Just some additional little details: There are various other shapes of styli tips, like fineline (2M Bronze has that), Shibata (2M Black has that), Fritz Geiger 70 and microline. Most of those have originally been invented for playing quadraphonic records, because those require a higher frequency response, they're often found on higher end stereo cartridges as well. Cantilevers can be made of various other materials as well, like the basic AT3600L and Rega Carbon (that white one that often comes included on entry level turntables) has a carbon cantilever. Very expensive cartridges sometimes have boron cantilevers or even sapphire, ruby or diamond cantilevers. Most of those expensive cartridges are "low output" moving coil (MC), which require the special phono preamps you mentioned, but there are also "high output" MC cartridges that can be connected to the regular MM phono preamps. I agree that, generally, elliptical styli need lower tracking force... but there are exceptions, like the AT95E (the green one that often comes preinstalled on Audio Technica turntables) which needs a tracking force between 2.5 and 3.5 grams. Most elliptical DJ cartridges also track at about 3 grams, like the Ortofon Concorde Gold, Nightclub and MK2 Club. Always check the recommended tracking force before installing a cartridge, setting the force too light can make the stylus bounce in the grooves, which damages the grooves.
Yeah. But keep in mind, they can only pick up what was recorded. If it was recorded with a mono needle, you wont get stereo no matter how good your needle is.
Thinking either the Ortofon 2MBlue or the Audio Technica AT-VM95SH which has a Shibata Stylus....which do you think maybe better for a Technics SL1210GR ? What is a Shibata Stylus ?
At 8:30 you explain the four connection pins at the back of the cartridge, and say that a small amount of voltage is applied to two of them. That's incorrect. There are left and right positive and left and right ground (or return). The pre-amp applies no voltage to the cartridge. The cartridge is the device that generates a signal voltage.
Dear Fly dgc,etc. Red would be right. Blue would be left. White would.be rt. Grand. Black would be left ground. That is approximately it. Some wires are green. Typically green would equal ground. Each cartridge has its own color code which you follow from the directions when mounting the cartridge. Basically, red, green,white, blue. Black may take blues place depending on what the manufacture issues to the customer. This is only a rough guide. One of the four prongs on the cartridge is ground. That in a nut shell is the wiring schema for most cartridges. Think of it as it. Ground, left ground. Right ground. There is a right channel, there is a left channel, in stereo. In monaural it's just left side right side of the groove. If you get the wiring wrong the drums will be on the wrong side specially in your loud speakers. You simply reverse or trade terminals until you hear proper stereo separation with your ears. That's why you save the mounting directions for the life of the cartridge. Don't throw it out! Or you will have to fish around to get prper stereo separation.
Your bird made this video even better. He must have been feeling left out. This was a well explained and accurate video in my opinion. You did a great job explaining things. There are a lot of terms to remember. It’s not easy. I have an Ortofon 2M Red with an Elliptical stylus. It sounds great to me and it certainly is not the most expensive cartridge on the market. While I do prefer Elliptical, I don’t think you need a super expensive to get great sound.
Thinking either the Ortofon 2MBlue or the Audio Technica AT-VM95SH which has a Shibata Stylus....which do you think maybe better for a Technics SL1210GR ? What is a Shibata Stylus ?
Hello to Rcord-ology just had to say EXCELLENT tutorial on the styles of cartridges out there you nailed it onthe head I loved how you explained how moving magnet and moving coil cartridges worked it was excellent anybody who wants to know about different cartridges should watch this ,I know you said that the cartridge overhang really doesn't matter that is the only disagreement I have some TT'S have an overhang adjustment my old onkyo CP-1055FII had a gauge to set the overhang of any cartridge you had on my audio technica ATlp-120 which was set when I bought it ,I too did not think much of it with cartridge it came with but on certain albums I could hear a slight sound distortion when I never heard on my old TT first thing I checked was the cart alignment it was off ,after adjusting it it improved but I still could hear that it was not right so I looked into the overhang adjustment which was not in the manual but I found it on line the overhang for audio tech lp-120 was .59mm if I remember correctly from tip of stylus to end of half inch mount mine was at 40mm i said to myself this cannot be the problem but being kind of mental I set it to the spec it said and wow I heard the difference in sound and I found my anti-skating improved alot don't ask me how I was having trouble with it before had to turn it up all the way just to get it to stay still but with that minor adjustment it is set to my tracking force and it stays where I place my stylus I still cannot believe it on my crosley C-10 I tried to get overhang spec for it but so far I have not ,but I donnot hear any distortion when playing albums so I guess every TT is different thanks again for your vid JRo
This professor says a wonderful explanation! Loved the visuals... You could add strain gauge and laser cartridges to your collection. I would tend to class strain gauges as an ultra-high end version of a ceramic cartridge for the sake of simplicity and taxonomy. Again, an excellent presentation! Thanks!
8:27 is sorta the information I am looking for. I have a turntuble & a record player I modified into a turntable in high school (1997). The tonearm on the record player has 2 wires that run from the stylus & the turntable has the 4 wires that run from cartiridge. Im trying to figure out the difference.
Good video, thanks! Hard to find cheap 3-mil styli for 78s now. Most cheap dual-flip styli that say there's a 78 rpm side actually have LP styli on both sides.
Hi, I need help with my record player which is needing a neddle change...I have a metz hifi studio center 4500. No idea where I can buy a new neddle. I found this one (DN211 0.6mil spherical diamond stylus) online. Any tips?
