Shure V15VxMR to be discontinued

Last week I managed to pull the diamond and cantilever clean off my V15Vmxr, sheer stupidity, of course. I sent it back to Shure with my tale of woe, and they called today offering to replace the stylus assembly for $50 including return shipping. The lowest price I found in the retail channel was $140 shipped from Jack's Music Factory.

Barb, who works in repair at Shure, verified that this cartridge is discontinued. The disturbing part is that she has NO more cartridge bodies even for repair - if someone sends them a V15 with a body problem they offer them a new M97. She still has a few new styli, but said her supply is running out and that styli have also been discontinued already, so that the only new styli are what's in the retail channel right now.

If you love this cartridge and want it new, sooner would be better than later...

My cartridge came yesterday.

Today, I also ordered a replacement stylus from Jack's Music Factory for $140. The street price is usually $175 to $185.

http://jacksmusicfactory.com/default.asp

I also sent the following question to Customer Support at Shure:

"Will the Shure V15VxMR work well with the Origin Live Encounter Tonearm?

The effective mass of the Encounter tonearm is 14.5 gm. When this arm is mated with the Shure V15VxMR cartridge, which has a mass of 6.6 gm and a compliance of 25 cu, the resulting resonance frequency of this tonearm/cartridge combination is about 6.9 Hz using Van den Hul’s equation.

According to Van den Hul, the resonance frequency should range between 8 Hz to 12 Hz, with 10 Hz being optimal.

Will the Shure V15VxMR’s Dynamic Stabilizer overcome any distortion, sonic degradation, and mistracking that might occur due to record warps “exciting” the cartridge as a result of this somewhat low resonance frequency?

Thanks in advance for your help."

If I get an answer, I will post it here.

It's official: according to Shure Brothers tech support, the V15VxMR has been discontinued, and there are no plans to replace it. Furthermore, there will most likely be no replacement styluses either because the U.S. Government has classified beryllium dust as a potential health hazard. The V15 uses beryllium in the stylus shank.

If you haven't ordered a replacement stylus for your V15VxMR, you might want to do it now.

Discussion Thread
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Response (Michael Pettersen) - 11/12/2004 07:47 AM

We have never tested the V15VxMR with the Origin Live Encounter Tonearm. Our gut reaction is that it will work well, but we certainly cannot guarantee it having never performed the test.

We suggest that you seek out other owners of the Origin Live Encounter Tonearm and ask for their advice.

Note that the V15VxMR is discontinued, effective immediately. A small supply is still available.

No more can be manufactured as the beryllium stylus shanks are no longer available from our supplier. Beryllium dust has been classified as a potential health risk by the U.S. Government.

Beryllium dust has been a known health risk since 1961 when I went to work on the Polaris Mk1 missile guidance system, which had various beryllium parts. At that time we had warnings about even touching the metal unless you had gloves on. As time passed it was realized that solid metal, and even chips from a machining operation posed no risk. Dust, from a grinding operation is the only issue and techniques and equipment now exist to do this safely.. I can't see how grinding would be part of making a stylus. I think that Shure is just looking for an excuse to get out of the business.

Eldartford,

You are probably right. It could also be that the supplier of the beryllium material for the stylus shaft is no longer interested in supplying the needed material at a price that makes sense in a marketplace dominated by MC cartridges.