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ADC XLM mkII Cartridge. Should I bother...

Wondering if anyone has any first hand experience with the ADC XLM mkII.

I purchased an SME 3009 Series II and the seller threw in this cartridge. Cantilever was broken so there is no trying it.

Jico sells a shibata stylus that I’m thinking might be a decent sounding fit for this.

My 2M Black is in need of replacement - too many hours - and I am not ready to get a MC cartridge at the moment, so I figured this could be a good bridge that won’t cost too much to get going.

If anyone has had any experience with this particular cartridge, would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

P


perkri
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chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
The cartridge is nothing special, even their Best ADC Astrion with Sapphire cantilever is nothing special.

Don’t know what’s your budget, but you can find much better MM cartridge than new Ortofon or old ADC.

Stanton, Pickering, Grace, Garrott, Audio-Technica, Pioneer made exceptional MM cartridges if you know exact model (according to your price limit).


JICO is only alternative, even if the stylus tip is good nude Shibata you have to take in count the compliance, cantilever material, the marget. 
perkri OP
908 posts
 
Thank you all for your thoughts! 

@viridian 

Can I ask which stylus you are using?

It is the non removable headshell version. However, it was been modded by original owner who upgraded the internal wires (to what, I do not know) as well as putting an ADC magnesium headshell on the arm. (Which is 1g heavier than the original...)

The cartridge was originally used in the SME 3009 II set up (along with the headshell and FD200 fluid damper - all of which I bought off Kijiji for 400 incl shipping - great deal for this I think) so I would imagine it should work well together. 

The damper does an amazing job on managing the resonance with the 2M installed on the SME. When it was used on my Clearaudio, the arm would shake like crazy around 7-8 hz. Now, there is only the slightest movement around 9hz

The arm is being used on a heavy plinth DIY Lenco L70 I built as an experiment, and it's sounding very nice indeed!

Reason for delaying getting an MC cart is I would be wanting to upgrade phono stage at the same time and seeing as a Jico stylus is a very reasonable $140, as a temporary solution, this could bridge the gap.

For those who are curious, test build on Lencoheaven:

https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=36815.0

Final build:

https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=37385.0
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perkri OP
908 posts
 
@viridian 

Thank you for the info! I did read some were having issues with distortion with the shibata, but there are so many variables with setting up a shibata properly, I was wondering if the issue was in set up more so than stylus. 

Your explanation makes perfect sense as to why some may be having SQ issues with that particular tip.

The elliptical is almost half price to the shibata also. Which is great as I am only wanting to try this out and use as a stop gap measure.
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