A lovely cartridge for Indian 7inch EP & SPs

[souravin]

Dear friends,

I love 7inch EPs and SPs as many of the R.D. Burman and Kishore Kumar OSTs and bangla OSTs / modern songs were only released in 7inch EP and SP avatar. I have tried many Shure carts (V15type III, M44-7 both US and Mexico versions, M44-G and M55E and finally my nirvana for a compatible cart for 7" settled to Shure M55e with JICO styli.

I'm experiencing a brilliant and full bodied but natural sound from M55E. Shure 44-7 (older US version) is also superb but bass is on the higher side as compared to M55E. VTF of 55E is also around 1.1 gm or so making it easy to surface and smooth pickup. All carts are with JICO stylus bought from JICO Japan and head shells are Technics. Yet to try the limited edition microridge stylus ordered from JICO for V15 type III and on the way , think this would be great with NM records only.

All Electronically Reprocessed Stereo stuff are better controlled with 44-7 as vocal used to be lower on those pressings and pre amp mono switch is a pure bliss on this shortcoming.

Just wanted to share my experience. Would love too hear back from you

 

[General_sound]

Agree with you on that. I run a Shure M44-7 with an aftermarket .7 mil conical stylus for older Bollywood 33&45s. Ellipticals have a tendency to pick up noise. Monostrapping by connecting R&L together improves sound on some, but not all, records. Another good cart for above is Philips EG 1400(Nag 321) with .7 mil stylus. Dynamic sound.
Can u tell me the Jico stylus profile? Thanks.

 

[souravin]

Agree with you on that. I run a Shure M44-7 with an aftermarket .7 mil conical stylus for older Bollywood 33&45s. Ellipticals have a tendency to pick up noise. Monostrapping by connecting R&L together improves sound on some, but not all, records. Another good cart for above is Philips EG 1400(Nag 321) with .7 mil stylus. Dynamic sound.
Can u tell me the Jico stylus profile? Thanks.

https://www.jico-stylus.com/product/n-44-7-improved-nude/

This replacement JICO stylus is also conical and I find them superb for replacement. Bass is very very controlled, you will love them. You may wish to refer and read to the aforesaid link

I have listened to Philips 412 on my set up and found them good too.

 

[General_sound]

Thanks lot. Will certainly try. The old Philips GP 400 series were very nice sounding, particularly the original elliptical styli fitted to GP 401series II.

 

[reubensm]

Until sometime ago, i had a pile of American singles pressings (with B-side) 7-inch records (mostly 45rpm). Initially I was using various Shure carts including the V15-III and V15-IV, M95ED, M75ED, M75-6s, M70B, M55E, M44-7, M44E, M3D, M7D, etc but found them to be average. The M44-7 and M44-E were quite loud and harsh while the M75-6s sounded the best to my ears. All cartridges were using stock Shure original styli with the exception of the M70B which was using a Jico stylus. As these records had various levels of wear on them, I figured out that VTF was a key factor and ultimately moved to ceramic. I tried EEI, HMV, and Sonotone , but ended up using a Philips GP390 ceramic cartridge with them. Tracked well and sounded great at VTF in the 6-8g range. If the records had significant wear, I found the mono Sonotone 2T ceramic cart to be ideal. However I ended up listening less and less to 7 inch records over the years, so I taped the records and let go of the originals as I found them inconvenient to play

 

[souravin]

Until sometime ago, i had a pile of American singles pressings (with B-side) 7-inch records (mostly 45rpm). Initially I was using various Shure carts including the V15-III and V15-IV, M95ED, M75ED, M75-6s, M70B, M55E, M44-7, M44E, M3D, M7D, etc but found them to be average. The M44-7 and M44-E were quite loud and harsh while the M75-6s sounded the best to my ears. All cartridges were using stock Shure original styli with the exception of the M70B which was using a Jico stylus. As these records had various levels of wear on them, I figured out that VTF was a key factor and ultimately moved to ceramic. I tried EEI, HMV, and Sonotone , but ended up using a Philips GP390 ceramic cartridge with them. Tracked well and sounded great at VTF in the 6-8g range. If the records had significant wear, I found the mono Sonotone 2T ceramic cart to be ideal. However I ended up listening less and less to 7 inch records over the years, so I taped the records and let go of the originals as I found them inconvenient to play

Agree Reubensm. I digitize 7inch EP and SPs with TASCAM recorder to 16/44.1 WAV and mp3s for convenient listening. Understand the metal tapes would have been a better option, but due to lack of time, I prefer WAV on HDD Through DAC. 7inch remain in the shelf with its full glory for occasional listening.