After I used the protractor to align the cartridge, the cartridge was actually off a little bit visually from the headshell. So which method should you go by? Thanks!
If it's not in line with the headshell, thats ok; that's why there are slots instead of holes! What matters most is the alignment of the stylus to the groove. If you always move the cart out to the end of the slots, that is not a good adjustment. It won't work the same way for every cartridge and is unlikely to be ideal. By aligning the cart to the 2 spots on a protractor you know the distortion caused by the arc of the tone arm increases in equal amounts on either side of ideal, but won't go too far in either direction. The difference is audible in listening tests.
Ceramic and moving coil/moving magnet/moving iron cartridges only have both ends of the left and right transducer exposed in order to have a separate ground for each. This allows for using a symmetrical input on the preamp and to have a better channel separation in comparison to having only three wires. There is no need for any bias voltage to be applied from the preamp to the cartridge of this kind, as it wouldn't do anything except maybe saturating the coils and making them sound worse. There are also strain gauge cartridges, and those do need a DC voltage suppied to them, because they work by changing the resistance of the transducer rather than generating a voltage on their own. Also, you still need to apply the RIAA curve to any cartridge signal, including ceramic, you can't just connect it to a line in. The signal recorded on the record has had its bass purposefully decreased and trebles increased in a specified way to reduce noise on treble and not have the stylus jump out from all the bass, and that has to be exactly reversed in the preamp. But it can be done with passive components if it is already line level, so that means almost no hardware additional to just a line in/Bluetooth speaker in a cheap suitcase player compared to a MC/MM.
the bird forced me to like this, but i'd recommend making videos on older styluses like the lp 78s so people who pick up older players know what they're doing
Is the supposed lack of high frequencies with a conical versus an elliptical stylus a function of its depth in the groove only or also the greater width of contact that the conical stylus has with the groove? Thanks!
Needle is as official as a stylus. Back in the gramophone days it was called a needle and it was really just a piece of needle. Stylus is the new fancy name of the same thing. Very informative video. I needed exactly this video.
I just bought my first record player: SL-B2. Is got a piece of junk cartridge on it that I can’t even identify, but I can tell it seem that’s better day. The record player was very dirty, but everything works fine on it. I spent six hours cleaning it so far. And now I am trying to figure out how all this works. I think I’m just gonna buy a basic audio Technica $65 moving magnet and go from there. Thanks for the video.
I have a Realistic SA-155 Integrated Stereo Amplifier and it has a connection and setting on it for ceramic cartridges and they can sound awesome through this device. It has a switch on the back that you can choose between Ceramic or Magnetic depending on your cart. You should get one and do a review of it.
There is also a crystal cartridge. The conical stylus isn't quite detailed and tracks a little heavier but is great. Even though it tracks heavier, less record wear because of shape. The blue is nude elliptical. The 2M Bronze is fine line nude and 2M Black is a Shibata which gets really expensive. This is a great video. Love the bird, too.
As far as I know, it doesn't matter what kind of cartridge your using, you are going to need a phono stage. When they make records they apply something called the RIAA curve when cutting a lacquer. When playing a lp back, your phono stage will apply the RIAA curve. The RIAA curve in essence reduces the bass and accentuates the treble when cutting a lacquer. Reducing the bass allows you to get more music onto a side of a record. When the signal goes through your phono stage it re-equalizes the bass back to flat and pulls down the treble back to flat that was accentuated during cutting of the lacquer. When the treble gets pulled down it brings down a lot of noise with it as well. All of this means that you get more music on each side of the record and the record has less noise. Without a phono stage the record would have no bass and the treble would be extremely excessive.
I just purchased a 1960's GE RP-1110a record player it did not have a needle . Who do you recommend to help me find a needle / cartridge for this record player? I have only 2 wires going to it. my guess is it is mono. thanks for your help.
This video is great! Now I know why my needle was plastic. I thought it didn't have a needle. Thanks for the info. I found metal needles with diamond. Now i know what to buy. Thanks !!!
Good video. I have a Quasar rack system from the late 80's or early 90's. A trick I learned to extend the life of the needle, is to take a slightly damp microfiber cloth and gently pad the stylus. That, plus cleaning the records with mild dish soap and drying them with the microfiber cloth really improved the sound quality. And my vinyl collection is far from pristine.
Thank you for this tutorial regarding different terminology for cartridges and stylus, however I'm a bit confused on one term you keep referring to......what does "yada yada yada yada" mean?
This does not make much sense. Usually the tone arm of a suitcase player applies too much tracking force which a magnetic cartridge will not tolerate. Also the tone arm lacks the proper mounting points for a magnetic cartridge. Furthermore you need a preamplifier for the magnetic cartridge. All in all such an upgrade will cost you more and work much worse than a decent entry level record player with magnetic cartridge and integrated preamp which is available for about 100 $.
New drinking game: Take a shot everytime he says yadda yadda yadda lol Also here’s a cool fact: conical styli are the best stylus for styrene (please correct me if I’m wrong)
That's interesting. I have a long playing record that is styrene. It sounds O.K. but not really up to snuff. On my TT I have an eliptical stylus and that may be the reason. Stay safe.
