This was an incredibly well made video and is something I'd always wanted to see; you went over almost every point I was hoping you'd cover. I'd love to see videos similar to this of other cheap or 'budget' cartridges and styluses.
Well it may shock you to know that I have used those cartridges in many old consoles with amazing results and full sound quality, but only with the aluminum shaft diamond tip stylus. Work well on old console stereo. Cheers my friend ! Electronics Engineer over 50 years.
@@g.m.5607 It's not as simple as that, though yes, there is a degree of snobbery involved. We have to make sure we're speaking using the same terms first. 'Wear' versus 'damage'. All records experience a degree of 'wear' each time they're played. Ultimately, they'll get worn out. Just like the tires of your car; no matter how well you maintain them, they will eventually wear out. But obviously, not all tires wear the same. They might last 60,000 miles on one car, and only 25,000 on another. It depends on how well they're made, how they're maintained, the loads and road surfaces involved, and other factors. And records and cartridge/styli are pretty much the same. When the LP was first developed, ceramic cartridges (or, more accurately, their predecessor, 'crystal' cartridges) were the norm, and it was noted that a vinyl record could be played several hundred times before the record could be considered 'worn out'. And this was at a tracking force of about 4 to 6 grams, which for this type of cartridge is completely normal. Magnetic cartridges, however, offer advantages. One, they can be made to track very light - 2 grams or even less is not unusual. Magnetics can also be made to be very compliant - meaning they more faithfully follow the contours of the groove. Both of these are due to how magnetic cartridges work. I won't go into details here, but suffice it to say that lighter tracking and greater compliance means less wear PER PLAY, and overall, a greater functional life of your records. DAMAGE to a record is usually caused by excessive or unusual wear. Unusually high tracking forces, a damaged or badly worn needle, a cartridge/stylus assembly that does not provide the proper geometry, etc. Those suitcase things track at 5 grams or so (actually fairly normal), but they don't have the best tone arm geometry, and they often come with a very cheap stylus installed - one that is sapphire and tends to wear out within a very short time (I think they're generally spec'd to last about 40 hours, and the ones they supply probably aren't even all THAT good). A diamond needle, on the other hand, will last much longer before it becomes damaged and worn. I truly believe the people who shriek 'damage!' are those who played with their Cruiser or whatever for about a week or two, probably didn't notice that the cheap sapphire needle went to rags already, and not understanding this, blamed the player. It's not that they're WRONG, really, but still. If anyone buys one of those inexpensive suitcase things, I warn them that they should replace the original needle with a good-quality diamond tip ASAP, and if possible, to keep a small supply of them on hand. If there's even a suspicion that the needle is worn, swap it out. So why don't we hear about these issues with magnetics? Because I don't know of a single magnetic that uses a sapphire tip, and because magnetics track lighter (less wear, remember?) and the people who spring for magnetics generally treat their equipment better and are at least familiar with the concept of a 'worn needle. It's not unusual for a magnetic with a new diamond tip stylus to last two or three years with moderate use. As for claims that one of those portables will damage a record in as little as five plays - I suspect there is more behind those claims than we're being told. The reason ceramics are still used is obvious - they're cheap, and they work. And as Vwestlife has pointed out, they CAN actually sound very good if they're provided the proper input impedance. I have a beautiful old Magnavox console with a ceramic-equipped changer, and I'm not kidding, it sounds WONDERFUL. Though of course, magnetics are more expensive, offer better frequency range, better compliance, and wear on the records less. I know, that's a lot to take in, but as I mentioned at the start, it's not as simple as A/B.
@4:20, not your main subject but when you mentioned how much static the new records have these days, I was relieved to know I wasn't the only one to have this issue. I guess they want to make us pay for that anti-static gun thingy or whatnot.
One of the new records I purchased a few weeks back had that much static on the vinyl it was near impossible to remove it from the inner sleeve and it actually got light surface scratches on part of the vinyl when I did eventually entice it out to play it. Luckily you can't hear the scratches.
The cynical trend these days by the money men, is to just take the CD mix and dump it on vinyl with the minimum of vinyl mastering to make it play properly. If you listen to music created and intended for vinyl in the 1970s and 80s, you will hear VASTLY superior mixes to what they later released on CD.
Pluse these days there are idiot producers who smash and compress the levels right in the studio on the master recording, so the audio quality is already degraded before it gets to be released on any format (whether it be on CD, LP, or iTunes).
Mr.smash 69 I've considered having my own music put on vinyl, but only if I can demand no aggressive processing is used. I'd love to have my own cutting machine but they cost obscene amounts of money.
The 'sapphire' one is synthetic sapphire and darker on top because of the cone reducing the light (Looking down through the top will give you this darker colour as well, in a long object) and likely the diamond one is just a tiny industrial diamond embedded in metal.
This is a common misconception, the album is always made to brake so when manufacturing they are all duds. The only good version of that album is on 8 track tape.
@@christianjohnson7228 The trouble with wire reels is trying to get the left and right reels to stay in sync. You're better off getting the single reel mono mix.
It really IS amazing what these cheapo things can do. Put into a properly designed system, they sound surprisingly or very good, those ceramic cartridges. After all, they were the mainstay of music centres and consoles, etc, for many years. The pity is, that the Crosleys, etc, don't make the full use of it and continue to sound like the junk they are. Wouldn't cost THAT much more to make a really nice one, especially in a factory with all those production processes, would it ? !
Couldn't agree with you more. The best vinyl comes from a reel - to - reel mother . As the owner of three old Philips Stereo and one Mono reel - to - reels, which I've refurbished, I think it's a lovely format. The mono machine came from a "fleet" of identical machines used at a local school, which was actually going to be thrown out ! All were degunged, repaired, and five found new loving homes. The sixth is my own.
The best vinyl is the direct disk method where no tape is involved at all, but it is much harder to do as the band has to get it right in one take as there's no editing or doing multiple takes and splicing the best parts together..
Actually they do have RIAA EQ. The ceramic cartridge by design performs that task granted it doesn't perform it as well as a phono preamp with built in RIAA EQ.
Yes, MONO is natural sound for ear. You cannot ear STEREO into an auditórium. When I was a Young man, had a proverb: "STEREO is a beautiful lie" (Sorry for my por English)
Great video here. This makes me feel a LOT better about starting out with one of these cheap styluses when I first got into vinyl. I always kicked myself for playing good records with one of these cheap styluses, but it looks like I did no damage at all.
Ok for shellac 78s, not up to scratch for anything else, and the line level output is not ok for any 4 to 6 mV inputs found on older stereo systems, for the 200 to 300mV output would cause clipping distortion on even very quiet passages on a record, or worse, might even damage transistors/speakers.
The Disco Industry Used ceramic cartridges for years. Until 12" singles like Blondie's Heart of Glass was released. They could not handle the low Frequency and jumped all over the place. This made them change to the Magnetic Cartridges never really looked back.
I'm not an audiophile even though I upgraded to a Project Debut Carbon DC with an Ortofon 2M Red, but the cheap cartridge didn't sound that bad with the AT-LP 120.
