Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Shure M97xE Phono Cartridge by zygon Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

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Model:	M97xE
Category:	Phono Cartridge
Suggested Retail Price:	$89.00
Description:	MM phono cartridge
Manufacturer URL:	Shure
Model Picture:	View

Review by zygon ( A ) on September 27, 2002 at 18:25:22 IP Address: 12.230.172.160

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I received my Shure M97xE via UPS today, and installed it. Alignment was rather difficult due to the the almost total lack of straight edges on the cartridge, and the fact that Shure includes no special gauge like they do with the V15VxMR, but after a lot of fiddling I managed to get it in the ballpark, as far as I can tell.

After roughing in VTA and setting VTF to about 1.4g (a little more than manufacturers recommended), I played a few records. First impression was Wow! This cartridge eats my $30 Stanton 500E MkII for breakfast. Highs are crisp, midrange is solid (without a trace of 'constriction' or 'darkness' present in the M94E and M92E), and bass is tight and solid. This is the best sounding cartridge I've ever heard (admittedly, I haven't heard too many).

I also detected traces of what one inmate referred to as a "staid, workmanlike performance." Although the cartridge sounds *perfectly good*, it just doesn't draw you into the music... it plays it for you. It's hard to be more specific than that... everything is there, but there's nothing seductive. Still, for $89 (sometimes even more deeply discounted) you just can't go wrong.

P.S... I could only get it to track the first two "torture tracks" on side one of the HFNRR test record (old version). The second two were completely distorted, the final track just about throws the needle out of the groove (on a relatively mass-y Thorens TP-16 tonearm, that's saying something). My Stanton tracked *all* the bias tests on the HFNRR record with aplomb, and I have to elect it as the better tracker by a long shot (at least with the M97xE still not dialed in). We'll see if I can align it better, but without one of the really fancy gauges, this one is *very* hard to get right, and in fact will probably involve guesswork + gradual dialing in.

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Product Weakness:	A certain staid quality that doesn't draw you into the music. Difficult to align using cheap, easily available gauges.
Product Strengths:	Well-balanced throughout entire frequency range. None of the 'constricted' or 'dark' sound that plague cheaper Shure cartridges.

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Early 80's Sony
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Technics SU-C01 (vintage 1979)
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Stock Thorens TD-160
Speakers:	Grado SR-60 Headphones
Cables/Interconnects:	Standard/Defaults
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Various
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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