I've recently got a Stanton T.92 record player for my 78 collection. As I learn about the ins/outs of the accessories and requirements I half to ask what you would recommend overall for my 78 collection. Can I get a cartridge name and a stylus type as I feel I've been overloaded with types from Amazon and can't choose.
A year later but, in case it helps someone else-Audio Technica VM95 series cartridge will take a variety of good styli including AT-VMN95SP which is designed for 78rpm mono playback.
BTW, piezoelectric is not pronounced "pie'-zo"; it is pronounced "pee-et'-zo". Although the dictionary or thesaurus might disagree, it is an Italian word originally, and most English-speaking people have retained the Italian pronunciation. (Though I probably spelled it wrong, you get the idea.)
I’ve had ceramic cartridges produce good sound, granted not as good as a higher quality mm cartridge and stylus , the difference can be marginal to my surprise vs price differences.
I've been using my diamond stylus for 30 years, it's a 78 RPM Shure stylus with a 2.5 mil conical diamond. I've played 1000s of hours of records with it, all 78s (I sold my LPs when CD's came out in the 80's.) I recently looked at the stylus under a 50 X microscope and see no sign of wear, should I use higher power magnification? The records sound great. My 78's are mostly 1950s R&B, they can be shellac or vinyl. I don't see how vinyl is hard enough to wear down diamond. Diamond is 1000000 times harder than vinyl or shellac so if anything wears down it won't be the diamond. Even if there's dirt in the grooves, dirt is silicon dioxide, nowhere near as hard as diamond. I'm still waiting for my 30 year old stylus to wear out and I'll let you know when it does.
Hmmmm.. I always thought a conical tip was just that- a conical shape just like a pencil; and an elliptical tip was like a flattened cone. Seen from the top, a conical looks round, and the elliptical, a football shape. The elliptical has a much thinner area in contact with the groove; and so can read the high frequencies much more accurately than a fatter conical tip.
hm I've never heard bout ceramic cartriges before but being 7:04 more rigid than movin-magnet ones, don't they damagely deform a record much? 7:37 "da bird is comin into da shot okay" 😁😆😂😄
A non-worn needle on either a ceramic or magnetic cartridge will not "damagely deform" any record. However, a ceramic cartridge that tracks heavier will slowly wear out or technically degrade the sound capable from coming from your records. By wear, I mean that the silent grooves will no longer be silent, but rather sound like the static from a radio that is between stations. Until if played enough, the static gets louder than the music. The biggest differences to the ear between the two types is: the ceramic will have troubles tracking a bass heavy song. Bass heavy songs will cause the ceramic cartridge to jump out of the groove, as it is not capable of moving at the speed needed to track the groove accurately. Also a budget ceramic cartridge is not capable of reproducing some of the higher audio frequencies that a magnetic cartridge would pick up.
@@Recordology that's because the shape of the stylus has worn down and isn't contacting the groove correctly regardless of the shape of the stylus tip. It'll sound like garbage until there's no to little contact with the groove and just slides across the record like there's no tip left.
I’ve heard of ceramic, magnetic 🧲, and Astatic record player cartridges. Some record player needles 🪡 are diamond 💎. Is diamond 💎 the best stylus? Your friend, Jeff.
My own dad from starting at home, being asked to some venues to full on DJing at last even for pirate radio channels 😂 he swear by small pen cartidges with ceramic or diamond cause of longevity 😊
you didn't explain how the needle is able to isolate the left and right channel information from the grooves. I am very curious about how that part works Also a better analogy of the piezoelectric effect as a function of the seramic element would be comparing it to the seramic transducer in an electronic drumpad or birthday card. because it is more relevant to the subject and easyer to understand than the quartz watch analogy. Especially to someone new to this stuff.
Think of the transducers as placed in a kind of X shape around the other end of the cantilever, and the sound for each channel is represented by the motion of needle at a 45° angle from vertical. The inner wall of the v-shaped groove is the left channel, and the outer is the right. This makes the common signal (L+R) vertical, so mono cartridges can work only vertically, and differential signal (L-R) radial. This is part of why anti-skating matters, and can be used to set it. If there is not enough anti-skating, there will be a force pushing the needle inwards, and the left channel wil be louder. If there's too much anti-skating, right will be louder. Both scenarios mean that the cartridge and the stylus work in suboptimal conditions and may sound worse and wear out themselves and the records faster.
In the 1950's there was an osmium stylus which played for about 20 hours. As I play approximately 10 hours per week that would mean I would have to replace it every two weeks. Yikes!
There is no diamond stylus that touches the bottom of a record groove as far as i know. Maybe a fritz gyger? The bottom of a groove is created by the cutting ruby only.... Regards from Holland 🎉
p.s. I had two 78 styli (having got the old one re-tipped). I interchanged them once too often and this has made the socket in the cartridge loose. Oh dear. I don't think superglue can handle that. Where ? can I get a replacement cartridge exactly like the one I have. Also, where ? can I find a replacement headshell, which is easier to interchange without wrecking anything. Would appreciate some help here, please, anyone! (The ''obsolete'' format shouldn't ever become totally obsolete *. There is too much life in the old 78s yet. Not to mention history perfectly captured - musical history, social history, it's all in there! And in case anyone doesn't already know it, the sounds recorded in those grooves is way beyond what many people might expect. The 78 has been down-played by ignorant people for way too long. Whoever said that 10,000 kHz was the best they achieved back then was SO wrong!!) [ * And you can't mend an mp3 or a compact disc with superglue. Built-in obsolescence!]