Jon Luci While I do agree that older pressings of albums do sound better, you would be suprised that not all new vinyl albums and remasters sound bad. I have Foo Fighters Wasting Light on vinyl and that album was recorded analog and the LP mix sounds different than the cd mix. There is a youtube video proving that. I also have the 200 gram remaster of 2112 by Rush and it sounds awesome.
Audiophiles are very full of themselves. You can't get much better than an ortofon red and anyone that argues the "night and day" difference between that and something as expensive as the bronze is a fucking liar. There's elitists with everything, these idiots think they have the ears of a dog.
It can sound great as long as you have the right equipment like this guy... But let's be honest, who, when spending less than $2.00 on a cartridge, would own that kind of equipment?
To be fair, there's probably a lot of much older cheap used turntables you could use them with, which would likely work a lot better than new cheap record players.
I've named this cartridge "The Red Flag", when you see this attached to something avoid it like the plague. The only exception being portablist gear where the sound/record wear are secondary concerns.
They were everywhere to be found on midi "hi fi" stereo systems from the mid 80s onwards. Look for Philips Stereo-Midi-System F1662 (1986) on youtube, I had one of those. It's really strange to see these come back with all these current lesser brands of record players. My childhood records were plowed to death, especially as this cheapo stylus was never changed.
I have a Numark PT-01 portable phonograph that uses this cartridge, and it's alright for old records. And some TH-camrs are buying these to replace old cartridges in 50's-60's phonographs.
I use one of those ceramics through my hi fi system, and - like you - I was flat out amazed at the quality that lies untapped. Midrange attack and subtleties can go head to head with some of the better MM cartridges... potentially even getting close to MC. I don't think bass and high treble are remarkable in any way; but, oh, that midrange definition and immediacy is bloody incredible. The psychological hurdle most people (and initially myself as well) have to get over is to bother to take these cartridges seriously as hi fi quality, and to trust their precious vinyl to go under it. Once you take the leap, you may well become a ceramic convert like me:-) As this video implies, though, you will need to experiment with equalization. Great video. Ceramic cartridges serving up killer vocal performances - who could have guessed? Just another note: the sapphire ("ruby") styli are pink under magnification. They sound just as good as the diamond styli, which are dark gray to silvery colored under magnification. The notable and important difference is the need to change the "ruby" stylus about every 50 LPs, compared to perhaps a 150 LP life for the diamond.
Ross brilliant reply, the piezo ceramic generator material itself limited performance. Modern 'non velocity' cartridges can be made from strain gauge, electret and modern piezo material. Which if chosen carefully should give full range and linearity like any mm or mc except with big voltages and no filtering with benefits that bring less phase error, less noise, less gain stages to add distortion etc. PS diamond is tougher than you suggest, Shure estimated 1000 hours. Twenty times a sapphire (well 17x). I remember a sapphire being rated at 300 plays which is about 60 hours if per side. This would give close to 5000 plays for a diamond. I've had a stylus last at least that. I figured mine were just 'polished' at 6 months.
The majority of those beautiful sounding consoles of the 50's, 60's and 70's used ceramic cartridges in mainly spring balanced tonearms on low end idler driven record changers.
I am curious about this replacement timelines. I am a gemologist, so I can say nothing on the record could scratch or damage the actual tip. But I imagine that the stress of the grooves could push the head out of alignment.
The truth is that nowadays it's hard to get original ceramic phono cartridges for an old record player. So these cheap cartridges help to solve the problem. And so i did. Thanks for testing!
Are you familiar with the AUE CP-38S cartridge? The one that is typically common in Crosley Stack-O-Matic record changers? Well, they cloned that cartridge too now! So far, Vakind is the only one that sells a clone of it, but won't be surprised if others begin to follow suit. Theirs is a blue body with a white stylus and what seems to be a proper diamond needle. Recently ordered a pair from AliExpress and it's quite impressive how it's inches to being a 1:1 in sound quality
This is the best video i have looked at for a very long time, trying to explain to people the reson my there cheep record player sound rubbish, is because it has the incorrect amplification, (still will not sound the best but still good) . Why don't the manufactures of the cheep turntabels just add in a high Z 2M ohm pre amp stage for around 20p? would make them sound soo much beter as standard
I recently got my Realistic SA-10 from Radio Shack off of eBay, and it's the same model as yours. I connected to my 1967 Magnavox/Collaro Micromatic changer, and connected to the main stereo amplifier as a CD input connected to the "Speaker" output which is an aux output. No need for bookshelf speakers, just use it as a main output.
Ceramic cartridges may sound surprisingly good when you run the signal through a guitar amp or a mixer that has a guitar input (often called "hi Z"). Guitar amps have high input impedance (like 1 Meg).
literally have a cheap "skywin" turntable for 3 years. and the reason people think they are just bad because of the speakers that were built in. but in my case, having a decent speaker and a decent pre amp, dude it would almost sound just as decent as the lp-60 especially when you have a new needle. dude i had that turntable for 3 years and it sounded just as good as i bought it new and it blows me aways still.
Haha! I have the same GE mouse. I randomly saw it at Walgreens YEARS ago and thought it looked decently made. I bought another right after using it since it always seems like once you find something good it gets discontinued pretty quick. I've been using it ever since!
I think what's really missing from most of modern electronics to make best use of these cartridges is a JFET input stage - something as cheap and as ancient straight from the 70ies as TL072 (still in production by TI, Diodes Inc, STM, JRC, Rohm) should do fine. This IC is out of fashion now because of its inherent noise, which will not be audible in this use. Thanks for your experiment, I want to follow up on it someday with a simple self-made preamp/buffer, though not too likely to get around to. After you published your video, someone published what seems like a suitable mount for 3D printing, look on Thingiverse for "Chuo Denshi CZ800 cartridge clip for 1/2 inch". It should come out dirt cheap, especially if you have a friend who's into that or can use a printer at a library or educational institution.
I have one of these on a Numark PT01. Sounds fine plugged into an external amp. Most of my records I've had since I was a kid in the 70s, and were played on equipment about as good/crappy as the Numark. They sound about the same as they always did, which is to say, not bad. Considering most of the records were treated the way a dumb 10 year old in 1977 might have treated records. FWIW, I just ordered one of these cartridge/stylus combos from China by way of ebay, for the princely sum of $1.30 USD. Alas, it's going to be used for a vibration sensor experiment rather than playing records. So the sapphire stylus will likely suffice many years without wearing out the vibrations. ;)
Hey, do you happen to have Earth, Wind & Fire - September on an LP, or as a 45rpm single? Wonder if you want to do a collab comparing the audio quality of the AT3600, MG-09DE (aka GrooveTool), and the CZ800 (aka P-188/P-190)? I just need a recording of that song played with the CZ800 WITH the proper input. Planning on doing a video comparing the 3 most popular entry-level cartridges that we commonly find in budget turntables.
I don't get this whole idea. Vinyl is pretty much the most expensive audio medium you can go with these days. Spending a lot of money on the records and then ruining them with cheap gear? Who does that?
