Audio Technica stylus upgrade

Happy Holidays,

You have a body that accepts a variety of stylus, and that means you do not need to re-align the cartridge body, a terrific advantage, if you do or especially if you do not have the skills or tools needed.

Amazing Results means the body is properly aligned, great news.

You may have worn your ML stylus out, so:

replace ML, try Shibata, or new cartridge needing alignment?

I doubt there will be much/any generally audible differences between new ML or New Shibata. Expected stylus life is slightly different, so cost difference tends to even out over time.

Going from Aluminum to Boron Cantilever should tighten things up, most evident to me in the low bass, stiffer cantilever’s progress in both ability and price.

After shattering a Shure Beryllium Cantilever, I stop at Boron. 

Why is it then that the best sounding cartridge I have ever heard in my system, or certainly one of the very few "best", has an aluminum cantilever (Ortofon MC2000)?

Well, it’s the cartridges innards, and cantilever's suspension

Ortofon talks about upgrades to Sapphire, then Boron being slightly better than Sapphire

here’s a Boron upgrade

Nude Shibata diamond on a boron cantilever

Stylus

The 2M Black LVB 250 upgrades the great build of the 2M Black with a Nude Shibata diamond on a boron cantilever. The use of an extremely stiff and lightweight Boron cantilever adds remarkable transparency, speed, and responsiveness.

The Nude Shibata stylus’ slim, highly polished profile allows an exceedingly wide contact area to the groove walls and ensures notably detailed reproduction throughout the spectrum, including even the highest frequencies.

.............................

chakster was still around in this discussion of your mc2000

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/classic-ortofon-cartridges-the-mc2000-mk-ii-or-the-mc3000-mk-ii

I suppose it is possible to have a cartridge aligned well-enough for, say, an elliptical stylus, which you then change to something more advanced, and suddenly you find you need a more accurate alignment?

I'm becoming more nervous about installing anything new, as I don't want to upset the applecart. And it's probably true that the longer I keep gear, the more my brain accepts its sound as the way things ought to be. All of which is good for my cachectic bank balance. So if you find your results are amazing with your current stylus, you might think carefully. Might you be better off buying a couple of records rather than the stylus?

if you want to fiddle around with not much or little improvement if any go to it.

@lewm 

It is because you have aluminum ears:-)

@edbay 

I do believe that the ML stylus is better than the Shibata which is easier to make. I would stick with it.

@dogberry 

That is exceedingly true and may be the reason for "break in" in some instances. The person is accommodating to the sound, the new normal. Most people do not measure their systems and have no idea what their systems are doing. I have seen some pretty awful normalcy in very expensive systems.  

@dogberry 

You are an audiophile! Suck it up and get out that protractor. Lofgren B DIN please.

Not sure there’d be a huge difference between the ML and SH, but you’ll never know unless you try it. You could get another ML (or SH), and add a RigB metal body. Or another logical step would be the VM540ML. Or try something completely different like the Nagaoka MP200. It’s really a matter of preference, and synergy with your system.

New Cartridge? Mount and Align It? That’s Intimidating, BUT, u can do it!

Rather than replace your stylus, knotscott’s suggestion of AT’s MM VM540ML is an excellent one, and a true upgrade. I recommend that cartridge all the time. I have one, some of my friends have taken my advice, all quite happy.

VM540ml’s wider channel separation and tight channel balance are important factors for imaging, that’s the large upgrade. Many, many very expensive cartridge’s separation and tight center abilities are not as good, thus imaging are less than the VM540ML.

Sound characteristics of a cartridge, subjective, is a separate factor, the VM540ml sounds great in my and many opinions. Think ’preferred’, not necessarily ’better’.

(After a darn good MM, and saving some more money, it’s time to move into the MC Moving Coil world).

Cartridge Alignment is tricky, but well worth learning how, having the skills for the rest of your life, for you and your friends.

You may have a friend, or live near one of us to get help the 1st time. (I’m NJ near NYC 07062).

All that is needed to install a new cartridge is a few inexpensive tools and steady enough hands to attach 4 wires and tighten two screws.

The alignment is easy enough to understand, and you have the advantage of an old cartridge to practice with.

MM Moving Magnet Cartridges also have the advantage that you can remove the stylus for some adjustments, thus avoid breaking it. Stylus back in for final alignments, then adjust the tracking weight and lastly the anti-skate.

Your TT has a rare magnetic anti-skate mechanism, that’s both easy and excellent. One of my arms has both magnetic tracking weight and magnetic anti-skate, great features.

Somewhere here I made a list of the tools needed, I could find it if you decide to go for a new cartridge.