Difference between micro line and gyger s stylus

Wow, thanks for this Jcarr. I've always wondered why some of my carts seem to destroy styrene 45's and others do not. Shame because I've ruined a few great 45's using a dynavector 20XL while the Shure V15V I used in the past would not. Had no idea it was due to stylus design.

A_L

The "donut" 45's I'm referring to were mainly made in the 80's. They were more like hard plastic than soft vinyl. RCA, A&M, Columbia/epic/CBS, Casablanca, and a few other labels used it. The needle would litteraly tear up the record as it played. You could lift the tone arm up and see the build up of gunk on the stylus and white residue on the 45. Different cartridges would damage them while others would not.

Hi Jcarr,

I found some information about styrene and issues with shredding them and which types of carts do not and the stylus they use:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-80334-p-4.html

A-L

To add more info: the best cart I had owned in the past that played styrene without any damage was the shure V15Vxmr and that uses a microridge stylus.

Too bad shure doesn't make the V15Vxmr anymore. I can't believe they stopped production on it. Probably the best moving magnet cartridge value out there. What I may do is buy a M97XE which is priced under $100. It uses an elliptical stylus. I'll experiment and see if it shreds styrene. If it doesn't, I may just purchase an extra arm wand for the JMW-9 and use the Shure just for 45's when needed. I'll keep the dynavector 20XL for LP use.

A_L