"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 20:08:34 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

OK, you've certainly picked well on the money front, but I'm not sure
'audiophiles' would approve!!

No 1 = Shure V15 Mk V xMR = £325 current RRP

No 2 = Shure M95EDM = about £25-50 off eBay and about 30 years old.

No3 = Stanton 500 Mk II = £20 brand new or about £5-10 off eBay!! (A 'DJ'
cart!! ;-)

So you would have saved about £320 - just goes to show, dunnit!! :-)


Me mate Shiny Nigel's just pulled up outside - he'll get the same test
'for
real' now - I'll post here how it goes.



OK, that didn't happen - I'd left the Stanton on the tonearm (3rd and last
one used...) and Nigel spotted it from across the room. (He goes clubbin' a
lot* and can tell a Stanton at midnight on a foggy day from a hundred yards,
facing in the wrong direction, apparently!! :-)

See second from the right in this pic:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/carts.jpg


Anyway, *sighted* he picked the M95 (No. 2) and has stuck with this one for
months now - no matter how I try to throw him off the scent. I finally got
him to listen to the MP3s off the computer where he hadn't got a clue which
was which.....

.....and he still picked the M95!!

After much chopping and swapping of headshells with the mandatory fag break
every 10 minutes, see:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/fagends.jpg


....the £325 V15 came bottom of the pile every time. On a lot *stronger*
material (12 inch 45s!!) the Stanton faired better and the bass put it ahead
of the others at times. (This is a twenty quid cartridge FFS!!)



* Whaaaat....??? :-)