Actually I live in Poland and I've never seen a vinyl record in a thrift store or any such place. You can get pretty reasonable priced vinyls at the most popular auction site. But I guess vinyl is just considered a thing for snobs around these parts, you either go with a $800 turntable with amp and speakers to match to play your first print dark side of the moon or you just steal music from torrents "like the normal people". I guess that's why we don't have much of a market for cheap turntables.
Vinyl is only expensive if you're buying new crappy remasters. There are tons and tons of Records out there for $3 or less that are in excellent condition. I even let my 19 year old listen to some vinyl versus digital, and even he noticed the great sounding vinyl records. He's not an audiophile, and it was a blind test. So it just matters what you like, where you shop, and what you're looking for.
I recall the old days of flip-over needles on stereo console record changers, and as I remember, the sapphire needles were known to have a very short lifespan - even the manufacturers recommended replacing them every 50 plays! Diamond needles were much more durable. I don't know that I'd want to use a sapphire needle in a modern cartridge on my records, but it's a fascinating experiment and thanks for the video!
I just wanted to thank you for helping me in my journey to make my Crosley Musician not sound horrible! I was able to order a chuo denshi cz 800 and installed it after retuning the motor and I was very surprised by the amount of difference it makes. I used the headphone port to run an aux cord into a creative d100 and it sounds nearly perfect, though I’ll probably upgrade the speaker later anyway
Im sick of audiophiles, ive just started buying records but am now too afraid to buy a cheap record player cos they say ill kill my record, I just want something cheap that can play them yet daren't buy them
Craigslist / ebay is your friend. AT-LP60 is the cheapest turntable I can recommend. I'm sure there's better options for cheaper, but I've never heard them play. One big downside on the LP60 is the lack of upgradability though, hence why i recomend doing some research and buying a decent second hand one. You should be able to find something for less than 50 if you're patient
Unless diamonds went super cheap, the stylus is sapphire. Trust me on this. These cheapy boogers ruined so many my 45's when I was a kid. Why? Because back in the 60's to 70's record companies a cheap alternative to vinyl; Polystyrene. If you have any of these records consider them gone if you use this "cartridge".
Great technical review. I have Vol 1&2 of the AES history of LP reproduction. It mostly looks like NASA scientists wrote it with similar photo's of the scientists. Ceramic designs are the ones most written about. Looked at that way the ceramic was the dominant design. Some like Decca Deram were very good. In many ways ceramic types were the best. Like going through the sound barrier when aircraft there were somethings they couldn't do. Unlike aircraft the cost of doing that wasn't vast. Although not really suited the LM741 op amp made cheap moving magnet cartrigdes and preamp posible. NE5532 made it doubly so, the AT93/95 the typical choice. However an ECC83 + 2 x EL84 in SE as valves could be driven directly from a higher output ceramic. That was a posh Dansette record player.
@@wintersbattleofbands1144 It's not the size of the tip. 1 mil, 0.7 mil.....makes no difference. The stylus itself is neutral, neither stereo nor mono. It is the pick-up cartridge which determines whether the stereo content in the groove of a record is fed to two distinct amplifier channels.
What a great video explaining about ceramic cartridges, I have just recently been rebuilding and Grundig console from 1955 which of course used a ceramic cartridge but having its own preamp stage using a single EL86 tube, the console was a luxury and expencive item in the UK in 1955 so I did expect a decent sound... sadly someone had removed the preamp and replaced the cartridge with a high output one... so I had to build a new preamp from the original circuit and buy a new cartridge. I didn't really know a lot about cartridges so had to do a lot of my research online which took me a while to get my head around it all, if only your video was made sooner it would have saved me a lot of time ! Once again great video very easy and simple to understand thanks for making it now I can confirm what I learned is correct lol!
i had a curtis mathis compact all in one stereo from the 80s it had real nice bsr turntable belt drive with a terad ceramic cartridge 2way speakers very nice sound .i think some old stereos had that eqalization circut phono preamp just for ceramic crtdgs.
I have a few different TEAC all in ones, with the plastic turntables. They sound surprisingly decent. They are, as you know, genuine Chuo Denshi carts. Using the Cerapreme blue for LP and the Cerapreme grey for 78s. I have since bought a Victrola VT-A80 (AKA The Jackson). Overall not bad sound, but the turntable sounds like total crap. I purchased 2 of the CZ800 carts from VOM. They listed them as genuine Chuo Denshi. I’m hoping this will improve the TT sound, even if only a little bit. By the way, I have that Admiral LP, it’s awesome.
What do you recommend for the RCA Victor small 45 RPM record changers from 1949 into the early 1950's with or without its' own vacuum tube amplification. These players have again become very popular with collector's, both the changers only such as an RCA 45 J2 or the 45 J3, and the self contain 45 RPM record players with self contained vacuum tube amplification. The changers only work very well with the RCA Victor vacuum tube radios of the period. Many other radios of the period such as Zenith and others also included a Phono Jack specifically for this purpose.
I experimented with various ceramic models a few years ago as I liked the idea of missing out the RIAA stage and the extra gain. Finding a ceramic with a decent diamond and generator is difficult. This has (yours) a ruby/sapphire stylus and that is approx 300 plays (60 hours)?. A diamond is much, much harder, that jump from 9 - 10 on hardness scale makes a big difference - over 5000 plays. At 20 tons a square inch it has to be, along with massive 'g' too. It is well worth playing with 'non velocity' generators as the extra fidelity from losing a sensitive noise inducing gain stage can make up for some of the losses in performance IF you find a decent ceramic. Wobbly response was hard to tame. Strain gauge, modern piezo material and electret can be made to perform as well (or better) than MM or moving coil, anyone want to retro fit a new generator and electronics into a good stylus body?
As much as it is an improvement to use it with the proper equipment intended for ceramic cartridges and it is a cool experiment, I'm gonna stick with magnetic cartridges because they undoubtedly sound way better. But this was good video, nice work!
My SA-155 is branded as RCA. I got it from RadioShack in the early 2000s. I have used it as a phono preamp in the past, but I've mostly used it as a television amplifier. I currently use an ION turntable that I got from RadioShack around 2010. That uses either USB PCM at 44.1kHz or a line level output which I either use to listen to the turntable directly or record through my computer's soundcard at much higher sound qualities. The turntable seems to have a very stable speed that I noticed when I took a 45, recorded both sides (regular and instrumental) onto my computer, and successfully synchronized them. The deviation from the start to the end was very slight. The audio pickup from the original stylus and cartridge seems to be decent with a flat frequency range. I imagine that some people have gotten better results with different cartridges, I guess. I mostly use it for digitizing records. I've gotten pretty accustomed to the convenience of the digital audio file. If I had more room in my bedroom to move around, things might be different, but at least I'm limiting the wear on my stylus.
An old record player from the 50s connected to a tube/valve radio. Often you have to press two buttons to switch to phono and use the radio as an amp. Here we are, it was designed for this kind of setup.
Omg I was about to buy this cartridge, but luckily my record player uses an lp needle, not the needle in this video. I am getting a diamond needle for my record player after watching your vid about the difference replacing the needle makes. And the needle I am getting is 10 dollars, not the under 2 for the one in this video.
