Phono Cartridges old and new
I have a new cartridge and OLD cartridge and a NOS cartridge.
I make no apologies about how I approach stereo stuff. I investigate how a manufacturer does things and decide if I like the idea. I observer how well the idea works. They all do things differently. I will prefer the equipment if I like the idea behind it.
I have had a few phono cartridges in the past. I started with Shure having the M95ed, and the famous V15 iii. Both were good. I had a set of Grados, and I cannot remember the model number probably because they were not memorable. I had an empire or two usually because it was attached to something I bought.
My favorite one is the old one, a 1980s Signet TK7E. It has its fans and is remembered fondly. I have seen one on sale for over 600 bucks. It is no longer made and replacement styli are not easy to find. Signet was a luxury brand of Audio Technica. Sort of like Toyota and Lexus. This Signet was a quadraphonic type. That means it was engineered to respond accurately to 45 khz. In the 80s that was going to be the new big thing and they managed to make it work on vinyl.
Any cartridge that can respond well to 45 khz has an easy time at 22.5 khz and hell I cant hear even that high anymore. Though I could when I bought it. Enough to say that it is better than many out today. Arguably better than a lot of multi-thousand dollar examples including most moving coil types.
I like the idea behind it. There are two teenie tiny magnets mounted on the cantilever. They move and that generates the electric current that makes us happy. Very simple and elegant. Very direct. Direct is important.
Grados in contrast vibrate a plate that lays against another plate and that generates the signal. Shures have the cantilever in a tube that somehow connects to its electrical device. Most every manufacturer has an indirect link between the wiggles on the disk and the electrical generator.
One thing about Moving Coil types is they almost all have a direct physical connection between the cantilever and the coils. That is why you cannot replace the diamond or the cantilever without microscopic skills and equipment.
My NOS cartridge (new old stock) I bought it new but did not use it much until recently. It is an Audio Technica 440 mla and uses the same two little magnets on the cantilever. It is very good but had quirks related to impedance reactance. It does not like too many picofarads.
I just bought a new Audio Technica AT7v. It is a boutique cartridge with an excellent reputation in Japan. It appears to be very similar to the Signet, which intrigued me. It is new, just not very common around here. Apparently you can use the same Stylus assembly as the AT150MLX which is a pretty expensive unit and the legend there is that it is based on the Signets TK7 in some fashion.
Generally speaking phono cartridges do not wear out. The needles on the cantilevers do. Replace that and it is new again.
The TK7 has an available stock of styli in a store I use called LPGEAR. That stylus is not identical to the original. It is compatible and it does work. The Brochure I have with the Signets (yes I kept it) shows that several different styli were available. They all promised different aspects to performance. One was a boron cantilever. The current replacement listed is called a TKN22. I have one of those and it is an aluminum cantilever.
LP Gear listed that the stylus for the AT7v would fit the Signet. It was an “alternate.” The description for the AT7v mentions that the stylus for the AT150 MLX will fit the AT7 so it may fit the Signet too! Ooh that sounds fun. The ATN150 stylus is boron just like the old Signets. Thing is the stylus assembly all by itself is 600 bucks. There is a slightly less expensive version with a nude shibata diamond with an aluminum cantilever for 200 ish bucks.
The LP Gear store has a lot of information and I do trust it. As I have the AT7 and the Signet I can try this out. If they cross fit then I may buy a spare stylus or two. Swapping styli is dead easy compared to swapping full cartridges with all those fussy wires.