EMPIRE cartridges

[Zaimejs]

I just bought a Garrard 95B and it has an Empire 20E cartridge on it. I know nothing about this, so I've been looking for any information regarding this cartridge's quality.

And how do I know if it is at the end of its life?

It seems to sound okay, but I know nothing about this sort of thing.

[dlaloum]

I have not heard of a 20e cartridge - could you post a photo?

In terms of cartridge life - short of something drastic happening cartridges are relatively immortal

The things that wear out are the Stylus primarily and in some cases the cantilever suspension wears out.

On a MM / MI cartridge these are both replaced when you exchange the stylus.

On Most MC designs, they are integral and you have to swap the entire cartridge, or send it away to get "retipped" at a specialist.

The only way to tell the state (wear level) of a stylus needle is under a 200x magnification microscope.... and it requires someone who knows what to look for even then.

The policy for most people is - if in doubt, change the stylus.

bye for now

David

[Zaimejs]

Thanks for the reply!

Here is the stylus on ebay.

That's exactly what I have. But I can't find much out about it online. I'm assuming it's really, really old.

Can a dull/worn needle make the sound duller? Quieter?

I will look into a new stylus, although I must admit, I don't know what I'm looking for.

[dlaloum]

Ahhh see..

It is a later rendition of the well known 2000 series....

Take a look at
http://www.turntableneedles.com/Needle- ... p_997.html

They do have a great reputation, and like many cartridges the sound quality is driven by the stylus....

With something like a LAC stylus (Empires name for Line Contact / Shibata style designs) http://www.turntableneedles.com/Needle- ... p_994.html
It will sound substantially different from the base bottom of the line conical styli.

I would at the very least get a good eliptical stylus for it (0.2 x0.7mil) - that is a good cartridge.

bye for now

David

[Zaimejs]

Thank you so much! I don't think I'll go into the high end... this is basically a hobby right now. But those replacements surely look better than the one I have.

[used-hifi lawrence]

Hi does anyone have information on this cartridge....I purchased this cartridge but no information was available...it came with a non embossed stylus with flip down guard....

How can i tell if this stylus is original?


Thanks

Lawrence

[alxjalmeida]

Hi Folks,

First post here in the Vinyl Engine forums and was hoping you guys could help me out. Just purchased a used Pioneer PL-200 from Craigslist and it seems to have come with an Empire Cartridge. I am trying to find the proper specs for tracking force before I put some of the vinyl I have on the table. Can't seem to find anything on this cartridge which is labeled "Empire 15XL 21E".... I have put a picture of it here if it helps.



Thanks for all the help in advance and any other help you guys can provide on if this cartridge is a good starter or if I should just go ahead and replace it...

Looking forward to all the fun!

[dlaloum]

It is a member of the Empire 2000 family - Empire used the same body with various different styli to provide a complete range from top of the line aristocratic high compliance models, to plebeian low compliance models designed for changers.

In many cases all that varied was the styli.

To make things more difficult for us, they also sold identical cartridges under different names/codes to different chain stores - so each had their (not so) unique range of cartridges.

The cartridge is excellent, or at least as good as the stylus you put into it (and the very best are quite legendary, although now hard to find)

Lots of stylus options:
http://www.turntableneedles.com/search. ... &search=GO
http://www.turntableneedles.com/search. ... &search=GO
http://www.turntableneedles.com/search. ... &search=GO

I am assuming that this cartridge has the diamond/square shaped shank... if it has a round shank then it is a member of a slightly earlier Empire family, just as good, but a different series of styli... worth checking.

bye for now

David

[alxjalmeida]

David it has the Diamond shaped Shank... Wow, glad to hear I didn't end up with something horrible here. Maybe I won't need to replace the cartridge... Thanks for the links! I will look into those!

Alex

[alxjalmeida]

So I hooked up the turntable, and cleaned things as best as I could without any cleaning solution, and first play sounded ok, but I am getting a little distortion on the "louder" parts of the music on the left channel. Guessing could be the Records that are dirty or just plain worn out. These were thrift store/used cheap vinyl finds.

I started tracking at .75 and then increased up to 1.5 but distortion didn't seem to get any less. I will also look at going ahead and replacing the stylus as I am not sure if that could be contributing to it, but should get a new one anyway.

Thanks for all the help folks!

[dlaloum]

one warning - a bad stylus can potentially damage records - and if that has happened then they will always sound distorted.
This sort of damage can be caused by a damaged stylus, but can also be caused by an undamaged stylus which is mistracking - and once the damage is done to the vinyl - nothing will get it back to normal.

bye for now

David

[luciencrofts]

Just for the record....

I have a duff Empire 2000E III (Dead Left Channel) but with a near new stylus,
and found a NOS Empire 2000 cartridge body only (no clip or stylus) at http://www.turntableneedles.com/Empire- ... p_748.html at $14.95 and bought one.

First of all the Empire 2000 takes the 2000E III stylus and sounds excellent. You get the .2 x.7 elliptical, tracking at .75 to 1.5 grams rather than the original conical tracking at 2 to 3 grams. It out preformed my Shure M95HE. It has all the detail of the M95 with more punch, but with a sweetness to the mid and HF. It tracks better than the Shure across the board and with audibly lower inner-groove distortion. It handles sibilant records well unlike the shure, which exaggerates the problem to an unpleasant degree.

I believe most of the 2000 series cartridge/styli are interchangeable except 2000Z which has a different shank. Absolute bargain!

For reference: I am using a Technics SL150 with SME 3009 mkII improved fixed headshell.

[Zaimejs]

Did you buy it from me on eBay?

[luciencrofts]

Is it true that all the 2000 series cartridge bodies are the same and the only difference is the stylus/cantilever between say the 2000 and 2000E III?