2. analog
  3. 1291680387

AT440mla, ortofon 2m red, or JICO SAS tip for mx97

Due to an unfortunate cleaning accident, my cantilever on my Shure mx97e was bent beyond repair. Now I am in a dilemma. I have a Fisher MT-6330 turntable Low Fi I know but I have made enhancements. It's a direct drive unit but has a unique 120 pole motor and a repectable 1kg platter. speed is DEAD ON. I have assembled a Janus mat (dynamat and cork); a 680 gram record weight (custom machined with 45 rpm adapter) and choice plinth mods to quiet it down It is well leveled Was aligned to perfection with a protractor from vinylengine; and overall sounded way beyond my expectations
It is christmas time and I am torn between 3 choices I can score a new model AT440mla for 99.00 or ortofon 2m red or 129 for the JICO SAS Stylus

HELP!!!
bc5k
Post removed 
Post removed 
bc5k OP
29 posts
 
So I am going with the SAS... I'm gonna roll the dice with LPGear since JICO in japan is all backordered... Hopefully will be here in time for christmas break so that I can break in before I go back to work. I will use my handy protractor to get the baerwald alignment all dialed in. I have some old vinyl and some new. Some horrific pressings, some 180 gram, and some hot stampers. I will report back my findings over the stock stylus for all to read. I am starting to understand why people have multiple headshells and multiple tonearms.. It's like having multiple monitors on a computer... I will also transcribe some of the vinyl I had already done with the elliptical stylus to forensically analyze them. Thanks for all the insight...

Ben
bc5k OP
29 posts
 
I had my vta set with some custom machined shims for the headshell with the old stylus... (nice to have a friend who owns a machine shop) I realigned it when my custom made janus mat replaced the stock mat on the table. If realignment is needed i can get more shims made. This is as far as i can go with my current setup to get precise VTA adjustments... I will say the thin shims did make a lot of difference with the old stylus and that I should be shot for damaging it. However, I will take this into consideration and pay close attention to detail when doing so.
vinyladdict
164 posts
 
Viridian has expressed his dislike for the Jico on other forums and I totally respect that. It's worth noting, however, that a vast majority (in fact, I'd say he's the only one to the contrary) have noted significant improvement with the Jico SAS styli.

The Fisher MT-6330 appears to be fairly flexible in looking at pics online, you should be fine.

Look forward to hearing your impressions. FYI - Jico always shows the SAS backordered but they've always shipped within a week with all my orders.
More to discover