by Secret Vampire » 28 Oct 2006 19:42
Another newbie, here goes.
Ariston RD80SL, originally with AT 1120 arm and Ortofon VMS20E MKII cartridge (though useless at the time as the damping had gone soft). £15
SME 3009 series II, about £60 but with no headshell or cable.
Parts to modify undercarriage of above arm for phono sockets, and appropriate cable to go with, about £15
Nagaoka headshell, something like £3 with an AT 115 (I think) cartridge, Broken stylus of course.
Ultimo 20A cartridge £12.50 plus £4 postage off ebay, amazingly for the price, not totally worn out, at least so far as I can tell with my microscope, still would benefit from a trip to expert stylus sometime in the not too distant future.
Comes up to £109.50, but that's not counting the £60 replacement stylus for the Ortofon, and intervening experiments with an Electrovoice (Rebadged AT11/12 or something) cartridge fitted with an ATS12S shibata stylus, a world of difference to the rather dull sounding original stylus of unknown (But I guess elliptical) profile.