2. analog
  3. 152336-117192

shibata or microline, pls respond ONLY if you specifically have tried both.

I only want to hear FIRST hand experience, not lecturing please.

These two seem too confusing to me.  I have a VM540ML AT cartridge and cannot decide whether Shibata or Microline is better.  AGAIN, PLS DO NOT LECTURE ME ABOUT **OTHER** EXPENSIVE CARTRIDGES.

To me obviously the music quality matters.  However, I also give a lot of importance to how durable one stylus over the other one is AND very importantly, which one is easier (less finnicky) to set up.  Also, it is important that the stylus does not degrade the vinyl excessively.

If you tell me an elliptical is easiest to set up but is 10% less musical, I would probably go with that too.

So.... any ACTUAL experience with either of these two styli ?

Thanks

cakyol

Showing 2 responses by cleeds

cleeds
6,140 posts
 
lewm7,338 posts11-22-2019 2:03pm
If you have a pivoted tonearm with headshell offset, and if you then alter azimuth by rotating the arm wand back near the pivot (BEFORE the headshell offset angle is introduced), then the headshell itself not only rotates in the vertical plane described by azimuth but it also changes angle in a second plane which would alter the horizontal.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve never used a pickup arm that adjusts azimuth with the arm wand that I’m having such trouble understanding this. In particular, I don’t see how offset affects this angle, but maybe that isn’t what you meant to say.

If you rotate the arm wand, it seems to me the phono cartridge should ideally only be moving in one plane. If it’s moving in more than one plane, that suggests some error in either the pickup arm geometry itself and/or the arm’s manufacturing tolerances. Normally, zenith would be adjusted by simply rotating the cartridge within the headshell, no?

If when you rotate your arm wand to set azimuth it also alters the zenith of the phono cartridge, how do you then adjust the zenith (after setting azimuth) to the correct angle?
cleeds
6,140 posts
 
lewm

... If you rotate the whole tonearm back near the pivot, you are not only changing azimuth; you are also changing zenith (too complicated for me to explain here). My Triplanar is guilty of that minor sin; azimuth is adjusted by rotating the arm wand back near the pivot, so when you do make an adjustment, it also affects the angle of the plane to which the cartridge should be perpendicular (zenith).
I don’t understand what you’re saying here. When you align azimuth, the goal is to have the stylus/cantilever assembly perpendicular to the groove, which is essentially in the plane of the record. Whether you make that angular adjustment by rotating the headshell or the pickup arm, it’s the same adjustment and objective. In this context, azimuth and zenith are the same thing.

if you think I’m mistaken, please explain how the "zenith" - as you call it - would be measured independently of azimuth, and how those two angles could possibly be different when measuring a single cartridge on a single pickup arm.
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