Shure V15 III
Pedipsen
wonder if it is worth spending a new stylus and put it into use again? For a
couple of years ago I stopped using it because of mismatching with my rather
heavy tone arm, but now I use a lighter unipivot Hadcock GH 228 - and a Linn
K9. How will the Shure compare to current pickups? Yours Hans Henrik
Pedersen.
George Graves
<pedi...@post4.tele.dk> wrote:
V15III's don't sound bad. They lack dimensionality when compared with
good moving coil designs, but they track like jiggerbejeezez in the
correct arm, and have very low distortion. I prefer it to any of the
Grados I've heard.
--
George Graves
klausra...@hotmail.com
"Pedipsen" <pedi...@post4.tele.dk> wrote:
> Looking for something else I´ve found my old Shure V15 III in a drawer and
> wonder if it is worth spending a new stylus and put it into use again? For a
> couple of years ago I stopped using it because of mismatching with my rather
> heavy tone arm, but now I use a lighter unipivot Hadcock GH 228 - and a Linn
> K9. How will the Shure compare to current pickups? Yours Hans Henrik
> Pedersen.
To start with, you certainly will have problems in getting an original
replacement stylus.
Shures were always known for being great trackers. BUT, there is type
IV and type V. Both are real improvements against their predecessor.
Trackability has been largely improved by decreasing effective stylus
mass. The type V has the lowest mass of all cartridges you can buy at
present. The type V has now a microridge diamond which comes quite
close to the shape of the cutting stylus. The electrical network of
the cartridge has been improved for flat frequency response.
This said, the type III is good but the type V is much better.
I have some papers describing the development of the type IV and some
reviews of both type IV, V and VxMR. If you want to have that info,
mail me. I'm located in The Netherlands.
Klaus
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Hans Henrik Pedersen og Annette Ipsen
> > wonder if it is worth spending a new stylus and put it into use again?
> To start with, you certainly will have problems in getting an original
> replacement stylus.
My inspiration for the article was, that I suddenly found
the cartridge and did some research finding a new stylus for
the V15 III and some other cartridges. Here I found this
URL, that seems interesting: http://www.mantra-audio.co.uk/
It is, I think, affordable to buy a new stylus, but I
wondered if anyone out there have tried to compare the V15
III with other, more recent cartridges.
Most of my knowledge in the vinyl-area comes from
experiments in the seventies (ADC, Goldring, Ortofon, Decca
London to mention a few - the last one extremely dynamic,
but sadly: not fitted for my tone arm. What became of the
Deccas?)
I still listen to a lot of lp愀 - and even 78 rpm records
(use a Shure M75 with special stylus), and the Linn K9 is
quite well sounding, but it would be fun to revive the
Shure, if the project is not too far out.
Yours Hans Henrik
Michael Riggs
did an exceptionally good job of preventing excess vertical stylus motion,
and thus excess L-R, which makes them more accurate but ironically led to
their being criticized for sounding "flat" relative to some others. I
confess that I haven't kept up well with the latest moving-coil pickups,
but with modern materials, it is a highly questionable design approach. The
penalty in moving mass is just too great.
George Graves wrote:
> In article <8m106p$aqu$1...@bourbaki.localdomain>, "Pedipsen"
> <pedi...@post4.tele.dk> wrote:
>
> > Looking for something else I´ve found my old Shure V15 III in a
> > drawer and wonder if it is worth spending a new stylus and put it
> > into use again? For a couple of years ago I stopped using it because
> > of mismatching with my rather heavy tone arm, but now I use a lighter
> > unipivot Hadcock GH 228 - and a Linn K9. How will the Shure compare
> > to current pickups? Yours Hans Henrik Pedersen.
>
Dave Platt
and
>> wonder if it is worth spending a new stylus and put it into use again?
>To start with, you certainly will have problems in getting an original
>replacement stylus.
The original (eliptical) replacement stylus for the V15 III is no
longer being made. Shure's cross-reference chart (available at
http://www.shure.com/xrefphono.html) indicates that the V15 III
family can use the VN35MR stylus - a "performance upgrade" which is
listed as being available. Based on the "MR" suffix I assume that
this is one of Shure's "Micro-ridge" line-contact stylii rather than
an elliptical.
You can find a Shure dealer or distributor via the search page at
http://www.shure.com/sales-service/default.htm
I have no idea what the cost of a VN35MR replacement stylus would
work out to be, or how much of a performance improvement this stylus
will deliver. It might very well work out to be a nice,
cost-effective way to get your turntable into service... or it might
be better to save up your nickels for a better cartridge.
--=20
Dave Platt dpl...@radagast.org
Visit the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior/
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!
R.J. Salvi
too. The one thing however that does stick out in my mind, is that
the best cartridge for rock'n'roll is the Shure M91-ED. In an answer
to the original poster, if the cost of a stylus for the Type III is
nominal compared to a new cartridge, why not put it back into
service.
--
Robert J. Salvi, Ambiance Acoustics
http://www.calcube.com
San Diego, CA USA
858-485-7514
"Michael Riggs" <mdr...@impop.bellatlantic.net> wrote in message
news:8m7c24$3rq$1...@bourbaki.localdomain...
tma...@plrb.org
Hans Henrik Pedersen og Annette Ipsen <Pedi...@post4.tele.dk> wrote:
> klausra...@hotmail.com skriver:
> >
> > In article <8m106p$aqu$1...@bourbaki.localdomain>,
> > "Pedipsen" <pedi...@post4.tele.dk> wrote:
drawer and
> > > wonder if it is worth spending a new stylus and put it into use
again?
> > To start with, you certainly will have problems in getting an
original
> > replacement stylus.
