OK, I said it...
Thanks so much for your generous comments Clueless. It is interesting that PBB had no problems when using the Shure V15 type V. And I am glad that he asked why. This cartridge has a viscous damping mechanism right at the stylus, the point of greatest moving mass. Many think it is just a brush, and it is. But it's greatest contribution is to viscously damp the primary resonance of the moving system. This is one reason why, though the cartridge is sensitive to VTA, it is very insensitive to arm mass and rigidity. Many arms have damping at the pivot point but few at the stylus. The Townsend has this type of damping and Discwasher used to make a little aftermarket gadget as well. But the Shure will not cause any LF garbage with even the worst warps in almost any setup. It is really the best cartridge available in this performance parameter. So it is really no wonder that it did not cause the effect that is causing PBB tsuris. |
Viridian: The Stanton 881S also uses a "brush" or "dynamic stabilizer". Not only is it more linear than the Shure in terms of frequency response when properly loaded, it will out-track it with less distortion. Shure's typically have a problem with high amplitude recordings i.e. the louder the recordings, the more distortion they produce. If one listens to chamber music, the Shure will work quite well for them. If one listens to music with big amplitude changes, they will notice the sound getting grungier as the passages become more intense in amplitude. This is a non-linear distortion since it does not appear until the cantilever is required to make larger vertical excursions. For sake of clarity, I have both a Stanton 881S, 881S MK II and a Shure V15VxMR. I recently sold two V15 Type IV's with spare styli. After doing direct comparisons, both my Brother and my Father chose Stanton's over the VxMR, so that's what i set them up with in their TT's. As such, i'm well familiar with the products that i'm commenting on. As mentioned, the Shure's are not "bad" cartridges and are quite universal in tonearm matching, but they can be bettered if one is willing to puth forth the effort in dialing in the arm / cartridge / phono stage loading. This is exactly why Kevin at KAB Electroacoustics is working with Stanton rather than Shure in developing the "ultimate" cartridge for his highly modified 1200's. Not only are the Stanton's less money, they are better, more consistent performers. Sean > |
Thanks Sean, I appreciate the info. Elmuncy, I don't really agree. Sean didn't say my observation was wrong; he simply recommends a product that works better for him. I never recommended the Shure, nor said that it was good or "bad" as Sean implies, merely pointed out that it is probably why Pbb didn't have problems with warped records in his old set-up, which was the question that he asked. I have never used the Stanton and welcome the education. |
