What next - help!

I don't know the Shelter cartridges at all. If the 501 is a good cartridge around or above the £500, then I feel the 62 is the glaring weak link. It's a sweet preamp but there's a lot missing. The obvious thing to say is to go for the 82 if you can afford it. It is a real value for money product and your next move could be the TT power supply.

Regards,
Frank.

Thanks Frank.
I am a bit surprise that I didn't see Shelter cartridges discussed on the Forum. They do seem like a bargain although I am not an experienced cartridge evaluator (difficult to do these days) and this is the first MC I have owned.

The one I have is supposed to be identical to the Crown Jewel Special Edition which was apparently OEM'd by Shelter with a different body colour from the 501. Now they have come out with the 901 which is $1300 US compared to $650 for the 501 and is only available mail order from Japan. They are both medium output MC. Everything I have improved downstream of it has so far revealed more and more detail and music which says a lot. The 901 is supposed to equal or better the Lyra Helikon.

I posted before I saw the extensive past discussions of 82 vs 102+misc upgrades. It does seem that an 82 is the next logical upgrade, it is also the most expensive. That is why I wanted to know if the 102 is a worthwhile step since these are more readily available second hand. The problem is that if I have a dem of both I already know what my reaction will be.

Jerem

For those not aware, what I have gleaned about this make is that the 501 was imported by Sounds of Silence, dubbed the Crown Jewel, reviewed highly (Class A) in Stereophile at a price of $2650ish. It is available direct from Japan for $650 plus $30 shipping. It seems to be a favorite of triode types in Japan, and reputed to sound lush. The output is actually pretty low, though, at .35mV if I remember. The one thing that scares me about it is the compliance is spec'ed at 8 cu., which is lower than the typical 10-15 for a moving coil, and something like 60 for most mm's.

Jeremy, how do you find it? How is tracking? How is surface noise on beat up lps?

--Eric

BTW I agree the preamp is next on the upgrade list

Eric,

I am really happy with it. The break-in period was very strange indeed (all lows and highs disappearing in one channel, then coming back rock solid 24 hours later etc).

I'd say it is lush, but not in a coloured way if that makes sense, and all the detail is there. The "effect" if that is the right word is very similar to that introduced by the Mana stands.

What I ended up with was a top sounding cartridge, though it is not the most CD-like sound although my vinyl sound is now better than SACD. That's why I want to maintain the differential with a new pre-amp. The compliance is low, you're right, at the bottom of the range, but I wasn't concerned since all Linn's MCs are 10. The cartridge tracks very well, it was very solid at 1.8 g from the start, and only buzzes on the innermost track of the HFN&RR test record.. However, what is very disconcerting is the very short cantilever and some sort of cloth-covered housing for the generator which is so close to the record surface you need a good light to see any clearance at all. This means you cannot easily check across the full range of VTA and tracking force adjustment. Anyway, I settled for zero VGA and 1.65g. With this setting I had to take a long time to manually adjust (ie by ear) both overhang and tracking angle to get the best result, but I always do that these days. The other problem is not so much with warped records, but more with cueing difficulties with the ridge before the lead in on some lps and lead-out grooves that won't hold the cartridge with the spring cueing mechanism on the Ekos. I never heard these issues mentioned in reviews which is strange.

Surface noise is very low, bass is as good or better than Rega and Shure MMs which are the other cartridges I have most experience with.

There is possibly a slight phasey-ness in the channel balance which gets emphasized on my system by electrostatics. The new 901 model is supposed to correct that, I believe.

Jeremy