There is no music at 10 kHz, better get an equalizer and zero out anything above 6,000. All there is up there is noise, unless the band plays a dog whistle or a little triangle or wind chimes or something. Female singers at 2k male at 1 k the highest note on a piano is C8 which is around 4k. Nothing above 6k but white noise
Yada Yada Yada is “: boring or empty talk listening to a lot of yada yada about the economy -often used interjectionally especially in recounting words regarded as too dull or predictable to be worth repeating”
I remember 'close n play' record players. Years later I bought a real turntable. The ceramic cartridge had so much weight on the record it ruined albums. The difference was like buying a camera. Get the crappy camera if you wanted to get "snapshots" or get a real camera if you wanted to practice "photography".
Needle is as official as a stylus. Back in the gramophone days it was called a needle and it was really just a piece of needle. Stylus is the new fancy name of the same thing.
A needle was a sharp pointed metal mechanical device that vibrated against a metal diaphragm to produce movement of air through a tapered trumpet style megaphone to allow you to hear the music. A stylus is a diamond tip on a cantilever with a rubber suspension and magnets attached ( Moving Magnet) which induce a magnetic field into the coils in the cartridge body to produce an electrical output which can be amplified. A Moving Coil stylus and cantilever has the electrical coils mounted on the end of the cantilever and the magnets are part of the cartridge body (the other way around to an MM cartridge) which produce an electrical output to be amplified. Therefore a stylus is a little bit more complicated than a sharp pointy bit of metal.
Nice channel, may I suggest using the expression, "yada yada yada," less, perhaps, a lot less. You seem to be reasonably intelligent and I'm sure you can use other verbage more effectively. Just my humble feedback !
Um, that Grado you're holding is moving IRON, not moving magnet...nor is it moving coil. But I get it, you're trying to get more basic info across. Still...
A lot of ccomments talking about the quality of their needles. I wouldn't even worry about it unless youre going to play records recorded towards the end of the vinyl era. Most vinyl recordings are from less quality recorders. The quality of a players needle is only as good as the recorders needle.
Cartridges and their stylus are a bit like cars, you get what you pay for. If you accept the attitude of the doubters then every one would be driving Lada's because why buy an Audi, BMW or a Mercedes-Benz or even an SUV when a Lada will do the job at a fraction of the cost, granted not very well but it is a car after all. To get the benefit of an up market cartridge you need a suitable system to exploit the additional detail, better tracking and overall musicality on offer. People who doubt this will probably have lesser capable systems that will not benefit from such an upgrade. That's fine, but do not slag off the people who want a better Hi-Fi. There are more Audi's, BMW's etc etc on our roads than Lada's, says it all really.
Disappointing -- No discussion about the architecture of the "coil & magnets" of a moving magnet cart and how they are arranged and interact. MM carts. are STILL the most common type of cart in use.
I love your bird! Also thanks for putting out all this info!
My pleasure!
Just some additional little details:
There are various other shapes of styli tips, like fineline (2M Bronze has that), Shibata (2M Black has that), Fritz Geiger 70 and microline.
Most of those have originally been invented for playing quadraphonic records, because those require a higher frequency response, they're often found on higher end stereo cartridges as well.
Cantilevers can be made of various other materials as well, like the basic AT3600L and Rega Carbon (that white one that often comes included on entry level turntables) has a carbon cantilever.
Very expensive cartridges sometimes have boron cantilevers or even sapphire, ruby or diamond cantilevers.
Most of those expensive cartridges are "low output" moving coil (MC), which require the special phono preamps you mentioned, but there are also "high output" MC cartridges that can be connected to the regular MM phono preamps.
I agree that, generally, elliptical styli need lower tracking force... but there are exceptions, like the AT95E (the green one that often comes preinstalled on Audio Technica turntables) which needs a tracking force between 2.5 and 3.5 grams.
Most elliptical DJ cartridges also track at about 3 grams, like the Ortofon Concorde Gold, Nightclub and MK2 Club.
Always check the recommended tracking force before installing a cartridge, setting the force too light can make the stylus bounce in the grooves, which damages the grooves.
Yeah. But keep in mind, they can only pick up what was recorded. If it was recorded with a mono needle, you wont get stereo no matter how good your needle is.
Thinking either the Ortofon 2MBlue or the Audio Technica AT-VM95SH which has a Shibata Stylus....which do you think maybe better for a Technics SL1210GR ?
What is a Shibata Stylus ?
At 8:30 you explain the four connection pins at the back of the cartridge, and say that a small amount of voltage is applied to two of them. That's incorrect. There are left and right positive and left and right ground (or return). The pre-amp applies no voltage to the cartridge. The cartridge is the device that generates a signal voltage.
Yes I have since corrected this information.
What do each color represent? The leads on the cartridge going to the tonearm are Red, Blue, Green & White. What are those wires?
Can you link that video?@@Recordology
Dear Fly dgc,etc. Red would be right. Blue would be left. White would.be rt. Grand. Black would be left ground. That is approximately it. Some wires are green. Typically green would equal ground. Each cartridge has its own color code which you follow from the directions when mounting the cartridge. Basically, red, green,white, blue. Black may take blues place depending on what the manufacture issues to the customer. This is only a rough guide. One of the four prongs on the cartridge is ground. That in a nut shell is the wiring schema for most cartridges. Think of it as it. Ground, left ground. Right ground. There is a right channel, there is a left channel, in stereo. In monaural it's just left side right side of the groove. If you get the wiring wrong the drums will be on the wrong side specially in your loud speakers. You simply reverse or trade terminals until you hear proper stereo separation with your ears. That's why you save the mounting directions for the life of the cartridge. Don't throw it out! Or you will have to fish around to get prper stereo separation.
