Aaaaaagh - Trashed me Cantilever

S*$t f%^k bu@#er!!! :cry:

Had my first record player when I was five, so by reckoning I've been playing records for 33 years and in all that time I've never trashed a cart/cantilever until last night. Caught it on my jumper sleeve

And they've just discontinued the V15 - Damn! And they've stopped the $50 Shure Stylus exchange programme - Double Damn!!

 

That's probably the greatest comment on the dangers of old age. Stray jumpers can be mischievous things. In the old days when you wore only a t-shirt (or slick leather jacket) there was nothing to accidentally snag while you were juggling an LP, sleeve, drink and the prospective auntie ants all at the same time

 

What a right royal pain in the a***. The cheapest replacement is nearly £200. Bum, bum and more bum. Have you got accidental damage on your household contents, you might just get it that way

 

Have you checked with Shure, they may still have the $50 replacement I'd phone to check, other than that claim on insurance, will only cost the excess then.

 

My condolences... Done this twice (a V15 III is less rare than a 50-in-the-world Dynavector 10x4 Gold High (yep, that's the one *I* broke!), so that's one advantage - there's always a silver lining!). Good luck and hope you get some vinyl sounds again soon!

 

From now on just in case, I will only be playing records in the nude I was leaning over the back to move the belt and play a 45 .

I've just written an email to them to see - as their website still suggests the exchange scheme is still in place, though rumour (admittedly Vinyl Asylum rumour) has it that it isn't. I'll check my household insurance as well.

Meanwhile, I put the Tracer 1 I had in spares bin on the arm - I'm pretty sure I don't like this cart much now having given it a spin last night - it just seems a bit lumpen and lacking in detail and the bass is a bit bloaty.

Anyway - I took the plunge and just ordered a Denon DL160 from Mantra for a temporary (or if I really like it permanent) replacement - can't go to far wrong for less than £100.

Just wondering - I hear the Denons in particular take a fair bit of breaking in - would it do any harm to break it in overnight on something like the end groove of Sgt Pepper which is a continuous loop of sound?

 

Unlucky. Been there, done that. Horrible sinking feeling isn't it ?
Personally i wouldn't let it run in the same groove for hours at a time just to break it in , in case it melts the vinyl and coats your brand new stylus with baked on plastic ?
Just play lots of records when you first get it and see if the sound evolves over time, maybe be really sad and take some 'review' type notes of your favorite tracks/records and see if you notice the difference several hours down the road.
It will be interesting to see what you think of the DL160, as the DL103 was a brilliant performer, especially as it was so cheap ( circa £90).

 

BTW, was you stylus damper brush down, or up, at the time of the accident ?

 

You takin the piss? Ho hum - it was up - it wasn't playing a record though - it was on the arm rest. I guess I just need to be more careful in future. All my previous decks had a proper plinth, the NAS doesn't and it exposes the sharp end a lot more as a result.

Thanks for the advice re burn in. I did wonder if something like that might be a potential problem for my cunning plan. Just not looking forward to 20 odd hours of ropey sound before it breaks is all.

It'll be interesting. TBH if its just okay rather than great (and I'd messed with the V15 enough by now that it was really singing), I suspect I'll be looking to something like a Dyna 10x5 or 20XH sometime in the future.

 

Unlucky!

 

Was i taking the Piss, well maybe a little , but i do share your pain...

Prior to getting my Denon DL103 (my previous cart until about 3 weeks ago) . I had only ever used 'budget' MM carts. Although these weren't always the cheapest ones available. The effect of switching over to the DL103 ( after reading many good reports over on PFM) , was immediate and grin inducing. I would say that it was one of the most instant & noticable upgrades i'd made in years. despite my reservations ( carts all sound the same don't they ? ).

The recent switch over to the Shure was far less pronounced, basically going from one quality sounding cart to another isn't so big a deal I've found out, it is a question of subtleties. I reckon that your new Denon won't be too far behind the Shure , if at all. My Denon sounded great, to my ears, straight from the box !

