Shelter 901 Cartridge

thomas, if you do wind up getting one let us know what you think. i've been really curious too ever since i read about it on salvatore's page. unfortunately i saw the info just after i bought a glider.

Well, as far as I understand Salvatore never used this cartridge personally, anyway…I use it and find it remarkably good. It will do some very-very minor Hi-Fi-ness compare to the best Koetsu cartridges but it you mate it with correct step-up (the Shelter original step-up is garbage) then it will do very serious job.

1.Which step-up would be "correct"? Do I need step-up at all?
2.What arm(s) would you recomend as a good match to Shelter?

Anyone have insights into Salvatore's claims that the Shelter is the exact same cartridge as a mega-bucks "hi-fi" brand name unit? If this is true, this has to be one of the biggest scams running. Also, is this only available direct from Japan?

I recently bought a '501 from Red Rose Music in NYC. The salesman there said he's used both and the differences between the two are very slight. A bit more refinement in the 901, but nothing major. So, the comments you find on the 501 should be useful to you as a guide. I am pretty amazed at the 501. Even not broken-in it sounds really open, smooth, detailed and clean. The Glider it replaced - which I thought sounded good, and costs about the same - sounded boomy in the bass and too smooth by comparison.