Yes indeed in the glorious 80´s we had hollow beryllium cantilevers with very low moving mass. The finest of SHURE was ULTRA 500´s 0.165 mg and ULTRA 400´s 0.195 mg which is an improved version of the ML140HE.
Found this:
An estimated list of Shure cartridge rankings, best first, rankings based on tip moving mass and trackability, magnetic core type and stylus shape:
All in all, it´s just such a pity that Shure discontinued their better models.
Found this:
An estimated list of Shure cartridge rankings, best first, rankings based on tip moving mass and trackability, magnetic core type and stylus shape:
- Ultra 500 (V15 Type V-MR modified for lower moving tip mass of 0.165mg)
- V15 Type V-MR, Ultra VST-V (as per Type V, MR tip)
- V15 Type V (HE tip, beryllium tube cantilever, tip mass 0.17mg)
- V15 Type V-G (as per Type V, conical tip)
- V15VxMR (similar trackability, beryllium tube cantilever and MR tip shape to V15 Type V-MR, but non-laminated core, so eddy currents in the core will mean a less-flat high frequency response, tip mass 0.17mg)
- Ultra 400 (ML140HE body with MR tip, laminated core, beryllium tube cantilever, tip mass 0.19mg)
- ML140HE (laminated core, beryllium tube cantilever, HE tip)
- VST-III, V15 Pro/S, Realistic V15-RS (same body as V15VxMR, HE tip, beryllium tube stylus)
- V15 Type IV-MR (the MR tip was a later upgrade for the Type IV stylus)
- V15 Type IV (laminated core, telescopic aluminium tube cantilever with beryllium stub, HE tip, tip mass 0.29mg)
- V15 Type IV-G (as per Type IV except with conical tip)
- Ultra 300 (same body as Ultra 400, ML140HE and ML120HE, telescopic aluminium tube cantilever, MR tip, tip mass 0.3mg)
- ML120HE (laminated core, telescopic aluminium tube cantilever, HE tip)
- V15 Type III-MR (as per Type III, but later upgraded with MR tip stylus)
- V15 Type III-HE (as per Type III, but later upgraded with HE tip stylus)
- V15 Type III (laminated core, aluminium tube cantilever with beryllium stub, elliptical tip, tip mass 0.33mg)
- V15 Type III-G (as per Type III, but with conical stylus)
All in all, it´s just such a pity that Shure discontinued their better models.