Your bird made this video even better. He must have been feeling left out. This was a well explained and accurate video in my opinion. You did a great job explaining things. There are a lot of terms to remember. It’s not easy. I have an Ortofon 2M Red with an Elliptical stylus. It sounds great to me and it certainly is not the most expensive cartridge on the market. While I do prefer Elliptical, I don’t think you need a super expensive to get great sound.
Thank you!
Thinking either the Ortofon 2MBlue or the Audio Technica AT-VM95SH which has a Shibata Stylus....which do you think maybe better for a Technics SL1210GR ?
What is a Shibata Stylus ?
Hello to Rcord-ology just had to say EXCELLENT tutorial on the styles of cartridges out there you nailed it onthe head I loved how you explained how moving magnet and moving coil cartridges worked it was excellent anybody who wants to know about different cartridges should watch this ,I know you said that the cartridge overhang really doesn't matter that is the only disagreement I have some TT'S have an overhang adjustment my old onkyo CP-1055FII had a gauge to set the overhang of any cartridge you had on my audio technica ATlp-120 which was set when I bought it ,I too did not think much of it with cartridge it came with but on certain albums I could hear a slight sound distortion when I never heard on my old TT first thing I checked was the cart alignment it was off ,after adjusting it it improved but I still could hear that it was not right so I looked into the overhang adjustment which was not in the manual but I found it on line the overhang for audio tech lp-120 was .59mm if I remember correctly from tip of stylus to end of half inch mount mine was at 40mm i said to myself this cannot be the problem but being kind of mental I set it to the spec it said and wow I heard the difference in sound and I found my anti-skating improved alot don't ask me how I was having trouble with it before had to turn it up all the way just to get it to stay still but with that minor adjustment it is set to my tracking force and it stays where I place my stylus I still cannot believe it on my crosley C-10 I tried to get overhang spec for it but so far I have not ,but I donnot hear any distortion when playing albums so I guess every TT is different thanks again for your vid JRo
Getting into vinyls and this is wildly helpful. Thank you!!
Also your bird is so cute.
This professor says a wonderful explanation! Loved the visuals... You could add strain gauge and laser cartridges to your collection. I would tend to class strain gauges as an ultra-high end version of a ceramic cartridge for the sake of simplicity and taxonomy. Again, an excellent presentation! Thanks!
8:27 is sorta the information I am looking for. I have a turntuble & a record player I modified into a turntable in high school (1997). The tonearm on the record player has 2 wires that run from the stylus & the turntable has the 4 wires that run from cartiridge. Im trying to figure out the difference.
Thank you for making this. Finally some answers that are technical and not subjective flowery observations that other channels give.
Good video, thanks! Hard to find cheap 3-mil styli for 78s now. Most cheap dual-flip styli that say there's a 78 rpm side actually have LP styli on both sides.
Thanks so much for this great explanation! I learned a ton. And loved your feathered friend who almost stole the show
Hi, I need help with my record player which is needing a neddle change...I have a metz hifi studio center 4500. No idea where I can buy a new neddle. I found this one (DN211 0.6mil spherical diamond stylus) online. Any tips?
After I used the protractor to align the cartridge, the cartridge was actually off a little bit visually from the headshell. So which method should you go by? Thanks!
I have had this happen as well - and I ultimately went by eye.
Pitch it and go digital
😂
If it's not in line with the headshell, thats ok; that's why there are slots instead of holes! What matters most is the alignment of the stylus to the groove. If you always move the cart out to the end of the slots, that is not a good adjustment. It won't work the same way for every cartridge and is unlikely to be ideal. By aligning the cart to the 2 spots on a protractor you know the distortion caused by the arc of the tone arm increases in equal amounts on either side of ideal, but won't go too far in either direction. The difference is audible in listening tests.
Ceramic and moving coil/moving magnet/moving iron cartridges only have both ends of the left and right transducer exposed in order to have a separate ground for each. This allows for using a symmetrical input on the preamp and to have a better channel separation in comparison to having only three wires. There is no need for any bias voltage to be applied from the preamp to the cartridge of this kind, as it wouldn't do anything except maybe saturating the coils and making them sound worse. There are also strain gauge cartridges, and those do need a DC voltage suppied to them, because they work by changing the resistance of the transducer rather than generating a voltage on their own. Also, you still need to apply the RIAA curve to any cartridge signal, including ceramic, you can't just connect it to a line in. The signal recorded on the record has had its bass purposefully decreased and trebles increased in a specified way to reduce noise on treble and not have the stylus jump out from all the bass, and that has to be exactly reversed in the preamp. But it can be done with passive components if it is already line level, so that means almost no hardware additional to just a line in/Bluetooth speaker in a cheap suitcase player compared to a MC/MM.
WHAT? 😦
the bird forced me to like this, but i'd recommend making videos on older styluses like the lp 78s so people who pick up older players know what they're doing
Is the supposed lack of high frequencies with a conical versus an elliptical stylus a function of its depth in the groove only or also the greater width of contact that the conical stylus has with the groove? Thanks!
