catman Posted July 1, 2015 Posted July 1, 2015 G'day all, but hey they were only Shure M97xE's! My gosh, did I really say that after all the years that I've spent saying nice things about the M97xE? Yep! It actually isn't a 'bad' cartridge, but the softened upper treble doesn't really work, especially if the capacitance loading is not optimised! Using my Ortofon OM10 in comparison does just about everything right, great tracking at 1.5 grams, superb sound quality (with the right capacitance loading), excellent stereo separation (way better than the OEM stylus M97xE), and generally a very satisfying phono cartridge. Have I been wasting my time with the Shure M97xE all these years? Well probably not, but as I see it, the real deficiency with the M97xE is the supplied elliptical stylus. Pop an SAS stylus onto an M97xE and it is utterly transformed. Yep! Even the Vivid line stylus for the M97xE is a great improvement over the OEM elliptical stylus. If all the M97xE needs is a better stylus, then why doesn't Shure provide one? Maybe they just don't care nowadays about 'hi fi' cartridges. Very likely, I suspect. The DJ/Club market is a lot more lucrative nowadays. That's sad actually if true. Regards, Felix.
Guest Muon Posted July 1, 2015 Posted July 1, 2015 G'day all, but hey they were only Shure M97xE's! My gosh, did I really say that after all the years that I've spent saying nice things about the M97xE? Yep! It actually isn't a 'bad' cartridge, but the softened upper treble doesn't really work, especially if the capacitance loading is not optimised! Using my Ortofon OM10 in comparison does just about everything right, great tracking at 1.5 grams, superb sound quality (with the right capacitance loading), excellent stereo separation (way better than the OEM stylus M97xE), and generally a very satisfying phono cartridge. Have I been wasting my time with the Shure M97xE all these years? Well probably not, but as I see it, the real deficiency with the M97xE is the supplied elliptical stylus. Pop an SAS stylus onto an M97xE and it is utterly transformed. Yep! Even the Vivid line stylus for the M97xE is a great improvement over the OEM elliptical stylus. If all the M97xE needs is a better stylus, then why doesn't Shure provide one? Maybe they just don't care nowadays about 'hi fi' cartridges. Very likely, I suspect. The DJ/Club market is a lot more lucrative nowadays. That's sad actually if true. Regards, Felix. Also, if they put a more advanced stylus on it, they would need to charge more for it, putting it into a higher class price wise. It appears that Shure only cater for the lower end and DJ carts, price wise. That seems to be their target market as you indicate, Felix.
catman Posted July 1, 2015 Author Posted July 1, 2015 G'day mate, it is all a little odd to me as in the old Halcyon Shure days of the past, their cartridge frequency response epitomised a linear extended response up to 20 KHz, but that all changed when they adopted the 'Audiophile Response' softened upper treble of the 'x' series with cartridges like the V15VxMR and the M97xE. The advent of the 'hard' sound of the early CD players was probably a big factor in Shure's thinking at that time. Regards, Felix.
Guest Muon Posted July 1, 2015 Posted July 1, 2015 I have a marantz cd player from 1985, sounds great...not hard or fatiguing at all. My guess is this 'Audiophile Response' was a marketing name for it by Shure?
catman Posted July 1, 2015 Author Posted July 1, 2015 (edited) G'day mate, my CD player from about that time was a NAD 5420 and it's still fully operational and now lives here in this Ham Radio shack, however I very rarely use it as it has (and always had), that hard, 'in your face' type of sound quality that many of the early CD players seemed to have, that I can no longer really tolerate. However my main system CD player is another more recent NAD (C 515BEE), which couldn't be nicer sounding! D to A converters have come a long way in 20 odd years! Regards, Felix. Edited July 1, 2015 by catman
Guest Muon Posted July 1, 2015 Posted July 1, 2015 (edited) Seems to depend on what CD player from that time, I have heard nice ones and then other ones. I actually prefer my old marantz to many new players. but then it does use the TDA1541 chip, still preferred by many even today.. Edited July 1, 2015 by ortofun
eltech Posted July 2, 2015 Posted July 2, 2015 I prefer the older players too. Nothing wrong with R2R done right.
eltech Posted July 2, 2015 Posted July 2, 2015 I bought an M97xE years ago. Removed my Grado Green. Installed the M97xE. Listened. Removed the M97xE sold it on ebay for $10 loss. I didnt think it was a bad cartridge but it didnt have the top end of my Grado. In fact didnt have any top end at all. I'm sure if I loaded it correctly it might have been OK. I rate my M91 much higher than the M97xE. I think Shure lost the plot years ago. Cartridge bodies are not rocket science. Shure have many good motor units. Question - How difficult would it be for Shure to commission Jico to make (SAS) stylus for them and supply them with the cartridge, and sell at a reasonable price? Answer - not hard. Statement - Shure = stupid!
Tasebass Posted July 3, 2015 Posted July 3, 2015 (edited) Gees Felix!!! I'd be pretty peed off with myself if I had destroyed two of my cartridges in as many days!!! Tase. Edited July 3, 2015 by Tasebass
catman Posted July 3, 2015 Author Posted July 3, 2015 G'day mate, well that happens (sometimes). Such is life! Regards, Felix.
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