Phonograph Stylus

[ray_parkhurst]

I'm starting to get back to my Analog Audio roots after long hiatus. Previously I had no experience or equipment to look at my phono styli, so did not know if they were good or not, of their different constructions, etc. So true to form, I've merged hobbies and took some photos of some of my styli. Here is a stylus from an Empire 580LT cartridge. This is a rectangular, nude-mounted diamond, cut with a 0.2mil x 0.7mil elliptical contact surface, a fairly exotic cartridge. Listening to records and hearing the differences between the sound character (noise level, immunity to ticks/pops, and especially trackability/sibilance) and correlating to the shape and quality of the stylus is proving very interesting...

[Olympusman]

Interesting. I have a friend here in Bethlehem who is doing an extended project on photographing styli and analyzing their performance.

Mike

[ray_parkhurst]

Interesting. I have a friend here in Bethlehem who is doing an extended project on photographing styli and analyzing their performance.

Mike

Cool! Would love to share experiences and photos with him.

[Chris S.]

Agreed that this is a nicely informative image. I've never looked at a phonograph stylus up close. Would enjoy seeing more.

And by the way, during personal communication with numerous photomacrographers, I've noted that a far higher-than-chance percentage of us are also audiophiles. Interesting, I think--though on consideration, not surprising.

--Chris

--edited typo

[ray_parkhurst]

Agreed that this is a nicely informative image. I've never looked at a phonograph stylus up close. Would enjoy seeing more.

And by the way, during personal communication with numerous photomacrographers, I've noted that a far higher-than-chance percentage of us are also audiophiles. Interesting, I think--though on consideration, not surprising.

--Chris

I am also not surprised at this, though I see a big distinction between technical and non-technical audiophiles. I'd suspect there are not so many non-technical audiophile photomacrographers.

The Empire stylus I showed above is a fairly exotic one. Here is a more pedestrian (but still excellent sounding) type, a Shure M94LT, with 0.4mil x 0.7mil elliptical stylus:



With the images I've been taking of various styli, I am starting to question the way they are described and marketed. I'm thinking that a photomacrograph of a stylus, with appropriate lighting angles, may actually give a better indication of the true contact area and shape than a marketing description. It can certainly tell you very quickly if a stylus is worn or damaged!

[g4lab]

I have a very interesting stylus that needs to be photographed. I am also an audio nut. I have this machine built by Technics in the eighties. It is a straightline tracking turntable with a built in arm. It has a moving coil cartridge (a P mount or what ever it was called) and the stylus is a boron cantilever and I think the stylus is a "Shibata"

I got the unit new in the early or mid eighties. I don't have much time to listen lately but for the last couple of years various frequency ranges would cut in and out and then out completely on one side. I first thought I had a problem with my pre-amp and then with the electronic crossover. But then I took a little look at the stylus and it isn't right at all. It may have come out of the cantilever or broken. I haven't had the chance to examine it. I took another turntable off of the shelf and the stereo sounds great again. Built in 1977. A monster.

[ray_parkhurst]

I have a very interesting stylus that needs to be photographed. I am also an audio nut. I have this machine built by Technics in the eighties. It is a straightline tracking turntable with a built in arm. It has a moving coil cartridge (a P mount or what ever it was called) and the stylus is a boron cantilever and I think the stylus is a "Shibata"

I got the unit new in the early or mid eighties. I don't have much time to listen lately but for the last couple of years various frequency ranges would cut in and out and then out completely on one side. I first thought I had a problem with my pre-amp and then with the electronic crossover. But then I took a little look at the stylus and it isn't right at all. It may have come out of the cantilever or broken. I haven't had the chance to examine it. I took another turntable of the shelf and the stereo sounds great again. Built in 1977. A monster.

You're probably talking about a Technics SL-10 Turntable with 310MC or a SL-15 with 205CMK3 cartridges. Is your cartridge gold or red color?

[g4lab]

Yeah it's the SL-10 and the cartridge case is gold. I haven't figured out how to pull the cartridge but I think you undo an anchor/locking screw and pull it off. Then it will go under the scope. I suspect it just wore down to a nub. I used the turntable A LOT. I always marveled at how great it sounded and how long it worked in a completely trouble free fashion. It was so trouble free that I did not suspect it when I actually did start having trouble.

[ray_parkhurst]

Yeah it's the SL-10 and the cartridge case is gold. I haven't figured out how to pull the cartridge but I think you undo an anchor/locking screw and pull it off. Then it will go under the scope. I suspect it just wore down to a nub. I used the turntable A LOT. I always marveled at how great it sounded and how long it worked in a completely trouble free fashion. It was so trouble free that I did not suspect it when I actually did start having trouble.

I have exactly the same turntable and cartridge! The SL10 is on permanent exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art. The 310MC cartridge is one of the "Holy Grail" cartridges, very desirable and excellent sound.

There are folks who will re-tip the cartridge with new diamond. Unfortunately it is not user-replaceable. The new diamond can even be of higher quality than the original. They are only "good" for around 500hrs of playing. Will be very interesting to see the photo of your worn cartridge. There is a screw at the base of the cartridge that must be removed, then the cartridge just un-plugs from the tonearm. This system is called "T4P" or less formally "P-Mount", ie Plug-in Mount.

Unplug that sucker and show us what it looks like!

[ray_parkhurst]

I've been imaging a few styli with a "top down" method, giving overall illumination with a ring light, and then specifically illuminating the contact surfaces of the stylus tip using horizontal lighting to reflect off the 45-deg contacts on either side of the tip. This works pretty well, and illuminates the contact surfaces such that they can be evaluated and measured. Last night I imaged a stylus with fairly non-symmetrical contacts, and ended up questioning the accuracy of my method, so I imaged the stylus at a 45-deg angle, and illuminated the contact areas with a ring light. This results in a "encircling ring of light" around the flat contact area, which appears dark since it does not reflect directly to the sensor. Turns out the two methods agree perfectly, and give two alternate views of the stylus tip. Here is the top-down image, followed by a composite of left and right 45-deg images. Note the contact areas are highlights in the top-down, but dark in the 45-deg. Stylus is a JICO N110HE hyper-elliptical stylus for the Shure M110HE cartridge.

[harisA]

This is a very interesting and informative thread.I have never seen a micrograph of a stylus before.I'M really curious how a worn stylus looks like.