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Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

Sorry, I should have said retipped M44C -

Hi M3 lover,

For 78s I have 8 Shure M44/55 series bodies all mounted in Sumiko headshells, each with a retipped N44C of differing sizes and shapes except one N44-7 retipped 11x3 for DGG microgoove 78s. The original Shure N44-3 and N44-3 Improved (it has a flip down stylus guard, very useful for constant handling when swapping out headshells) styli were pretty good in their day but the 3 gram maximum VTF and small tip diameter can be limiting. I wish they'd get rid of the awful M78S and re-issue the N44-3 using a 2.8 or 3mil tip and the N44C compliance.

As to using a true mono cartridge for 78s or, come to that mono vinyl, my phono amp has a mono switch, which I always use. It also allows me to switch the quietest groove wall through both speakers and both channels vertically for Pathe's & Edison Diamond discs. There is a surprising difference in noise level and frequency between each wall, many 78s are unevenly worn, even those that play back well with both channels summed by the mono switch. Using high and low pass filters sensibly removes the worst vertical noise if I'm just listening to one groove wall.

I'm sceptical about using true mono cartridges in a stereo system if you have a mono switch on your preamp, unless you really like their sound. I like to use the same cartridges for my mono and stereo vinyl. For systems where there isn't one I agree that a good mono cartridge is essential.

In my single speaker mono system I use stereo carts because I play a lot of stereo records on it. It picks out their bass lines and rhythm very well, I'm not aware of any loss of detail, sometimes I hear things I hadn't noticed when sharing my ears between two speakers, LOL. And I also use M44s in this system for 78s, as the Leak preamp is not very sensitive, and their high output is useful.

I do have some vintage mono cartridges, including a Goldring 600 and 1930s/40s pickups. I've not heard a modern true mono cartridge and I think the lack of flexibility and cost, as I'd need more than one, rule them out for me.

For 20 years I used an Arcam C77 cartridge with retipped styli for 78s. In 2005 I had an M44C and Stanton 500 retipped and found that that these supposedly inferior cartridges are much better suited to shellac. I preferred the sound of the M44 and bought into the series in a big way, although most bodies are cheap used ones. I also changed my arm from a Rega RB250 to an SME 3009 with detachable headshells, as I found constantly swapping styli in a single body caused the can to fall out of it's magnesium body and bend a cantilever. The SME is better at tracking warped 78s than the Rega, and it works well with the M44s.

I've gone on for too long - but I hope I've answered your questions.

Regards








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  • Sorry, I should have said retipped M44C - - richardz 12/8/0815:45:13 12/8/08 (0)

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