Shure Tracer Cartridge

[Timberwolf530]

I wasn't really looking to buy a turntable, but was looking around on Ebay, and found a Dual 721 for a price I could not pass up. It comes with a Shure Tracer cartridge. I don't know what stylus, but I'm giong to assume it's trashed, so I will need to look for a new one if this cartridge is worth it. I'm assuming they were discontinued a long time ago due to the lack of information on the web on them. Anyway, is this a good fit for that deck, and is it worth getting a decent stylus for it? If so, what's out there that will work well?

[Tinkaroo]

If you provide a good picture of the cartridge perhaps we can identify it and help you out.

The database shows 5 different tracer models with different stylii.

[Timberwolf530]

I haven't received it yet. I'll post when I have it. Thanks.

[wualta]

As Tinkeroo pointed out, there were several Shure cartridges called "Tracer", but from the auction photos, it's probably this one, the Tracer 5:

Shure Tracer (M95)-E.jpg

(58.46 KiB) Downloaded 688 times

It's an M95ED body with different cosmetics. I have the same one. The Tracer 5's stylus is a heavy-tracking 4x7 elliptical, but you can use any stylus meant for the M95 cartridges.

The original M95 and Tracer styli are out of production, but many people report good results with the inexpensive EVG replacement, Pfanstiehl index 767-DED or 4767-DED.

[Timberwolf530]

Thanks a bunch. Is it a pretty decent cart?

[wualta]

Certainly. The challenge is finding one of the better original styli, since the M95 dates back to 1974, and Shure hasn't made M95 styli for decades. Fortunately, the aftermarket has stepped up. Do a search for M95ED and M95HE to get the lay of the land.

[Tinkaroo]

I've found the Tonar M95ED stylus to be a pretty good and reasonably priced replacement since original M95 stylii are hard to find these days, especially at reasonable prices.

The M95ED cartridge was from the same family as the top V-bodied cartridges and is well worth finding a good stylus for in order to appreciate it's potential.

[wolfie62]

Wualta said on AK that this was an M97 Era IV body. My measurements bear that out.


wualta
permanently nonplussed cat
Subscriber
Flipping through the Shure user guides for the N95HE, N97HE and N16 styli and for the Tracer 1 cartridge and looking at the specs, it appears Shure made the Tracer 1 unique-- the "starter" stylus it came with, which is not given a model name in the user guide, is a dead ringer specswise for the N95HE, yet it has a Dynamic Stabilizer and uses an M97 body. The listed replacement stylus for the Tracer 1 is, of course, the N97HE, which, a footnote says, "provides upgraded performance". What the Tracer stylus and N95HE don't have, among other Era IV improvements, is the N97HE's and N16's telescoped cantilever.
Not useful information, perhaps, but interesting, and now we'll know how to identify it if/when it pops up in the future to puzzle us.”

The Tracer is a very good and worthwhile cartridge when you can find them.