I have one of the cartridges installed in my Magnavox Micromatic turntable, and it sounds okay, but the problem is that it’s too loud when using a phono input on my Realistic STA-100 and my recent Pyle PP444 phono preamp also had the same problem that it’s too loud when it was on one of the inputs, and it can be used for magnetic cartridges only. Is there a way to have some adjustments on my 1967 Magnavox Micromatic turntable?
The phono inputs on your Realistic and Pyle were only designed for a magnetic cartridge, which has a much lower output level than a ceramic cartridge -- that's your problem. Ideally you should get an amplifier with a ceramic phono input, such as the Radio Shack SA-150 or SA-155, or if you're handy with electronics, you can build a circuit to reduce the output of the ceramic cartridge to the same level as that of a magnetic cartridge, such as discussed here: www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?p=949111
I'm interested to know why I keep hearing people say to avoid red tip ceramic cartridges if you have rare/valuable records because they will shred them. I assumed this was because they have a ceramic needle which I now know is incorrect. Do they shred records and if so how? I'm planning to by a small portable turntable but modify the tone arm with a kit that is availble to enable it to use magnetic cartridges.
If I still have my GE Show N' Tell Record player and viewer, I have to replace a dead crystal cartridge with a same exact cartridge as seen here is a Chinese made phono cartridge. it is compatible with my GE Show N' Tell and it has four sockets. I have terminal leads to fit snuggly and wired them using a soldering iron. The red wire goes on one side and the white wire goes on the other, and it is going to be bridge for mono.
I have this cartrige, but i can't mount it to headshell because there is no classic screw holes. Where the find that adapter wich hold that cartrige? Thanks
Hello. I have a question. I have this cartridge installed in the old, czechoslovak tube radio/turntable combination (Tesla 1008A Liberta). It has quite a good sound with it. And i would like to know what is recommended tracking force for this cartridge. To achieve the best possible tracking and lowest groove wear. Thanks for the answer.
As I show in the video, 4 to 6 grams is the acceptable range, with 5 grams being recommended. If you use a good-quality diamond stylus, like the Pfanstiehl 793-D7M, it will last longer and be gentler to the grooves than the ruby stylus that these cartridges usually come with.
@@vwestlife Thanks for the answer. Just ordered Pfanstiehl diamond stylus for it (fairly good price on Amazon). As i use it as my main turntable, it will be good improvement.
On Sid Ramin's Nola...when it hit those horns at the end it left my ears ringing! That was painful. That Admiral test record reminded me of a three record set Allied Radio used to sell to help set up and adjust sound systems "back in the day". I still have one.
Hi i bought a amplifier with phono and changed the ceramic cardridge with Audiotechnica AT 3600L and its a way better sound now. It was very simple because my recordplayer had a half inch standart mount. The ceramic cardridge got 4 pins so i could just switch to MM because these cardridges got also 4 pins.
cool video, its amazing the sound from such a cheap ceramic cartridge, in the 50's my dad had a dynatron mono phonograph and it had ceramic cartridge and el84 valve amp and it had a great sound
If you want that cartridge to sound really good, inject it with silicone grease with a syringe. The grease will dampen harmonic resonances of the cartridge and shell. The fidelity will be amazing, but the grease does increase tracking force requirement.
15 grand for a phono cartridge? Hell in some cases, then just hire the band to come play in your living room!
Howard Mora literally true
lol
But what if you want to listen to Beatles or Hendrix? :D
Marshallbluesrock Have holograms of Jimi, George or John
@@_-_Michael_-_ Hire a medium to hire the band?
"They must have lost the formula to 317X " that is epic. I think that is why I watch these VWestlife videos, for the classic commentary.
A lot of work went into this video. Thanks Kevin, for taking the time, excellent!
You can actually get a discount for buying in mass, there are places where you can buy in bulk with a 20% discount too.
Didn't expect you here!
Woah protomario?
cheap cartridge in crap record player: 4:57
cheap cartridge in good record player: 8:00
HUGE bass and richness improvement!
This was an incredibly well made video and is something I'd always wanted to see; you went over almost every point I was hoping you'd cover. I'd love to see videos similar to this of other cheap or 'budget' cartridges and styluses.
The quality is pretty astonishing for the price. That's not saying much, though.
Well it may shock you to know that I have used those cartridges in many old consoles with amazing results and full sound quality, but only with the aluminum shaft diamond tip stylus. Work well on old console stereo. Cheers my friend ! Electronics Engineer over 50 years.
Tony Louis 🤔 will it damage a record after a certain amount of time or is that more audioPhile baloney/ snobbery ?
All snob
The cartridge will not harm records AT ALL
@@g.m.5607 It's not as simple as that, though yes, there is a degree of snobbery involved.
We have to make sure we're speaking using the same terms first. 'Wear' versus 'damage'. All records experience a degree of 'wear' each time they're played. Ultimately, they'll get worn out. Just like the tires of your car; no matter how well you maintain them, they will eventually wear out. But obviously, not all tires wear the same. They might last 60,000 miles on one car, and only 25,000 on another. It depends on how well they're made, how they're maintained, the loads and road surfaces involved, and other factors. And records and cartridge/styli are pretty much the same.
When the LP was first developed, ceramic cartridges (or, more accurately, their predecessor, 'crystal' cartridges) were the norm, and it was noted that a vinyl record could be played several hundred times before the record could be considered 'worn out'. And this was at a tracking force of about 4 to 6 grams, which for this type of cartridge is completely normal.
Magnetic cartridges, however, offer advantages. One, they can be made to track very light - 2 grams or even less is not unusual. Magnetics can also be made to be very compliant - meaning they more faithfully follow the contours of the groove. Both of these are due to how magnetic cartridges work. I won't go into details here, but suffice it to say that lighter tracking and greater compliance means less wear PER PLAY, and overall, a greater functional life of your records.
DAMAGE to a record is usually caused by excessive or unusual wear. Unusually high tracking forces, a damaged or badly worn needle, a cartridge/stylus assembly that does not provide the proper geometry, etc. Those suitcase things track at 5 grams or so (actually fairly normal), but they don't have the best tone arm geometry, and they often come with a very cheap stylus installed - one that is sapphire and tends to wear out within a very short time (I think they're generally spec'd to last about 40 hours, and the ones they supply probably aren't even all THAT good). A diamond needle, on the other hand, will last much longer before it becomes damaged and worn.
I truly believe the people who shriek 'damage!' are those who played with their Cruiser or whatever for about a week or two, probably didn't notice that the cheap sapphire needle went to rags already, and not understanding this, blamed the player. It's not that they're WRONG, really, but still. If anyone buys one of those inexpensive suitcase things, I warn them that they should replace the original needle with a good-quality diamond tip ASAP, and if possible, to keep a small supply of them on hand. If there's even a suspicion that the needle is worn, swap it out.