I cannot express how grateful I am to this video ❤️❤️❤️
Needle is as official as a stylus. Back in the gramophone days it was called a needle and it was really just a piece of needle. Stylus is the new fancy name of the same thing.
Very informative video. I needed exactly this video.
I just bought my first record player: SL-B2. Is got a piece of junk cartridge on it that I can’t even identify, but I can tell it seem that’s better day. The record player was very dirty, but everything works fine on it. I spent six hours cleaning it so far. And now I am trying to figure out how all this works. I think I’m just gonna buy a basic audio Technica $65 moving magnet and go from there. Thanks for the video.
I have a Realistic SA-155 Integrated Stereo Amplifier and it has a connection and setting on it for ceramic cartridges and they can sound awesome through this device. It has a switch on the back that you can choose between Ceramic or Magnetic depending on your cart. You should get one and do a review of it.
Beware the difference in volume which often comes with a high output ceramic cartridge. Greater volume will almost always make things sound better.
Thanks for the Great explanation, great to get more understanding before I start using my 1960's Radiogram & 1970's Sanyo Suitcase Style player 😀👍.
Glad it was helpful!
There is also a crystal cartridge. The conical stylus isn't quite detailed and tracks a little heavier but is great. Even though it tracks heavier, less record wear because of shape. The blue is nude elliptical. The 2M Bronze is fine line nude and 2M Black is a Shibata which gets really expensive. This is a great video. Love the bird, too.
As far as I know, it doesn't matter what kind of cartridge your using, you are going to need a phono stage. When they make records they apply something called the RIAA curve when cutting a lacquer. When playing a lp back, your phono stage will apply the RIAA curve. The RIAA curve in essence reduces the bass and accentuates the treble when cutting a lacquer. Reducing the bass allows you to get more music onto a side of a record. When the signal goes through your phono stage it re-equalizes the bass back to flat and pulls down the treble back to flat that was accentuated during cutting of the lacquer. When the treble gets pulled down it brings down a lot of noise with it as well. All of this means that you get more music on each side of the record and the record has less noise. Without a phono stage the record would have no bass and the treble would be extremely excessive.
What’s a “stage” ?
I have a arvin stereo/ record player from the 70s - i cant find replacement needle???
I just purchased a 1960's GE RP-1110a record player it did not have a needle . Who do you recommend to help me find a needle / cartridge for this record player? I have only 2 wires going to it. my guess is it is mono. thanks for your help.
Great question. Let's see if the community has some ideas!
This video is great! Now I know why my needle was plastic. I thought it didn't have a needle. Thanks for the info. I found metal needles with diamond. Now i know what to buy. Thanks !!!
Good video. I have a Quasar rack system from the late 80's or early 90's. A trick I learned to extend the life of the needle, is to take a slightly damp microfiber cloth and gently pad the stylus. That, plus cleaning the records with mild dish soap and drying them with the microfiber cloth really improved the sound quality. And my vinyl collection is far from pristine.
Hey! I got today a turntable model is Auna TT classic light and it ha that ceramic cartridge. Is the needle is bad? Does damage the vinyl?
This was exactly the information I was looking for.
Thanks a lot!
Can You Upload A 45 RPM collection video please??????
Is there a cartridge that is compatible with an old morse electrophonic?
Good question....I am not sure!
i had a retip done.it is sapphire.sound is soft as opposed to the diamond.is sapphire like that
Thank you for this tutorial regarding different terminology for cartridges and stylus, however I'm a bit confused on one term you keep referring to......what does "yada yada yada yada" mean?
:)
Its backwards for aday aday aday. You know, havent you ever had one of those days? 🙄
Good day sir can you help me? How to find needle of TRIO KP-M350 MK11 TURNTABLE
How much weight of ceramic pinkup should fall on the record?
My Crosley record player's pickup weighs 6g per record
Hi there, one question. Can a magnetic cartridge like audio-technica cartridge replace the red ceramic cartridge on a suitcase player?
This does not make much sense. Usually the tone arm of a suitcase player applies too much tracking force which a magnetic cartridge will not tolerate. Also the tone arm lacks the proper mounting points for a magnetic cartridge. Furthermore you need a preamplifier for the magnetic cartridge. All in all such an upgrade will cost you more and work much worse than a decent entry level record player with magnetic cartridge and integrated preamp which is available for about 100 $.
New drinking game: Take a shot everytime he says yadda yadda yadda lol
Also here’s a cool fact: conical styli are the best stylus for styrene (please correct me if I’m wrong)
That's interesting. I have a long playing record that is styrene. It sounds O.K. but not really up to snuff. On my TT I have an eliptical stylus and that may be the reason. Stay safe.
How do I know what needle I need for my record player?
I’m in education/training/professional development. Your presentation skills are incredible.
Quite funny and well explained. I have ORTOFON D510 on an old but underused Rega Planar 3
1987.
Any recordmend a good affordable 78 rpm cartridges pls 🙏 not over 100 pr 200
Great video explaining just what I wanted to know at the level I needed. Thanks!
I've recently got a Stanton T.92 record player for my 78 collection. As I learn about the ins/outs of the accessories and requirements I half to ask what you would recommend overall for my 78 collection. Can I get a cartridge name and a stylus type as I feel I've been overloaded with types from Amazon and can't choose.