 

It's a 'rights of passage' thing, a stage in every vinyl punter's life – I've trashed three!

Tony.

 

I sincerely hope it isn't. I just got confirmation fro Shure that the $50 stylus exchange scheme has been discontinued:

So its gonna cost me either £200 to get a new stylus for the Shure (or $225 +shipping + duty + VAT, which won't be far short of that). I think that's the end of the Shure for me then which is a bloody shame - I really liked that cart.

Still the Denon should be with me today, so I will hopefully get a chance to play with it tonoght.

 

Perhaps as ChrisPa suggests its a result of entering the jumper wearing phase of ones life

 

...or, in my case, the duster-wielding phase

Guys - which Denon is the HIGH output MC??? I'm looking to upgrade my Ortofon 540 at the end of the summer, and am curious...

Also, how much should you reasonably expect to pay to have a cart fitted? Audio-eXcellence in Exeter (afaik) don't carry Denon carts (I think they only deal in Goldring at the lower end of things)? I'll get my Rega Elas retweetered at the same time

 

None of my cartridge deaths can be blamed on my taste in clothing. I can't quite remember how the first one died, it was a Decca FFSS and happened so long ago that I can only remember it's death, not the reasons.

The second was a Ortofon MC10 Supreme, I killed that with a yellow duster whilst polishing the deck.

The third time was disturbingly recent. I had just sold a friend my old LP12 / Zeta, I was setting it up for him and, very unusually for me, was working at a table at his house - I usually build turntables on the floor in my own home, and with hindsight realise there is a reason for this. I had taken the arm off the deck and was fitting an old and thankfully somewhat tired Lyra Lydian B. Somehow, whilst looking for the mounting bolts which had rolled under the plinth I managed to knock the arm off the table, I noticed this and managed to catch it before it hit the floor, though in the process the arm moved through a fast trebuchet like motion catapulting the cartridge with some quite serious velocity across the room, certainly more than sufficient to break free from the loose cartridge tags I had already connected. Whilst transcribing a beautiful arc through the air the plastic stylus guard achieved a mid air separation that even NASA would be truly proud of, allowing the main cartridge assembly to cushion it's fall to the ground with it's suitably sprung and nicely exposed cantilever….

Tony.

 

It's good to see that even the mighty Tony can fall foul of the yellow duster syndrome - makes me feel a LOT better about my 1999 misdemeanor

Uncle Ants - is the cantilever totally missing, or just bent? Maybe one of those stylus unbending kits from Walrus might be a plan??

 

Oh most certainly missing now. After its unscheduled collision with my sleeve it was pointing straight down. I looked at it disbelievingly and gave it a very gentle prod and it fell right off

btw. In answer to your question - the high output Denon's are the DL110 and the DL160 - The DL-160 has a finer stylus shape and a slightly higher compliance. Not a huge diff in price though - the 110 is about £80 at Mantra and the 160 £95. Its the DL-160 I shall be test driving (so long as the GPO has done its job) tonight.

 

HiFi gymnastics - you've just invented a new olympic sport

 

Championship cartridge tossing

The DL-160 was waiting for me when I got home last night. Initial impressions are very good indeed straight out of the box - if this is the ropey unbroken sound it was suggested I should expect on some of the asylum posts then I'll be very happy man when its broken in .

Certainly a noticable improvement over the NAS Tracer 1. More detail, better controlled and tuneful bass and a very enjoyable sound. A bit brighter than the Tracer but not harsh at all. I think I like it. Certainly not shamed at all by the old Shure, which considering its a third the price can't be bad. In some respects I may even prefer it. It seems a bit more technicolor than the Shure, if that makes sense. On initial impressions its a keeper.

Oh and its a rather fetching faux blue marble, which matches the Spacedeck exactly ... cool ... I think