Of Cartridges and Needles

I am not an audiophile, and I do not have an audiophile set-up plugged into my computer soundcard. Nor am I a sound technician, which I have confessed several times. For the work here, I am "playing it by ear", a method perfectly adapted to the task at hand.  Nonetheless, I've tried to put together a system with which I can do decent quality restorations and which, when it is not going through my computer, lets me enjoy listening to my vinyl collection.  Since some people are interested in these things, here it is:

 I have three cartridge/stylus sets that I use on a regular basis, plus a cartridge with two styli, one for 78's, and one basic conical to play records too beat up to trust my other needles to. The three daily use are: An Audio Technica AT120E. It gives me the sound I want 90% of the time, and it is what I usually use for my own listening. The other AT is the 440Mla, sold  to me as an upgrade, but which is often a little too bright for me, though time has tamed it some. It is, however, the best tracker I have, and I have used it for records with tracking issues, later revisiting the equalization, and for LPs that seem dull.  My third is a Shure V15 Type V-MR, given to me by Fred Maroth when I was working on the Schneider Quartet Haydn project for him. He ended up not using my work, but not through any fault of the Shure.  It has a beautifully detailed output that I think of as generally neutral, at least on my set-up. I use it on records in very good condition when I feel its sound signature is called for.  It's not an exact science, and I confess it could well change from one day to the next.  As I wrote this I am re-recording with the AT120E the Bartok Solo Violin Sonata with Robert Mann on Bartok Records, which I originally recorded with the Shure.  I'm liking the sound of the AT. So it goes.  I'll decide which version to use tomorrow.

The rest of my set-up is decent rather than awe inspiring: A Yamaha R-S202 receiver, which is what I could afford when my old TEAC receiver died; a Cambridge Audio 640P pre-amp, all the more necessary as the Yamaha has no phono inputs or pre-amp, truly made for the post vinyl world; an old Numark TT200 with the S arm, not the DJ Scratch arm it came with, which I keep thinking of replacing but which continues to serve my needs; a set of Elac UB5 bookshelf speakers (nice, but I wish I'd gotten the KLH Albany, which I contemplated getting after using KLH in the 70's and a classic pair still in my living room with a different set up); Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 250 ohm headphones, bought specifically for my restoration projects.  And an EVA NU Audio soundcard, a considerable improvement over the built in  RealTek audio on my Dell XPS desktop.

While all of the above is respectable, none of it is top of the line, which I cannot afford and probably could not hear. What I have delivers satisfying musical output, which is all I ask for, and the CD's I make from my LP's sound good to my ears. I have used much less well equipped systems in years past (ceramic cartridge anyone?) and enjoyed my Brahms and Bartok just as much.