"frankwm" wrote in message
ups.com...
Its been about 7years since I had the Swiss made Mantra
'stuff'...hopefully I'm not doing them a disservice current stock -
the styli had a gold 'Q' on the flip-up guard..
The main problem was that of poor suspension -(the Shure is finely
engineered - but if doing a 'transplant' from a 75/91ED you need to
insert that models suspension block into the V15 shank..) - and it's
likely that the same silicone material was used throughout most/all
models.
Simply not any good.
The treble 'zing' was pronounced..hence the filing-job..together with
general 'instability'.
Complete waste of money..despite its (claimed) Parabolic tip.
Not all 'generic' styli are bad.
I've one for a Goldring 800E (actually SuperE [sic] ) that is way
better than Goldrings..
Likewise some, presumably, DSC for the Philips 412E (actually have them
in the 4channel 422 to keep the Shibata NOS - and these are really
rather decent - have in a Linn Sondek...only about 5~10% 'worse' than
the Philips job...mainly due to the stylus profile/slightly massier
cantilever. But these 'generics' don't exhibit the crappy
sonics/instabilty of the Manta's that I had. !!
Apart from a quick test I've kept the V35E/HE unused - also got a
sealed 'G' for under a tenner - + 2 NOS 78s (totally
Rare-As-Hens-Teeth) - as they are fragile cantilevers.



You have obviously made a science of all this, but I have to say that,
despite seeming to have accrued rather a lot of M75s (??), I'm not
interested in *hoarding* carts/styli and buy them to use them (and to have a
few laid up for spares) - I'm actually happier to see people buying new
stuff as that will keep the manufacturers going!

Other than the afore-mentioned V15/III (which has probably figured in only
1% of my 'turntable time') all my MMs use the 'correct', original needles.
Having said that, I use MCs mostly these days - get one, I doubt you'll be
tempted to file its cantilever!! ;-)