A year later but, in case it helps someone else-Audio Technica VM95 series cartridge will take a variety of good styli including AT-VMN95SP which is designed for 78rpm mono playback.
If my turntable uses mm cartridges, does that mean all or most mm cartridges are conpatible?
That is correct.
BTW, piezoelectric is not pronounced "pie'-zo"; it is pronounced "pee-et'-zo". Although the dictionary or thesaurus might disagree, it is an Italian word originally, and most English-speaking people have retained the Italian pronunciation. (Though I probably spelled it wrong, you get the idea.)
I’ve had ceramic cartridges produce good sound, granted not as good as a higher quality mm cartridge and stylus , the difference can be marginal to my surprise vs price differences.
Can you recommend me some cheap replacement cartridges and styluses for Crosley-type record players?
Start here.... ruclips.net/video/n4ReYrhaSIc/видео.html
Ahaha I love the bird!! Also thank you, very informative and well explained, thank you
Thank you!
So a 3k player is determine by the needle right?
I would say an investment in a cartridge would be more important than one in a higher end TT
The bird wanted to point out the stylus.
thanks that was very clear and easy to understand the difference thanks again
I've been using my diamond stylus for 30 years, it's a 78 RPM Shure stylus with a 2.5 mil conical diamond. I've played 1000s of hours of records with it, all 78s (I sold my LPs when CD's came out in the 80's.) I recently looked at the stylus under a 50 X microscope and see no sign of wear, should I use higher power magnification? The records sound great. My 78's are mostly 1950s R&B, they can be shellac or vinyl. I don't see how vinyl is hard enough to wear down diamond. Diamond is 1000000 times harder than vinyl or shellac so if anything wears down it won't be the diamond. Even if there's dirt in the grooves, dirt is silicon dioxide, nowhere near as hard as diamond. I'm still waiting for my 30 year old stylus to wear out and I'll let you know when it does.
That's amazing!
Hmmmm.. I always thought a conical tip was just that- a conical shape just like a pencil; and an elliptical tip was like a flattened cone. Seen from the top, a conical looks round, and the elliptical, a football shape. The elliptical has a much thinner area in contact with the groove; and so can read the high frequencies much more accurately than a fatter conical tip.
hm I've never heard bout ceramic cartriges before
but being 7:04 more rigid than movin-magnet ones, don't they damagely deform a record much?
7:37 "da bird is comin into da shot okay" 😁😆😂😄
A non-worn needle on either a ceramic or magnetic cartridge will not "damagely deform" any record. However, a ceramic cartridge that tracks heavier will slowly wear out or technically degrade the sound capable from coming from your records. By wear, I mean that the silent grooves will no longer be silent, but rather sound like the static from a radio that is between stations. Until if played enough, the static gets louder than the music.
The biggest differences to the ear between the two types is: the ceramic will have troubles tracking a bass heavy song. Bass heavy songs will cause the ceramic cartridge to jump out of the groove, as it is not capable of moving at the speed needed to track the groove accurately. Also a budget ceramic cartridge is not capable of reproducing some of the higher audio frequencies that a magnetic cartridge would pick up.
new drinking game. take a shot every time he says "yadda yadda yadda"
Watched for stylus info, stayed for the Birb
Then that would mean that the more a conical needle wore, the more it would pick up, since it would be covering more surface?
That’s an interesting idea… In practice when they wear out they start sounding like garbage
@@Recordology
You mean like in hearing the details of the bands music? Probably. 😂
@@Recordology
Now I can imagine a bunch of bands offering free new needles with the purchase of every album. 😂
@@Recordology that's because the shape of the stylus has worn down and isn't contacting the groove correctly regardless of the shape of the stylus tip. It'll sound like garbage until there's no to little contact with the groove and just slides across the record like there's no tip left.
very good and interesting video..explaining things nicely and simply....good work....ade
I’ve heard of ceramic, magnetic 🧲, and Astatic record player cartridges. Some record player needles 🪡 are diamond 💎. Is diamond 💎 the best stylus? Your friend, Jeff.
My own dad from starting at home, being asked to some venues to full on DJing at last even for pirate radio channels 😂 he swear by small pen cartidges with ceramic or diamond cause of longevity 😊
I've noticed your favorite phrase is Yada Yada Yada
Which is why I am made a new drinking game for it lol
Thoroughly enjoyed the entire video. I AM a geek.
Thank you!
you didn't explain how the needle is able to isolate the left and right channel information from the grooves.
I am very curious about how that part works
Also a better analogy of the piezoelectric effect as a function of the seramic element would be comparing it to the seramic transducer in an electronic drumpad or birthday card. because it is more relevant to the subject and easyer to understand than the quartz watch analogy. Especially to someone new to this stuff.
Think of the transducers as placed in a kind of X shape around the other end of the cantilever, and the sound for each channel is represented by the motion of needle at a 45° angle from vertical. The inner wall of the v-shaped groove is the left channel, and the outer is the right. This makes the common signal (L+R) vertical, so mono cartridges can work only vertically, and differential signal (L-R) radial. This is part of why anti-skating matters, and can be used to set it. If there is not enough anti-skating, there will be a force pushing the needle inwards, and the left channel wil be louder. If there's too much anti-skating, right will be louder. Both scenarios mean that the cartridge and the stylus work in suboptimal conditions and may sound worse and wear out themselves and the records faster.
