ADC XLM mkII Cartridge. Should I bother...

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

@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.

ADC XLM was once a very highly regarded cartridge.  Because it was relatively inexpensive yet so widely loved, I would guess that the production run was huge, as cartridges go. Problem is it requires a very low mass tonearm, as others have mentioned, and it was therefore often abused in medium to high mass tonearms.  In keeping with J Carr's notion to replace like with like, when it comes to re-tipping, I would suggest you use a new stylus assembly that is most like the original.  Was that aluminum cantilever with an elliptical tip? I think so. (I am not saying elliptical is state of the art by any means, only that the rest of the cartridge was designed around that shape.)

Because the replacement market stylus have yet to mimic
faithfully the original ADC designs I don’t recommend them.

If you happen to find an NAD 9300 original buy it they are out there
for little money until an advanced aftermarket profile is produced, they are in the works.

FYI the 9300 was made for NAD OEM by ADC.