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Nude stylii on '50s Ortofons !!! Bonded stylii can b good

Hi, The Japanese are clearly NOT the originators of nude stylii. This was done long before laser cutting existed. I have had some Ortofon and ESL(made by Orto) mono carts, as well as their early stereo carts, which do have nude mounted stylii, and beautiful ones at that !
Speaking of increases in mass with a bonded tip, that is a crazy notion, indeed, IMHO. Do you really think that a 1/4 milligram will make a detrimental difference to moving mass ? No way ! While the cartridge manufacturers would like you to think so, that is a crazy notion. How can a cartridge manufacturer even try to pull one over on us, with the so called tip mass spec ? Just think of all the highish mass arms we use, tracking moving coil carts at 2000 milligrams. How can the cart mfr. use that spec, when he doesn't even know which arm we might be using ?
Besides that discussion/argument, let us count the large number of cartridges with bonded tips that sound fantastic. Most early stereo carts that are still very competitive today, sonically speaking, have bonded tips. Early stereo Bang & Olufsen SP I and SP II, Elac 200, 210, 222, Empire 108 & 88, Fairchild SM-1 and SM-2, Pickering/Stanton 371 & 380, ADC, Shure M3D et al, used bonded tips. Have you seen the prices on some of these, lately, on the bay ?
The Fairchilds get $200. and the Shure M3D is now over $100. Their pricing is for their sonic virtues more than their early stereo curiousity.
I believe the first USA mass marketed stereo cartridges with nude stylii, were the Shure M91ED and V15-II, as well as the Empire 999VEX and other top line variations, all seen in the late '60s, still before micro-laser cutting. The early '60s Ortofon SPU/SPE, with its' nude mounted, long life diamond is still the world reference, sonically, by the way.
Getting back to the mass debate, what about that dab of glue ? It weighs something, too. So, do you think the small bonding bushing, holding the bonded tip, weighs much more than the nude diamond shaft ? With a diamond being the hardest, densest material, probably not, right ? However, what does it matter ? It is the sound we are after. There are plenty of bonded diamond cartridges that are sonically worthy of your listening. ENJOY !!!


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