So why don't we hear about these issues with magnetics? Because I don't know of a single magnetic that uses a sapphire tip, and because magnetics track lighter (less wear, remember?) and the people who spring for magnetics generally treat their equipment better and are at least familiar with the concept of a 'worn needle. It's not unusual for a magnetic with a new diamond tip stylus to last two or three years with moderate use.
As for claims that one of those portables will damage a record in as little as five plays - I suspect there is more behind those claims than we're being told.
The reason ceramics are still used is obvious - they're cheap, and they work. And as Vwestlife has pointed out, they CAN actually sound very good if they're provided the proper input impedance. I have a beautiful old Magnavox console with a ceramic-equipped changer, and I'm not kidding, it sounds WONDERFUL.
Though of course, magnetics are more expensive, offer better frequency range, better compliance, and wear on the records less.
I know, that's a lot to take in, but as I mentioned at the start, it's not as simple as A/B.
@@xaenon Very well said!
@4:20, not your main subject but when you mentioned how much static the new records have these days, I was relieved to know I wasn't the only one to have this issue. I guess they want to make us pay for that anti-static gun thingy or whatnot.
One of the new records I purchased a few weeks back had that much static on the vinyl it was near impossible to remove it from the inner sleeve and it actually got light surface scratches on part of the vinyl when I did eventually entice it out to play it. Luckily you can't hear the scratches.
>playing one direction on a suitcase player
yup I think I'm okay with this one.
Impressive sound quality for such a cheap cartridge.
that one direction lp sounds horrible, must have been masterd by someone not familiar with vinyl records.
The cynical trend these days by the money men, is to just take the CD mix and dump it on vinyl with the minimum of vinyl mastering to make it play properly. If you listen to music created and intended for vinyl in the 1970s and 80s, you will hear VASTLY superior mixes to what they later released on CD.
Vinyl from the 60's thru the 80's sounds a lot better because someone took the time to make it sound right. I will never buy vinyl from today's world.
Pluse these days there are idiot producers who smash and compress the levels right in the studio on the master recording, so the audio quality is already degraded before it gets to be released on any format (whether it be on CD, LP, or iTunes).
VWestlife It's sad that record producers don't care about the quality, they care more about the $$$.
Mr.smash 69
I've considered having my own music put on vinyl, but only if I can demand no aggressive processing is used. I'd love to have my own cutting machine but they cost obscene amounts of money.
The 'sapphire' one is synthetic sapphire and darker on top because of the cone reducing the light (Looking down through the top will give you this darker colour as well, in a long object) and likely the diamond one is just a tiny industrial diamond embedded in metal.
This channel is Google of record players
I know nothing about turntables, or anything mentioned in the video above, but heck, it's still interesting to watch. :v
So true
yes but will it wreck dark side of the moon after 5 plays?
Once you pull the record out of the sleeve, it’s automatically tainted and must be disposed of.
This is a common misconception, the album is always made to brake so when manufacturing they are all duds. The only good version of that album is on 8 track tape.
@@christianjohnson7228 That's why I have Dark Side on Blue Amberol only. You get a box of 12 cylinders (Time and Us and Them take 2 cylinders each).
Lurker Smith idk, I also have it recorded on wire reels. The album takes 2 reels.
@@christianjohnson7228 The trouble with wire reels is trying to get the left and right reels to stay in sync. You're better off getting the single reel mono mix.
For the next one: "What happens if you put a 15 grand cartridge in a Crosley turntable?"
the irony? play any track cut before 1987 with this cartridge and it will wipe the floor with any-price audiophool systme playing modern music.
Well that’s just cause of the loudness war
It really IS amazing what these cheapo things can do. Put into a properly designed system, they sound surprisingly or very good, those ceramic cartridges. After all, they were the mainstay of music centres and consoles, etc, for many years. The pity is, that the Crosleys, etc, don't make the full use of it and continue to sound like the junk they are. Wouldn't cost THAT much more to make a really nice one, especially in a factory with all those production processes, would it ? !
Couldn't agree with you more. The best vinyl comes from a reel - to - reel mother . As the owner of three old Philips Stereo and one Mono reel - to - reels, which I've refurbished, I think it's a lovely format. The mono machine came from a "fleet" of identical machines used at a local school, which was actually going to be thrown out !
All were degunged, repaired, and five found new loving homes. The sixth is my own.
The best vinyl is the direct disk method where no tape is involved at all, but it is much harder to do as the band has to get it right in one take as there's no editing or doing multiple takes and splicing the best parts together..
Players like the Crosleys don't have RIAA equalization which is required for vinyl records.
Actually they do have RIAA EQ. The ceramic cartridge by design performs that task granted it doesn't perform it as well as a phono preamp with built in RIAA EQ.
Yes, MONO is natural sound for ear. You cannot ear STEREO into an auditórium. When I was a Young man, had a proverb: "STEREO is a beautiful lie" (Sorry for my por English)
Great video here. This makes me feel a LOT better about starting out with one of these cheap styluses when I first got into vinyl. I always kicked myself for playing good records with one of these cheap styluses, but it looks like I did no damage at all.
That pink crystal is a form of synthetic sapphire called Nd-YAG, it is also used in 1064nm near infrared lasers
GOOD to ah KNOW...
honestly first time I heard bass from this cartridge, sounds decent but it's noticeable the absence of higher frequencies, like 12 khz or abovw
Ok for shellac 78s, not up to scratch for anything else, and the line level output is not ok for any 4 to 6 mV inputs found on older stereo systems, for the 200 to 300mV output would cause clipping distortion on even very quiet passages on a record, or worse, might even damage transistors/speakers.
The Disco Industry Used ceramic cartridges for years. Until 12" singles like Blondie's Heart of Glass was released. They could not handle the low Frequency and jumped all over the place. This made them change to the Magnetic Cartridges never really looked back.
They used Shure m35s, Stanton 500als and Stanton 680els. That's wrong lol
4:20 Well that's what you get for buying ONE DIRECTION on vinyl! >.<
I mean, WHY?!!!
Lord Sandwich
Well, it was an example of a low quality cartridge, so why not use a low quality band?
I was thinking "This guy seems like he's in his thirties why does he have one direction"
You can't go back to school on a saturday. Gosh. Common sense.
Lord Sandwich - I mean, he does have Westlife in his username...
@@jamescollins6085 you're crazy, aren't you?
I'm not an audiophile even though I upgraded to a Project Debut Carbon DC with an Ortofon 2M Red, but the cheap cartridge didn't sound that bad with the AT-LP 120.
Thats a pretty darn expensive set up for a non audiophile.
Jon Luci While I do agree that older pressings of albums do sound better, you would be suprised that not all new vinyl albums and remasters sound bad. I have Foo Fighters Wasting Light on vinyl and that album was recorded analog and the LP mix sounds different than the cd mix. There is a youtube video proving that. I also have the 200 gram remaster of 2112 by Rush and it sounds awesome.
A lot of modern artists use mixes specifically made for vinyl. Jack White for example
Supposedly anything from Third Man is all analogue and never compressed, so you'll probably get more of that old-school sound out of them.