Thank You! This helped a lot
In the 1950's there was an osmium stylus which played for about 20 hours. As I play approximately 10 hours per week that would mean I would have to replace it every two weeks. Yikes!
Great video. Thanks for the info.
Plus tax..... Love the Elvis reference. 😁🤣
There is no diamond stylus that touches the bottom of a record groove as far as i know. Maybe a fritz gyger? The bottom of a groove is created by the cutting ruby only....
Regards from Holland 🎉
p.s. I had two 78 styli (having got the old one re-tipped). I interchanged them once too often and this has made the socket in the cartridge loose. Oh dear. I don't think superglue can handle that. Where ? can I get a replacement cartridge exactly like the one I have. Also, where ? can I find a replacement headshell, which is easier to interchange without wrecking anything. Would appreciate some help here, please, anyone! (The ''obsolete'' format shouldn't ever become totally obsolete *. There is too much life in the old 78s yet. Not to mention history perfectly captured - musical history, social history, it's all in there! And in case anyone doesn't already know it, the sounds recorded in those grooves is way beyond what many people might expect. The 78 has been down-played by ignorant people for way too long. Whoever said that 10,000 kHz was the best they achieved back then was SO wrong!!) [ * And you can't mend an mp3 or a compact disc with superglue. Built-in obsolescence!]
There is no music at 10 kHz, better get an equalizer and zero out anything above 6,000. All there is up there is noise, unless the band plays a dog whistle or a little triangle or wind chimes or something. Female singers at 2k male at 1 k the highest note on a piano is C8 which is around 4k. Nothing above 6k but white noise
as a non american, what does this (sorry ,possibly not written correctly) "yattayattayatta" mean????
Yada Yada Yada is “: boring or empty talk
listening to a lot of yada yada about the economy
-often used interjectionally especially in recounting words regarded as too dull or predictable to be worth repeating”
Most people don't need anything beyond a .3 x .7 mil elliptical......but the more advanced shapes do sound better (not by much though)
I remember 'close n play' record players. Years later I bought a real turntable. The ceramic cartridge had so much weight on the record it ruined albums. The difference was like buying a camera. Get the crappy camera if you wanted to get "snapshots" or get a real camera if you wanted to practice "photography".
THE BIRD THOUGH
The proper name is needle. Even Maestro Fresh-Wes said so 😂
Very well Explained 👍👍👍👍
Thank you so much 🙂
There are three kinds of cartridges the third being moving coil.
Then there are offshoot variants, such as moving palmeroy and moving iron.
Needle dates back to the 78 rpm days.
My go too,Shure SC 35
Beautiful and informative video
Needle is as official as a stylus. Back in the gramophone days it was called a needle and it was really just a piece of needle. Stylus is the new fancy name of the same thing.
A needle was a sharp pointed metal mechanical device that vibrated against a metal diaphragm to produce movement of air through a tapered trumpet style megaphone to allow you to hear the music. A stylus is a diamond tip on a cantilever with a rubber suspension and magnets attached ( Moving Magnet) which induce a magnetic field into the coils in the cartridge body to produce an electrical output which can be amplified. A Moving Coil stylus and cantilever has the electrical coils mounted on the end of the cantilever and the magnets are part of the cartridge body (the other way around to an MM cartridge) which produce an electrical output to be amplified. Therefore a stylus is a little bit more complicated than a sharp pointy bit of metal.
Superbly illustrated and explaned! Enjoyed very much.
Thank you!
Great info! ty!
So size does matter.
piezo... I don't know where piezoelectric came from--maybe autocorrect...
So fact or myth, do cheap ceramic ruin your records?
Nice channel, may I suggest using the expression, "yada yada yada," less, perhaps, a lot less.
You seem to be reasonably intelligent and I'm sure you can use other verbage more effectively.
Just my humble feedback !
Um, that Grado you're holding is moving IRON, not moving magnet...nor is it moving coil. But I get it, you're trying to get more basic info across. Still...
You are correct....but in terms of output voltage can be connected as you would a MM.
@@Recordology Indeed!
A lot of ccomments talking about the quality of their needles. I wouldn't even worry about it unless youre going to play records recorded towards the end of the vinyl era. Most vinyl recordings are from less quality recorders.
The quality of a players needle is only as good as the recorders needle.
Cartridges and their stylus are a bit like cars, you get what you pay for. If you accept the attitude of the doubters then every one would be driving Lada's because why buy an Audi, BMW or a Mercedes-Benz or even an SUV when a Lada will do the job at a fraction of the cost, granted not very well but it is a car after all. To get the benefit of an up market cartridge you need a suitable system to exploit the additional detail, better tracking and overall musicality on offer. People who doubt this will probably have lesser capable systems that will not benefit from such an upgrade. That's fine, but do not slag off the people who want a better Hi-Fi. There are more Audi's, BMW's etc etc on our roads than Lada's, says it all really.
Disappointing -- No discussion about the architecture of the "coil & magnets" of a moving magnet cart and how they are arranged and interact.
MM carts. are STILL the most common type of cart in use.
8:16
I hate the long ‘nose picker’ cartridge 😳 they look ridiculous and ruin the whole aesthetic for me .
🤘
Cool
Too many yada-yada-yadas...appreciate the info, but too many yayas are distracting.
Don't talk anything Respect the last one. Why?
1pice
All of them over priced like everything else audio.
!!!