Conical vs Elliptical Stylus....

Yeah, you can see the difference. The 1st pic from an Ebay auction looks like that M55E, the 2nd being the modern one.....

 

The older ones I've seen/used are brown. The newer ones are black.

jD

 

Thanks for your responses, Dave and jD! Now I have a follow-up question -- do I need to get a NOS (New Old Stock) stylus for the best sound or will the current N44-7 replacement stylus do just fine?

 

The new ones should do fine. Remember many old (NOS) styli are prone to have 'dried out' by now.

 

Thanks Steve and Damian! That works for me, too. I can't wait to get this set up so I can start transferring some of my old 45s -- I'm planning on recording all the hit single versions that I can't get on CD (and there are many!)

Thanks, Guys!

 

Let us know how it goes!

 

I have picked up the N44C version of the stylus from www.garage-a-records.com for $10! Brand new Shure stylus. I'm not sure how much they charge for the N447, but it's worth a browse over there.

Make sure you set up the tracking force for the N447 between 2.5-3grams, and the N44c between 3-4grams. Set up your cartridge so the top is parallel to the record surface, or even a slight bit of a "tail dragger". You can adjust the anti-skate for best sound if you want; when dubbing 45's with this cart I usually leave it at "0".

Good luck!

jD

 

That combo will work great, trust me.

 

My cartridge with conical styli is the Stanton 500 AL II. I still have my Stanton 680 EL II with elliptical styli as well.

 

Sorry for the side track here, but are all 45's styrene or are some vinyl and if so how can you tell the difference.

 

No. Some are vinyl, and some are styrene. Look at this:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=36494

 

Martin, Tahnk you.

 

So, does this apply to LPs in the same way?. I have been looking at a number of LPs and find quite a few have a flat, untapered, unrounded edge and are consistent with the whole record in width. A few examples -

Aretha Franklin - Greatest Hits on Green/Orange Atlantic (German copy, i think).

Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man UK Atlantic Mono Original.

Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced UK Track Mono original 1st press(-1).

Isaac Hayes - Shaft UK original issue on Yellow stax 1st press (-1)

Are these all styrene LPs?.

 

Sorry to dredge this back up, but...

I was playing some 45s last night with the AT440ml, which, so far, seems to track most vinyl 45s superbly, albeit with that maddening high end boost. I have tried to play some styrene with it, and again there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which singles play without problem and others immediately seem to be getting damaged. BUT so far it seems that almost always the problems ones were pressed by Columbia. These are old DJ 45s from 20 years ago I'm testing with, and I doubt most of them have ever been played.

I'd really like to understand this better, since more and more it seems to narrow down to just the one label. Did Columbia use a worse grade of styrene (is there such a thing?) than others? Or could it be something related to the cutting lathe? I still suspect that it's somehow related to groove pitch and depth, since most Columbia 45s appear to have wider space than others. This fascinates me, for whatever reason...