Audiophiles are very full of themselves. You can't get much better than an ortofon red and anyone that argues the "night and day" difference between that and something as expensive as the bronze is a fucking liar. There's elitists with everything, these idiots think they have the ears of a dog.
So isn't a bad cartridge but has to be on the right equipment
05:24 "Obviously, that doesn't sound very good". True words! However, A better record player won't make One Direction sound good ;-)
It can sound great as long as you have the right equipment like this guy... But let's be honest, who, when spending less than $2.00 on a cartridge, would own that kind of equipment?
To be fair, there's probably a lot of much older cheap used turntables you could use them with, which would likely work a lot better than new cheap record players.
I would have never thought a low end stylus could sound as good as a mid range one which costs a lot more
I've named this cartridge "The Red Flag", when you see this attached to something avoid it like the plague. The only exception being portablist gear where the sound/record wear are secondary concerns.
They were everywhere to be found on midi "hi fi" stereo systems from the mid 80s onwards. Look for Philips Stereo-Midi-System F1662 (1986) on youtube, I had one of those. It's really strange to see these come back with all these current lesser brands of record players. My childhood records were plowed to death, especially as this cheapo stylus was never changed.
Numark?
I have a Numark PT-01 portable phonograph that uses this cartridge, and it's alright for old records. And some TH-camrs are buying these to replace old cartridges in 50's-60's phonographs.
I don't know it sound pretty fine to me.
I use one of those ceramics through my hi fi system, and - like you - I was flat out amazed at the quality that lies untapped. Midrange attack and subtleties can go head to head with some of the better MM cartridges... potentially even getting close to MC. I don't think bass and high treble are remarkable in any way; but, oh, that midrange definition and immediacy is bloody incredible. The psychological hurdle most people (and initially myself as well) have to get over is to bother to take these cartridges seriously as hi fi quality, and to trust their precious vinyl to go under it. Once you take the leap, you may well become a ceramic convert like me:-) As this video implies, though, you will need to experiment with equalization. Great video. Ceramic cartridges serving up killer vocal performances - who could have guessed? Just another note: the sapphire ("ruby") styli are pink under magnification. They sound just as good as the diamond styli, which are dark gray to silvery colored under magnification. The notable and important difference is the need to change the "ruby" stylus about every 50 LPs, compared to perhaps a 150 LP life for the diamond.
Ross brilliant reply, the piezo ceramic generator material itself limited performance. Modern 'non velocity' cartridges can be made from strain gauge, electret and modern piezo material. Which if chosen carefully should give full range and linearity like any mm or mc except with big voltages and no filtering with benefits that bring less phase error, less noise, less gain stages to add distortion etc.
PS diamond is tougher than you suggest, Shure estimated 1000 hours. Twenty times a sapphire (well 17x). I remember a sapphire being rated at 300 plays which is about 60 hours if per side. This would give close to 5000 plays for a diamond. I've had a stylus last at least that. I figured mine were just 'polished' at 6 months.
The majority of those beautiful sounding consoles of the 50's, 60's and 70's used ceramic cartridges in mainly spring balanced tonearms on low end idler driven record changers.
I am curious about this replacement timelines. I am a gemologist, so I can say nothing on the record could scratch or damage the actual tip. But I imagine that the stress of the grooves could push the head out of alignment.
The truth is that nowadays it's hard to get original ceramic phono cartridges for an old record player. So these cheap cartridges help to solve the problem. And so i did. Thanks for testing!
I found the same cartridge and stylus for 1 dollar + shipping on the app wish. The bad thing is that it took almost 4 months to get here
I just slapped one of those cartridges on an old Morse mini-console stereo I picked up. The built-in ceramic phono stage gives it a vintage sound.
"LP Gear" sells an elliptical stylus for this ceramic cartridge, since they usually come with a conical one, and it does improve the sound.
What model?
@@UnderEu It's called the Cerapreme Blue Stylus (or red too)
Are you familiar with the AUE CP-38S cartridge? The one that is typically common in Crosley Stack-O-Matic record changers? Well, they cloned that cartridge too now! So far, Vakind is the only one that sells a clone of it, but won't be surprised if others begin to follow suit. Theirs is a blue body with a white stylus and what seems to be a proper diamond needle. Recently ordered a pair from AliExpress and it's quite impressive how it's inches to being a 1:1 in sound quality
This is the best video i have looked at for a very long time, trying to explain to people the reson my there cheep record player sound rubbish, is because it has the incorrect amplification, (still will not sound the best but still good) . Why don't the manufactures of the cheep turntabels just add in a high Z 2M ohm pre amp stage for around 20p? would make them sound soo much beter as standard
That's a really fun experiment you ran. Thanks for sharing. I'm currently going in the opposite direction but that's pretty cool.
I recently got my Realistic SA-10 from Radio Shack off of eBay, and it's the same model as yours. I connected to my 1967 Magnavox/Collaro Micromatic changer, and connected to the main stereo amplifier as a CD input connected to the "Speaker" output which is an aux output. No need for bookshelf speakers, just use it as a main output.
Ceramic cartridges may sound surprisingly good when you run the signal through a guitar amp or a mixer that has a guitar input (often called "hi Z"). Guitar amps have high input impedance (like 1 Meg).
literally have a cheap "skywin" turntable for 3 years. and the reason people think they are just bad because of the speakers that were built in. but in my case, having a decent speaker and a decent pre amp, dude it would almost sound just as decent as the lp-60 especially when you have a new needle. dude i had that turntable for 3 years and it sounded just as good as i bought it new and it blows me aways still.
Haha! I have the same GE mouse. I randomly saw it at Walgreens YEARS ago and thought it looked decently made. I bought another right after using it since it always seems like once you find something good it gets discontinued pretty quick. I've been using it ever since!
Always bringing the most interesting content I never knew would be interesting.
Keep it up!
That cheap one sounded a lot better than I expected
I think what's really missing from most of modern electronics to make best use of these cartridges is a JFET input stage - something as cheap and as ancient straight from the 70ies as TL072 (still in production by TI, Diodes Inc, STM, JRC, Rohm) should do fine. This IC is out of fashion now because of its inherent noise, which will not be audible in this use. Thanks for your experiment, I want to follow up on it someday with a simple self-made preamp/buffer, though not too likely to get around to.
After you published your video, someone published what seems like a suitable mount for 3D printing, look on Thingiverse for "Chuo Denshi CZ800 cartridge clip for 1/2 inch". It should come out dirt cheap, especially if you have a friend who's into that or can use a printer at a library or educational institution.
You can now get the mounting bracket for about $6 on eBay: www.ebay.com/itm/202362551207
I have one of these on a Numark PT01. Sounds fine plugged into an external amp. Most of my records I've had since I was a kid in the 70s, and were played on equipment about as good/crappy as the Numark. They sound about the same as they always did, which is to say, not bad. Considering most of the records were treated the way a dumb 10 year old in 1977 might have treated records.
