Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , Keith G
wrote:

Asitappens, I have discussed these Swiss 'generic replacements' with
Avril at Mantra in some detail and she assured me that they were very
popular and I'm sure she said that she had only ever had one returned
from a customer that wasn't too happy with it.

Unfortunately, that does not mean either that they track as well as
the original genuine article, nor that the levels of distortion,
compliance, etc, are similar to the orginal.

The stylus arm was made of a specific material (usually a hollow tube) of
particular thickness usually finished in a particular way. The diamond was
mounted/or glued at a particicular angle and was polished in a pairticular
way. It's particular dimensions were usually elliptical. For instance the
Shure V15 V was described as a hyper elliptical 5x38um. The whole thing was
very carefully engineered, in the case of the best cartridges.


(I have a V15/III here that has only ever had a generic on it in my
time and it don't sound too bad to me and appears to track quite
well....!??)

I listened to and used various other cartridges c20 years ago before I
moved to the V15/III. I'd have said something similar about some of
them - until I started using the V15/III and realised just how much
better it performed on some 'difficult' LPs. Both measurably, and
audibly.

It is now a concern for myself that it looks impossible to find
genuine Shure replacement stylii for the V15/III. I only play LPs
occasionally, but when I do I appreciate the ability of the
cartridge. It is also useful when making a copy for purposes like
being able to do an analytical comparison between old LPs and new CD
issues.

FWIW I also have an M75 somewhere, on a GL75, but no idea what
condition they may be in at this point.

I've also got various other 'antique' cartridges, another concern is that
the suspensions, usually a type of synthetic rubber have hardened over time
reducing compliance and causing the sound quality of deteriorate and
possibly a (more) damaging effect on the record grooves. Prasticisers which
are used a chance the characteristics of synthetic rubbers can leach out
over time.