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Looking for turntable cartridge advice (lemmy.ca)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/budgetaudiophile@lemmy.world
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I've just bought a Yamaha YP-D6 turntable. It's had a hard life, but seems to work ok. I'll replace the stylus before playing any of my collection. Problem is that it has a Shure RXT-4 cartridge which takes a N97HE stylus. A quick bit of research suggests I'll be paying well over $200 for even a cheap N97HE clone. This seems a bit risky when I don't even know if the cartridge is functionally "good".

I'm not looking for the best possible performance from a turntable - it's just to be able to play my collection for nostalgia etc.

I think I'm better off replacing the cartridge with something like and audio technica AT-VM95E.

Interested to hear any thoughts, including suggestions for other budget friendly cartridges.

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[–] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (4 children)

Yeah, the VM95E should be a cheaper choice, and value for money. Audio Technica carved themselves a niche on the market by making really good cartridges and styli that are also affordable to most people.

Keep the RXT-4 around in case you feel adventurous in the future. AFAICT it's really from Shure's well received M97 series, rebranded for selling at Radio Shack. Or you can put it up for sale and fund your next cartridge 🙂

Edited to add: Shure.com link identifying the RXT-4 as a relabeled M97HE.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    Oh yeah - I'll hang on to the Shure. Today I just want to play the records I've had in storage for years. Who knows about tomorrow.

    My concern about it is though - how do I know it's good? Is the only way to find out to buy a new stylus and see if it works? I've played an old record and it sounded terrible. I'm assuming it's the stylus, but could also be the cartridge?

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (2 children)

    Most likely it's just a worn out stylus, but you do say your TT has been through a lot. The cartridge could be damaged, although they're sturdier than the needle part.

    There are probably ways to check a cartridge's health — my guess is you'll need a good microscope and some intimate knowledge of how a functioning cart of that make and model is supposed to look and work? That's beyond my expertise, I'm afraid.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    The stylus is more than a bit worn out!

    With that level of damage I suspect there's a chance the cart is also damaged and I'm going for a cheap AT for now.

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