FWIW, I just ordered one of these cartridge/stylus combos from China by way of ebay, for the princely sum of $1.30 USD. Alas, it's going to be used for a vibration sensor experiment rather than playing records. So the sapphire stylus will likely suffice many years without wearing out the vibrations. ;)
Hey, do you happen to have Earth, Wind & Fire - September on an LP, or as a 45rpm single? Wonder if you want to do a collab comparing the audio quality of the AT3600, MG-09DE (aka GrooveTool), and the CZ800 (aka P-188/P-190)? I just need a recording of that song played with the CZ800 WITH the proper input.
Planning on doing a video comparing the 3 most popular entry-level cartridges that we commonly find in budget turntables.
I don't get this whole idea. Vinyl is pretty much the most expensive audio medium you can go with these days. Spending a lot of money on the records and then ruining them with cheap gear? Who does that?
The 1D album is the only one I spent real money on. All the rest were 99 cent thrift store finds.
Actually I live in Poland and I've never seen a vinyl record in a thrift store or any such place. You can get pretty reasonable priced vinyls at the most popular auction site. But I guess vinyl is just considered a thing for snobs around these parts, you either go with a $800 turntable with amp and speakers to match to play your first print dark side of the moon or you just steal music from torrents "like the normal people". I guess that's why we don't have much of a market for cheap turntables.
Ko6i "Vinyls" is not a word. Please call them "records" or "LPs".
Excuse me, mr grammar officer, am I being arrested? ;) ...but seriously, you're absolutely right, sorry.
Vinyl is only expensive if you're buying new crappy remasters. There are tons and tons of Records out there for $3 or less that are in excellent condition. I even let my 19 year old listen to some vinyl versus digital, and even he noticed the great sounding vinyl records. He's not an audiophile, and it was a blind test. So it just matters what you like, where you shop, and what you're looking for.
I recall the old days of flip-over needles on stereo console record changers, and as I remember, the sapphire needles were known to have a very short lifespan - even the manufacturers recommended replacing them every 50 plays! Diamond needles were much more durable. I don't know that I'd want to use a sapphire needle in a modern cartridge on my records, but it's a fascinating experiment and thanks for the video!
I just wanted to thank you for helping me in my journey to make my Crosley Musician not sound horrible! I was able to order a chuo denshi cz 800 and installed it after retuning the motor and I was very surprised by the amount of difference it makes. I used the headphone port to run an aux cord into a creative d100 and it sounds nearly perfect, though I’ll probably upgrade the speaker later anyway
Im sick of audiophiles, ive just started buying records but am now too afraid to buy a cheap record player cos they say ill kill my record, I just want something cheap that can play them yet daren't buy them
Craigslist / ebay is your friend. AT-LP60 is the cheapest turntable I can recommend. I'm sure there's better options for cheaper, but I've never heard them play. One big downside on the LP60 is the lack of upgradability though, hence why i recomend doing some research and buying a decent second hand one. You should be able to find something for less than 50 if you're patient
How do you even know about 317X Anti Static built into older records - You are an amazing wealth of information!
Unless diamonds went super cheap, the stylus is sapphire. Trust me on this. These cheapy boogers ruined so many my 45's when I was a kid. Why? Because back in the 60's to 70's record companies a cheap alternative to vinyl; Polystyrene. If you have any of these records consider them gone if you use this "cartridge".
Is this due to rough edges on the cheap stylus tips?, it presumably wouldn't be related to the material itself as diamond is obviously harder.
@@DoubleMonoLR my record shop guy told me that the sappharie was made for vinyl and styrene at the time was never a thought.
I love this video. I think I will convert all cartridges over to ceramic.
Great technical review. I have Vol 1&2 of the AES history of LP reproduction. It mostly looks like NASA scientists wrote it with similar photo's of the scientists. Ceramic designs are the ones most written about. Looked at that way the ceramic was the dominant design. Some like Decca Deram were very good. In many ways ceramic types were the best. Like going through the sound barrier when aircraft there were somethings they couldn't do. Unlike aircraft the cost of doing that wasn't vast. Although not really suited the LM741 op amp made cheap moving magnet cartrigdes and preamp posible. NE5532 made it doubly so, the AT93/95 the typical choice. However an ECC83 + 2 x EL84 in SE as valves could be driven directly from a higher output ceramic. That was a posh Dansette record player.
There is also no such thing as a stereo stylus. The stylus is neutral. The stereo or mono is determined by the cartridge.
@@wintersbattleofbands1144 It's not the size of the tip. 1 mil, 0.7 mil.....makes no difference. The stylus itself is neutral, neither stereo nor mono. It is the pick-up cartridge which determines whether the stereo content in the groove of a record is fed to two distinct amplifier channels.
What a great video explaining about ceramic cartridges, I have just recently been rebuilding and Grundig console from 1955 which of course used a ceramic cartridge but having its own preamp stage using a single EL86 tube, the console was a luxury and expencive item in the UK in 1955 so I did expect a decent sound... sadly someone had removed the preamp and replaced the cartridge with a high output one... so I had to build a new preamp from the original circuit and buy a new cartridge. I didn't really know a lot about cartridges so had to do a lot of my research online which took me a while to get my head around it all, if only your video was made sooner it would have saved me a lot of time ! Once again great video very easy and simple to understand thanks for making it now I can confirm what I learned is correct lol!
HEY! It sounds just as good as the TH-cam digital compression algorithms! How strange...
Not bad for $1.72 I've had to pay much more for the white or gray chrystal fork style stylus for my portable battery operated phonographs from the 60s
Really digging your channel man. Name is Adam, I am a guitarist from Queens NYC.
Wow thank you for the incredibly informative video
i had a curtis mathis compact all in one stereo from the 80s it had real nice bsr turntable belt drive with a terad ceramic cartridge 2way speakers very nice sound .i think some old stereos had that eqalization circut phono preamp just for ceramic crtdgs.
Why do you always type two spaces between words?
i did nt know i was doing that i did nt want the letters to be too close together i geuss ?
I've noticed just how much static most modern records gain. I have to clear off my records before I play them most of the time.
The pink stylus is not sapphire. It is a ruby stylus. Usually good for only a few hours of playing time.
Sapphire and ruby are both a type of corundum
around 8:07 I thought I heard distortion in the "oh oh oh". is that the cheap cart, the record wearing out, or an amplifier being slammed?
I have one of my turntables set up the same way. The Realistic amp works well as a preamp
I have a few different TEAC all in ones, with the plastic turntables. They sound surprisingly decent. They are, as you know, genuine Chuo Denshi carts. Using the Cerapreme blue for LP and the Cerapreme grey for 78s.
I have since bought a Victrola VT-A80 (AKA The Jackson). Overall not bad sound, but the turntable sounds like total crap. I purchased 2 of the CZ800 carts from VOM. They listed them as genuine Chuo Denshi. I’m hoping this will improve the TT sound, even if only a little bit.
By the way, I have that Admiral LP, it’s awesome.
@10:45 was a little surprised when the sound was actually 'balanced' on my system here at home.
What do you recommend for the RCA Victor small 45 RPM record changers from 1949 into the early 1950's with or without its' own vacuum tube amplification. These players have again become very popular with collector's, both the changers only such as an RCA 45 J2 or the 45 J3, and the self contain 45 RPM record players with self contained vacuum tube amplification. The changers only work very well with the RCA Victor vacuum tube radios of the period. Many other radios of the period such as Zenith and others also included a Phono Jack specifically for this purpose.
