Buy a new stylus for v15 III or swap it?

[robsanderson]

Hi, I currently have a sure v15 III with a cheap after market stylus fitted which I know probably isn't doing the cart justice? The cantilever doesn't look straight so I think a good idea to replace it.

Through reading older posts here I looked the jico sas replacements and thought for the same kind of money I could buy a new cart, the jico will be about £100 delivered I could buy a new denon dl 110 for that. The v15 III seem to hold a good value on ebay, I'm wondering if they hold their value for nostalgia or because they are something special? Selling the v15 and adding it to my £100 would put me in £200 cart territory, I could probably put another £100 to it and have something like £300 to spend.

My Turntable is a rega planar 25 which has an rb600 tonearm (a higher specced 300) I'm using a Cambridge phono stage and listen to a varied range of music from female vocal to rock. I don't listen to classical.

Thanks in advance

[dlaloum]

Is the V15III something special - yes.

Is the SAS stylus something special - yes

To give you an idea, the nearest new equivalents to a SAS equiped V15III are the AT150MLx, Nagaoka MP500, Ortofon 2M Bronze/Black.... check their prices out and you will note that the SAS is actually great value!

On the other hand, your arm is probably a bit too heavy for the very high compliance SAS stylus.... so the plan of onselling the V15III to get something more appropriate for your table may make sense...

(unless you have a penchant for multiple TT's and see a low mass armed TT in your future!)

With the Rega arm a Nagaoka MP or Ortofon 2M series cartridge would go very well...

bye for now

David

[Bran Kulez]

Another option for the V15 is the Jico hyper-elliptical replacement which would be cheaper than the SAS and may be more suited to your tonearm.

http://stylus.export-japan.com/product_ ... ts_id=1046

I've been very satisfied with the Jico replacement styli I've purchased over the past couple of years. I have a V15 type 3 fitted with an original HE stylus and it's one of my smoothest sounding cartridges.

[bauzace50]

Hi,

got to hand it to those JICO guys. Tha SAS stylus works wonders in my M97xE body.
It is logical that the SAS would work very well in the other cartridges it is dedicated to (and probably tuned for each one, too, but I have not seen corroboration regarding such dedicated tuning).

Regards,
b50

[dlaloum]

Hi B50,

I have several SAS styli, and I am beginning to doubt that Jico tune them - the SC35C version is just as high compliance as the V15III version.
The SAS is a very high quality very high compliance stylus with good damping (which increases its flexibility) - it definitely prefers lighter arms.

The Jico HE stylus may indeed be a better option - but I have no information as to its compliance and damping, so can make no comments on it.

[robsanderson]

Thanks for all the help so far everyone.

I'm quite new back to vinyl and its much different to my plug in and play days 20+ years ago. What does high compliance mean? What should I be looking for with the rega arm? Which brands are low mass arms

In the name of domestic harmony I suspect I will upgrade the 25 in the near future to something more aesthetically pleasing so its possible the arm could change at that point to although it seems rega arms or variants of are the norm at the end of the market I'm in?

[bauzace50]

David dlaloum,
have you compared the SAS on two bodies? Specifically the M97xE, and the V-15-V? Is there any audible difference at all?

Thanks,
bauzace50

[dlaloum]

Yes there is a noticeable difference... but it can mostly be adjusted for with cartridge loading

[bauzace50]

@ dlaloum,
Thanks.

[Doug G.]

It makes sense that the SAS is basically the same for all cartridges since JICO makes an across the board recommendation of a 1.25 grams VTF.

That would vary if the compliance were different for different cartridges.

Doug

[robsanderson]

The V15 III seems to work ok and sounds great on the rb600 not that I have anything to compare it to, what sound gains can i expect with a better matched cartridge?

[dlaloum]

In depth technical article on the topic at:
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=1281

[Ldg]

Yes, the B&K article isn't bad. In fact the section on Audible Sidebands is pretty good, and all the pieces are there to join the dots about the interplay between damping and resonant frequency. They don't actually join the dots though.....and disappointingly rest on sorting out a compromise frequency which is the conventional view. But the audible result of instability is well described by the plots in that section.

[robsanderson]

In depth technical article on the topic at:
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=1281

Thanks for sharing that. Its very technical, my understanding after reading is the missmatch will mean an unwanted increase at certain frequencies and increase unwanted noise from rumble?

So a better match will give me a more accurate/balanced/natural sound and quieter backgrounds? Have I understood that right?

thanks again!