A Shure Thing!

A 'Shure' thing'.

My first experience with Shure gear was not actually with phono cartridges, but Shure microphones, the legendary SM58 microphone to be specific. I bought one quite a few years ago when I was first getting into Ham Radio, building microphone preamps and related stuff. I still have that SM58 and although it's looking its age somewhat, it's still 100% ok and it's still connected to my 2 metre Ham band transceiver through one of my DIY microphone preamp's and it's still sounding great! As far as phono cartridges are concerned anyway, during the 1970's and 1980's Shure cartridges had a reputation as the best, and I certainly had that perception personally anyway too! I still remember seeing all the glowing reviews for the Shure V15 type 3 phono cartridge and thinking, 'wow I'd love to have one of those!'. Well I've never had one but I do have the Shure M97xE, the last remaining example of a hi fi phono cartridge (as far as I know anyway), made by the Shure company. Sadly, the Shure company have changed their direction, and phono cartridges for home hi fi use no longer seem to be a great priority. Perhaps the people at Shure might have noticed the present renewed interest in vinyl and might act accordingly. I hope so!

I am a fan of the M97xE for a couple of different reasons apart from the fact that I love the sound of the M97xE, especially with 'optimisation!' I could get into slightly controversial territory here as I consider the M97xE a fairly 'neutral sounding' cartridge although that sonic 'neutrality' is often interpreted as 'boring, dull, a snoozefest' etc etc. I could get a little animated about this, as the deliberate sonic 'voicing' of cartridges is often considered a meritorious virtue. Personally, I'd rather a phono cartridge that tells the (sonic) truth. Sometime ago I got into a bit of an online dispute over at another forum when I dared to question the perception of 'audio reality', as it were. I implore vinyl listeners to attend live music performances and listen to the way that music really sounds in the live acoustic situation. I do this frequently and I've come to the conclusion that real live music 'sounds' rather different to the way that many phono cartridges 'present' a recorded musical performance off the vinyl groove! To my ears there is clear evidence of deliberate 'voicing'. Many cartridges are reputed to have sonic characteristics such as superior detail, stereo imaging or whatever! These may sound great, but are they 'real'? I admit to having a problem with this kind of sonic 'voicing'. I'd rather the 'truth'.......even if it sounds 'boring'. To use a slightly philosophical analogy, it's a bit like life itself, that isn't always wonderful and exciting. Frequently life is quite boring and quite drab. See my point?

Yes the M97xE has an acknowledged treble roll off and I and others have found that optimal electrical loading can improve the treble performance. I have done this with my DIY phono stages with excellent results, but regardless of the M97xE's electrical 'loading', it remains a very 'non fatiguing' sounding phono cartridge. This is perhaps the thing that I most like about the 'sound' of the M97xE, as the sound of a live performance in a good acoustic environment is also 'non fatiguing'. I have often closed my eyes at live musical performances and just listened and thought, 'yes that's way the M97xE sounds!' From what I've also read on other forums, alternative styli are available for the M97xE that apparently 'transform' the treble performance without tweaking the electrical 'loading'. There are indeed interesting possibilities. However, I am quite happy with the standard M97xE elliptical stylus loaded into 62 kohms in my DIY phono preamps.

Just this afternoon, I was listening to some musical material featuring violin with my M97xE equipped Dual turntable loaded into my 62 k DIY ESP P06 phono preamp, which sounded just so smooth, real and wonderful. I love the M97xE! More to come! Felix.