>
> the cartridge and did some research finding a new stylus for
> the V15 III and some other cartridges. Here I found this
> URL, that seems interesting: http://www.mantra-audio.co.uk/
>
> It is, I think, affordable to buy a new stylus, but I
> wondered if anyone out there have tried to compare the V15
> III with other, more recent cartridges.
>
> Most of my knowledge in the vinyl-area comes from
> experiments in the seventies (ADC, Goldring, Ortofon, Decca
> London to mention a few - the last one extremely dynamic,
> but sadly: not fitted for my tone arm. What became of the
> Deccas?)
>
> I still listen to a lot of lp愀 - and even 78 rpm records
> (use a Shure M75 with special stylus), and the Linn K9 is
> quite well sounding, but it would be fun to revive the
> Shure, if the project is not too far out.
>
> Yours Hans Henrik
>
as a result of J. Gordon Holt's review in Stereophile. He was
especially enamored of the IIIG, which was the conical stylus version
of that cartridge, in combination with a Grace 707 arm and a belt drive
turntable marketed as a package by an Illinois dealer named Pro Musica
(then of Champaign/Urbana, now of Chicago). This was around the time
Gordon was also enthralled by the Fulton J Modular and Infinity Servo
Statik I speakers. Gordon found the conical stylus to be more tonally
accurate in the high frequencies than the elliptical version.
I once owned the Shure M91E, M91ED, and then both the G and E versions
of the V15III. The V15III was a big step up in quality from either of
the M91 cartridges, I thought. I used the V15III in the old AR XA, a
Dual 1229, and later Formula 4 and Grace 747 arms on a Linn Sondek.
Gordon was right about the relative tonal balance of the two stylus
versions, in my opinion. I had no complaints about the tonality of the
IIIG, while finding the IIIE a bit fizzy on top. But the conical
stylus seems to have much more distortion and less accurate imaging as
you approached the inner grooves. A trade off. I don't believe Shure
supplies any conical styli today for its V15V cartridge--the conical
ones were special order products even in the 1970s.
But then came the V15IV and V15V. Both were better sounding than
either version of the III, in my opinion: clearer and better
trackers. This was so even without use of the damping brush, which was
fortunate, because whatever benefits the damping brush had were
outweighed to my ears by the fact that the brush played the grooves
along with the stylus and produced a weird form of simultaneous groove
post-echo and pre-echo which you could hear through the speakers during
any relatively quiet passage. This quality seemed independent of the
arm in which they were mounted. This audible-brush quality was
mentioned in a couple of the reviews of those products, but never given
much importance. I guess the reviewers, unlike me, found the problem
similar to ordinary groove echo or tape print-through, but I found it
much more annoying.
I later abandoned the Shure cartridge products because they did seem
relatively flat and two-dimensional, however clear the sound and secure
the tracking. More than a bit like early and not-so-early CD players.
I found the Grace F9E to be reasonably accurate tonally and quite a bit
more three-dimensional with a lower noise floor. Then came the tonally
colored but wonderfully exciting Grado Signature 8 (the rich lower
ranges perfectly balance the leanness of the Thiel speakers I then
owned), some moving coils and, well, I never again purchased a Shure
cartridge.
In fairness to the Shure V15 products, however, if your ears are now
accustomed to the relatively consistent tonality of CD players (there
are variations, of course, but they are minor in comparison to the
differences among cartridges or speakers), the Shure V15 products were,
and from what I have heard still are, among the relatively few
cartridges which are a close tonal match for CD sound.
Fredric J. Einstein
>> In the USA, the audiophile fame of the Shure V15 III actually started
>as a result of J. Gordon Holt's review in Stereophile. He was
>especially enamored of the IIIG, which was the conical stylus version
>of that cartridge, in combination with a Grace 707 arm and a belt drive
>turntable marketed as a package by an Illinois dealer named Pro Musica
>(then of Champaign/Urbana, now of Chicago). This was around the time
>Gordon was also enthralled by the Fulton J Modular and Infinity Servo
>Statik I speakers. Gordon found the conical stylus to be more tonally
>accurate in the high frequencies than the elliptical version.
>
I was extremely interested in your reminices of the Pro Musica folks.
I actually still own about 5 brand new spherical stylii for the Shure
V15 Type IIIG (if anyone still wants one of these, please contact me
via E-mail).
I was a huge fan and friend of the Pro Musica guys (Steve Weimann and
Ray Marion) back in the mid to late 1970's. They had designed an
incredible preamp which bought tears to my eyes on some recordings
that I was familiar with. Unfortunately, in the early '80's Steve had
to have brain surgery and Pro Musica kind of left the scene after
that.
The Chicago Pro Musica has NO association whatsoever with the original
Champaign/Urbana organization. I have been searching for Steve and
Ray for many years now, but have been unable to get in touch with
them. If anyone has any information (or if Steve or Ray are out there
reading this newsgroup), please contact me.
Thanks,
Fred
Tony Skitt
SL-1300, and one in a Pioneer PL-112D. If you believe that an accurate
cartridge sounds like a CD-player (I do), you will be extremely happy with
it. Especially if you provide it with a low impedance load (around 35 kOhm,
rather than the usual 47 k.
Regards
Tony Skitt
tma...@plrb.org wrote in message <8mc0qk$1qu$1...@bourbaki.localdomain>...
rufus
original. not that familier with the V15-III, but i would assume this
would help bridge the sonic difference between it and the top of the
line V15-V.
went through this same thing myself, as i needed a replacement for my
V15-IV. sadly, they no longer have an MR stylus in the IV series, so
i had to settle for the hyper-elliptical it originally came with.