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Does size really matter? :-

I've seen stylus size discussed in regards to 78s and mono records, but never as it pertains to our good old stereo LPs. I was recently looking at cartridge specs, and was astonished by the difference in the size of the styli. Let's take, for example, 3 cartridges I'm considering:

Sumiko Blackbird Elliptical 0.3 x 0.7 mm

Dynavector 17D2MKll Karat Square .06 x .06 mm

Zyx Bloom Line Contact 6 x 35 um

Converting the first two to um from mm, we get this:

Sumiko 300 x 700

Dynavector 60 x 60

Zyx 6 x 35

This indicates the Sumiko is 50x wider and 20x longer than the Zyx! The Dynavector is between them. Even allowing for the different stylus profiles, this seems like an enormous difference in stylus size. Am I missing something?

I've read in other threads that the Zyx owners talk about the Zyx getting deeper into the groove, retrieving more info and, more importantly, contacting a section of the groove that, in the case of used records, previous styli haven't touched. Considering the above figures, these statements now make much more sense.

My big question is, why don't more manufacturers use the smaller styli? Are there advantages to larger styli that I'm missing? It doesn't seem like cost should be a factor, as the Zyx above is a US$490 cartridge. Do the smaller styli wear quicker? Easier to break? Harder to align?

Just wanting to get A'goner's thoughts. If there's a previous thread, please point me to it - I did a search, but didn't come up with anything relevant. Thanks.

David
armstrod

Showing 1 response by nsgarch

nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
David, it's really nice to see someone else who is willing to crunch the numbers and make comparisons. I haven't yet done it with styli the way you have.

However, it has always been my understanding that the dimensional specicfications for styli pertain to what's going on (the radius) at the very tip, and don't tell a lot about (in the case of line contact designs for instance) what the actual contact length/area of the diamond with the groove wall might be. In the case of the ZYX, with such a small radius tip, that line of contact winds up being longer than most, I guess.

The business about new stylus designs contacting previously "unplayed" parts of the groove dates back to van den Hul's (and I guess Shibata's) line contact styli designs. These types of styli contact the groove wall on each side in a line, that runs from the top of the groove wall to however far down the stylus goes. About halfway down the groove wall of old records (played with spherical or elliptical styli) there's a sort of (horizontal) wear line, or "gouge" in the groove wall. The contact line of the newer styli can (in theory) actually skip over this wear point, meaning that it not only contacts new vinyl, but that it might not contact the (noisy) part of the groove on older records.
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