the 680/681 branch of the tree, the 680SL uses a stereohedron and it's been a fav of mine for a few years. I actually prefer it over the 881S (I or II), and in particular find the tone it produces to be more harmonically complete than the 881.

It tracks more heavily than the 881 and I tend to like it best at 2.25g.

Jim

"Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal." Igor Stravinsky

Vinyl Asylum

Your favorite cartridge from Pickering

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