V-M Audio Enthusiasts sells cartridge retrofit kits for vintage RCA 45 RPM players: www.thevoiceofmusic.com/catalog/vm_rca_45player.asp
I have heard worse
>has a turntable
>listens to one direction
I experimented with various ceramic models a few years ago as I liked the idea of missing out the RIAA stage and the extra gain. Finding a ceramic with a decent diamond and generator is difficult. This has (yours) a ruby/sapphire stylus and that is approx 300 plays (60 hours)?. A diamond is much, much harder, that jump from 9 - 10 on hardness scale makes a big difference - over 5000 plays. At 20 tons a square inch it has to be, along with massive 'g' too. It is well worth playing with 'non velocity' generators as the extra fidelity from losing a sensitive noise inducing gain stage can make up for some of the losses in performance IF you find a decent ceramic. Wobbly response was hard to tame. Strain gauge, modern piezo material and electret can be made to perform as well (or better) than MM or moving coil, anyone want to retro fit a new generator and electronics into a good stylus body?
As much as it is an improvement to use it with the proper equipment intended for ceramic cartridges and it is a cool experiment, I'm gonna stick with magnetic cartridges because they undoubtedly sound way better. But this was good video, nice work!
in 0:54 were did u get that ge mouse
My SA-155 is branded as RCA. I got it from RadioShack in the early 2000s. I have used it as a phono preamp in the past, but I've mostly used it as a television amplifier. I currently use an ION turntable that I got from RadioShack around 2010. That uses either USB PCM at 44.1kHz or a line level output which I either use to listen to the turntable directly or record through my computer's soundcard at much higher sound qualities. The turntable seems to have a very stable speed that I noticed when I took a 45, recorded both sides (regular and instrumental) onto my computer, and successfully synchronized them. The deviation from the start to the end was very slight. The audio pickup from the original stylus and cartridge seems to be decent with a flat frequency range. I imagine that some people have gotten better results with different cartridges, I guess. I mostly use it for digitizing records. I've gotten pretty accustomed to the convenience of the digital audio file. If I had more room in my bedroom to move around, things might be different, but at least I'm limiting the wear on my stylus.
An old record player from the 50s connected to a tube/valve radio. Often you have to press two buttons to switch to phono and use the radio as an amp.
Here we are, it was designed for this kind of setup.
Your videos are always really informative. Thanks for the content!
8:52 I'm surprised the stereo separation is good.
I love that the diagram is an SL1200
Do I understand correctly that the external phonocorrector does the job?
Omg I was about to buy this cartridge, but luckily my record player uses an lp needle, not the needle in this video. I am getting a diamond needle for my record player after watching your vid about the difference replacing the needle makes. And the needle I am getting is 10 dollars, not the under 2 for the one in this video.
I have one of the cartridges installed in my Magnavox Micromatic turntable, and it sounds okay, but the problem is that it’s too loud when using a phono input on my Realistic STA-100 and my recent Pyle PP444 phono preamp also had the same problem that it’s too loud when it was on one of the inputs, and it can be used for magnetic cartridges only. Is there a way to have some adjustments on my 1967 Magnavox Micromatic turntable?
The phono inputs on your Realistic and Pyle were only designed for a magnetic cartridge, which has a much lower output level than a ceramic cartridge -- that's your problem. Ideally you should get an amplifier with a ceramic phono input, such as the Radio Shack SA-150 or SA-155, or if you're handy with electronics, you can build a circuit to reduce the output of the ceramic cartridge to the same level as that of a magnetic cartridge, such as discussed here: www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?p=949111
you could boost the low bass end by hooking up ceramic output through a mixer or equaliser .
If you have the gear, this isn't a bad option to play beat-to-snot thrift store records that will wear down your nice stylus faster than normal.
I'm interested to know why I keep hearing people say to avoid red tip ceramic cartridges if you have rare/valuable records because they will shred them. I assumed this was because they have a ceramic needle which I now know is incorrect. Do they shred records and if so how?
I'm planning to by a small portable turntable but modify the tone arm with a kit that is availble to enable it to use magnetic cartridges.
That's a myth. See my three-way record wear test video.
@@vwestlife thanks for the info, really appreciate it. I’ll check it out.
That band sounds a lot like the afters, I love that band..
If I still have my GE Show N' Tell Record player and viewer, I have to replace a dead crystal cartridge with a same exact cartridge as seen here is a Chinese made phono cartridge. it is compatible with my GE Show N' Tell and it has four sockets. I have terminal leads to fit snuggly and wired them using a soldering iron. The red wire goes on one side and the white wire goes on the other, and it is going to be bridge for mono.
I used one in a Rock Ola jukebox and sounds great!!
Bloody hell! Tried the left/right soundtake on my Panasonic SC-PMX70B via Bluetooth on my phone. It was spot on!
I have this cartrige, but i can't mount it to headshell because there is no classic screw holes. Where the find that adapter wich hold that cartrige? Thanks
I showed it in the video.
I‘ve had the same turntable for over three years. Except it was a „Soundmaster“ brand and it had a built in AM/FM radio
Hello. I have a question. I have this cartridge installed in the old, czechoslovak tube radio/turntable combination (Tesla 1008A Liberta). It has quite a good sound with it. And i would like to know what is recommended tracking force for this cartridge. To achieve the best possible tracking and lowest groove wear. Thanks for the answer.
As I show in the video, 4 to 6 grams is the acceptable range, with 5 grams being recommended. If you use a good-quality diamond stylus, like the Pfanstiehl 793-D7M, it will last longer and be gentler to the grooves than the ruby stylus that these cartridges usually come with.
@@vwestlife Thanks for the answer. Just ordered Pfanstiehl diamond stylus for it (fairly good price on Amazon). As i use it as my main turntable, it will be good improvement.
Thank you a million times over. I learned so much in such a small amount of time. I'm glad you were so thorough!!!
On Sid Ramin's Nola...when it hit those horns at the end it left my ears ringing! That was painful. That Admiral test record reminded me of a three record set Allied Radio used to sell to help set up and adjust sound systems "back in the day". I still have one.
Hi i bought a amplifier with phono and changed the ceramic cardridge with Audiotechnica AT 3600L and its a way better sound now. It was very simple because my recordplayer had a half inch standart mount. The ceramic cardridge got 4 pins so i could just switch to MM because these cardridges got also 4 pins.
cool video, its amazing the sound from such a cheap ceramic cartridge, in the 50's my dad had a dynatron mono phonograph and it had ceramic cartridge and el84 valve amp and it had a great sound
Can you share what the circuit on your realistic amp for the ceramic magnetic switch looks like for interest sake?
The schematic is in the owner's manual for the SA-150, available online.
If you want that cartridge to sound really good, inject it with silicone grease with a syringe. The grease will dampen harmonic resonances of the cartridge and shell. The fidelity will be amazing, but the grease does increase tracking force requirement.