Difference between micro line and gyger s stylus

Thank you, Arnold. AFAIR, the styrene records that I handled were from an earlier time than yours, so it is good to know that there are more labels and time periods to watch out for. FWIW, I believe that molded styrene was used to save production costs.

I wonder if there is a URL which discusses these styrene records at length (labels, time periods, artists etc.) It would also be interesting to know if all styrene records behave in pretty much the same manner (regardless of production era or label), or some can better withstand a small side-radius stylus than others.

Records turning white as they are played is not a pretty sight!

regards, jonathan carr

Hi Jcarr,

I found some information about styrene and issues with shredding them and which types of carts do not and the stylus they use:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-80334-p-4.html

A-L

To add more info: the best cart I had owned in the past that played styrene without any damage was the shure V15Vxmr and that uses a microridge stylus.

Arnold, very interesting! In my experiments, changing the stylus from a small side radius (including an microridge) to a larger one kept styrene records from being chewed up. Other parameters were kept the same, so I have fair confidence that the size of the side radius is a core factor.

And yet there are individuals like yourself who report being able to play styrene records with microridge stylii and get no damage. 'Tis a mystery.

The V15VxMR had low vertical tracking force requirements, so that could be one factor.

Also, if you look at the second table here http://www.shure.com/proaudio/products/djphonocartridgesandneedles/ssLINK/us_pro_djlibrary_phonograph

you can see that while the 3.0mil front radius computes to 75um (which is per Namiki's design), the side radius of 0.15 computes to 3.75 (larger than Namiki's original design specifications of 2.5um).

It could be that Shure uses a variant of the MR modified to have a larger side radius.

regards, jonathan carr

Too bad shure doesn't make the V15Vxmr anymore. I can't believe they stopped production on it. Probably the best moving magnet cartridge value out there. What I may do is buy a M97XE which is priced under $100. It uses an elliptical stylus. I'll experiment and see if it shreds styrene. If it doesn't, I may just purchase an extra arm wand for the JMW-9 and use the Shure just for 45's when needed. I'll keep the dynavector 20XL for LP use.

A_L