 

[sunder]

Dear friends,

I love 7inch EPs and SPs as many of the R.D. Burman and Kishore Kumar OSTs and bangla OSTs / modern songs were only released in 7inch EP and SP avatar. I have tried many Shure carts (V15type III, M44-7 both US and Mexico versions, M44-G and M55E and finally my nirvana for a compatible cart for 7" settled to Shure M55e with JICO styli.

I'm experiencing a brilliant and full bodied but natural sound from M55E. Shure 44-7 (older US version) is also superb but bass is on the higher side as compared to M55E. VTF of 55E is also around 1.1 gm or so making it easy to surface and smooth pickup. All carts are with JICO stylus bought from JICO Japan and head shells are Technics. Yet to try the limited edition microridge stylus ordered from JICO for V15 type III and on the way , think this would be great with NM records only.

All Electronically Reprocessed Stereo stuff are better controlled with 44-7 as vocal used to be lower on those pressings and pre amp mono switch is a pure bliss on this shortcoming.

Just wanted to share my experience. Would love too hear back from you

Dear Saurav, it's said that the conical .6ml Shure M44-G (with Original styli) is mainly helps to reduce the Inner Groove Distortion and gives smooth sound quality. Have you tried this cart with JICO styli? How would be the combination of M44 cart with JICO M55E styli?
Since you are using Schitt Mani, Is the Sure carts suitable to Mani? In the You Tube reviews, they mostly recommend the Nakaoga 110 with Mani. Please write in detail.
Regards,
Sunder.

 

[General_sound]

I too have a query regarding use of hi output carts like Shure M44-7 with a Schiit Mani. There was a review by ASR wherein it was inferred that hi output carts may not be compatible as Mani has a low overload margin,thus accentuating clicks and pops on the record. Is this correct? An opinion will be appreciated.

 

[souravin]

Dear Saurav, it's said that the conical .6ml Shure M44-G (with Original styli) is mainly helps to reduce the Inner Groove Distortion and gives smooth sound quality. Have you tried this cart with JICO styli? How would be the combination of M44 cart with JICO M55E styli?
Since you are using Schitt Mani, Is the Sure carts suitable to Mani? In the You Tube reviews, they mostly recommend the Nakaoga 110 with Mani. Please write in detail.
Regards,
Sunder.

Hi Sunder.

All my Shure Carts are with JICO stylus. I have stored all Shure original stylus in a box and do not use them. Never tried M55E styli with M44-7, hence can't comment on that. M55E is way better than M44-G- IMO. I recently procured M55E in very good condition, bought a JICO styli and indulging more and more.

The biggest surprise is the Rega Carbon cart that comes onboard with my Rega RP1 as a second TT bought a couple of weeks back from a Kolkata dealer. Honestly I had no expectation from Rega carbon cart but it sounds so sweet and amazes me

Nagaoka mp110 is a good cartridge but falls short of my expectation. I have many phono- however using Dynaco Pas3X with Mullard tubes, Sansui AU 717 on board and Sugden A48 onboard phonos. Schiit Mani is a few notch down from them, it's good but not the best amongst this group. have heard mp110 with Mani but it sounded a little loud and harsh to me-IMO tested with bollywood LPs only.

 

[souravin]

I too have a query regarding use of hi output carts like Shure M44-7 with a Schiit Mani. There was a review by ASR wherein it was inferred that hi output carts may not be compatible as Mani has a low overload margin,thus accentuating clicks and pops on the record. Is this correct? An opinion will be appreciated.

Absolutely agree. This sounded very very loud to me as I already mentioned above.

 

[reubensm]

Agree Reubensm. I digitize 7inch EP and SPs with TASCAM recorder to 16/44.1 WAV and mp3s for convenient listening. Understand the metal tapes would have been a better option, but due to lack of time, I prefer WAV on HDD Through DAC. 7inch remain in the shelf with its full glory for occasional listening.

I forgot to mention, I am a NAD- only guy so only the MM phonostages of NAD integrateds like the 3020 and preamps like the 1020, 1000, 1300, 106 and 160 have been used over the years. I use DIY ceramic phonostages via Aux input of the NADs.

 

[souravin]

I forgot to mention, I am a NAD- only guy so only the MM phonostages of NAD integrateds like the 3020 and preamps like the 1020, 1000, 1300, 106 and 160 have been used over the years. I use DIY ceramic phonostages via Aux input of the NADs.

I remember your love for NAD. 3020 is definitely a legendary phono and amp. I have a PP2 phono stage which I use often.

 

[sunder]

M55E is way better than M44-G- IMO. I recently procured M55E in very good condition, bought a JICO styli and indulging more and more.

Thank you Souravin, I wanted to know about the carts , phonopreamps mainly for the 60s, 70s Bollywood & for the Indian Classical music. So, your suggestion (M55E with JICO) must be fine. But, I missed the great opportunity some time ago to grab the M55 cart. However I will try again. Thanks again Souravin.
Cheers,
Sunder.