Page 1 of 1

Quiet days

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:30 pm
by Latteman
Been a quiet day today so I end up browsing eBay. Although I started my hifi and turntable passion about 1989 I know very little about cartridges especially ‘older’ brands, for example Grace, Empire & ADC etc
(I have an ADC series iv but no stylus)
Can anyone recommend/ shed any light on the older cartridge, I have a desire to dabble

Re: Quiet days

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:51 pm
by Dr Bunsen Honeydew
Try there are some gems I would never buy a new cart, my top MC fave is an Ortofon SPU Gold about 20 years old. I use a Grado from the 80's, a Shure from the 60's M3D and 70's M55e. I have two or three Empires, very underrated.

i have a collection of old carts, I see one on ebay at a good price I buy it.

Re: Quiet days

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:03 pm
by Hannes-Gregor
With a light until middle weight tonearm the Yamaha MC-9, even if retipped, with a heavy one the Denon DL-103. (I recommend both because I have them here). Difference between both is that the Yamaha offers the music in a more singing way, the Denon gives more life and punch to the music.

Re: Quiet days

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:25 pm
by _D_S_J_R_
Old MM types usually have a treble suckout and it's heard more as beefy bass. I'd best shut up to go any deeper here... The ADC Phase IV is a nice sweet toned 'induced magnet' cartridge design though and I like mine a lot - it was the last, best and most stable of the XLM range and wasn't as fussy on old or worn pressings as the ZLM could be in my experience. No competition for a modern AT, top Ortofon MM or a half decent modern MC type though imo and I suspect an AT540 or AT-F7 MC would happily see it off today.

The best 'vintage design' MM currently available is possibly the Sumiko Pearl, which is directly descended I believe from the A&R E77, Rega R100 and Supex SM100E - same old body and plain elliptical tip with gentle bass-up/top-down balance by around 3db or so and no nasty hf peak to spoil the effect. Good 'solid' sound, stable tracking and 'quiet' highs, we sold loads of R100's back in the day. I set up a Pearl not long ago and it brought back many memories I have to say. Costs around a ton (£120 I think) and is pretty arm-agnostic I feel.

Re: Quiet days

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:30 pm
by Latteman
I have a Sumiko Pearl and agree it’s a good cartridge, would u recommend I get a stylus for the ADC

Re: Quiet days

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:58 pm
by _D_S_J_R_
If you can find a Phase IV stylus (it replaced the XLM III I remember and had tauter suspension and more finely machined stylus 'hinge'). No idea at all how the Jico styli are for ADC's, but the better SAS tip may upset the balance, giving sharp high frequencies with the slightly softer bass. I still use a ZLM which is possibly better at very high frequencies (your mileage will vary here), but neither would give an AT540 any headaches I think.

Re: Quiet days

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:11 am
by guydarryl
I still have very fond memories of my ADC XLM mkII, only changed it because of hifi magazine reviews - big mistake