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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 3 responses by rauliruegas

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rauliruegas
12,865 posts
 
Dear David: +++++ " attributable more to the different profiles of the styli rather than their absolute size? " +++++

Absolutely.

Btw, of course that the stylus size is important but it is only one of the characteristicis that any cartridge builder take into account and certainly not the most important. The cartridge performance depends on the whole design: coil wire, magnets, suspensión, cantilever size/material, stylus profile, body material, internal impedance, stylus angle, etc, etc.
The cartridge issue is a very complex one and nobody can take a cartridge choice " because the stylus size ", this characteristic " per se " means nothing about the cartridge performance.

Many years ago the " stylus size " was used into the marketing cartridge campaigns because in those times does not exist the miniature technology about but today the stylus size is not anymore a " marketing signature " because almost any cartridge share the same technology.

David, don't worry about. You have to choose your cartridge in front of your quality sound reproduction priorities and the tonearm that match better with that cartridge.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
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rauliruegas
12,865 posts
 
Dear Armstrod: Of course that the stylus profile/size is important but almost all the top cartridges share almost the same size/profile stylus.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
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rauliruegas
12,865 posts
 
Dear Dave: I own almost any stylus cartridge shape and certainly are differences between them but we can't say that those differences are because the stylus shape because the cartridge performance is extremely more complex than the " shape " alone, like Jcarr posted.

Now, I had one or two experiences where I send to re-tip one or two of my " old " cartridges through Van denHul, who use its own stylus profile that was different than the original one: yes, I like the " new " sound performance but I can't tell for sure if was better or only different because the memory is not very good through the long time.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
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