Shure M97xe with SS-78 Stylus?

[Marco Gilardetti]

Although I don't think I will ever own a cleaning machine as costy (and bulky) as the Okki Nokki, I agree in full with your comments about the importance of cleaning records. Personally I devised a personal technique consisting in a pair of Knosti record cleaners, one filled with a diluted record cleaning compound, the second with a rinse made by mixing distilled water and a photographic wetting agent.

What I've found out quite early is that not only used records are to be washed, but also new, sealed records sometimes need to be washed. Old vinyl enthusiasts once used to say that deposits of stearin, used as a detaching agent during pressing, may remain at the bottom of the grooves. I never really understood if this was (is) technically true or not, however when a new record delivers that sort of distorted sound, the distortion most of the times completely goes away after washing.

[Lah Ca]

With a 3 mil conical 78 stylus.

2024-09-24 06.25.42 lptunes.com 7769697d9721.jpg (11.98 KiB) Viewed 1144 times

The replacement for the Shure N78S needle stylus is used with the Shure V15VxMR, M97xE, M94E, M92E, M35S, M35X, SC35C and M78 phono cartridges. The stylus features a 3.0 mil polished diamond designed specifically for the correct tracing of the wide grooves of 78 RPM records.

Apparently Japanese-made.

Won't have time to mount it and try it out immediately. Busy for the next week or so.

[Lah Ca]

A correction is necessary to the above.

The coffee had not fully kicked in when I posted this this morning.

The stylus pictured is not the replacement for the SS-78, which would have been preferable as it has a conical stylus (I beleive) and has a wider tracking force range. It is the replacement for the NS-78 which has an elliptical stylus and has a relatively light tracking force range of 1.5 to 3 grams. Unfortunately the SS-78 stylus with a 3 mil tip was not available. I could find one with a 2.5 mil tip at a slightly higher cost. In the short run I went with the NS-78 replacement.

[Lah Ca]

Correspondence with the vendor has clarified things. The Ns-78 stylus has a 3 mil spherical tip, not eliptical as initially claimed. But the tracking force is still 1.5 to 3 grams.

It was a rainy day yesterday, which meant that outdoor work had to be put on hold. I went out to a used shop and bought a number of used Dual TK-14 cartridge sleds, came home, mounted the M97x/NS-78 cartridge, and tried it out.

My first impressions are generally positive.

It has a more open and airy sound than my Stanton/Pickering cartridges on which I used truncated eliptical styli. But it is also noisier, possibly because it rides the grooves differently than the truncated eliptical styli which avoids embedded debris in the bottom of the grooves. It also has less presence and less punch than the Stanton/Pickerings. I will probably reserve its use for late 40s and 50s disks.

[Damfino59]

Correspondence with the vendor has clarified things. The Ns-78 stylus has a 3 mil spherical tip, not eliptical as initially claimed. But the tracking force is still 1.5 to 3 grams.

It was a rainy day yesterday, which meant that outdoor work had to be put on hold. I went out to a used shop and bought a number of used Dual TK-14 cartridge sleds, came home, mounted the M97x/NS-78 cartridge, and tried it out.

My first impressions are generally positive.

It has a more open and airy sound than my Stanton/Pickering cartridges on which I used truncated eliptical styli. But it is also noisier, possibly because it rides the grooves differently than the truncated eliptical styli which avoids embedded debris in the bottom of the grooves. It also has less presence and less punch than the Stanton/Pickerings. I will probably reserve its use for late 40s and 50s disks.

The Shure SS-78e was the original 2.5 mil elliptical 78 tip for the Shure SC35c cartridge. Tracking ability up to five grams. The ability to swap out stylus’s on this cartridge was not very good. I managed to destroy at least two. Passed on in the late 90’s.

The Stanton 500 & Pickering cousins to me were much preferred. Along with the M44 series. I use both with truncated 78 stylus.

The heavier tracking N44s stylus bar retipped by Expert is what I use most. But the LP Tunes & LP gear N44-3 is to me better than the original Shure stylus. Great for occasional 78 playing.

My only experience with a similar cartridge to the M97 cartridge would be the M104e I had on my Technics SL-D20. It was later replaced by the readily available AT85e. But my ears are not so discerning nowadays.

[Lah Ca]

The Stanton 500 & Pickering cousins to me were much preferred.

No arguments from me on this matter.