Audio-Technica VM750SH Now Available New With Shibata Stylus CD-4 Capable?

[ghalteman]

I noticed on a routine Crutchfield mailing, that Audio Technica now has several new High End Phono cartridges available. One with a Shibata Stylus, the AUDIO TECHNICA VM750SH for $399 with a high end of 27000 Hz
Audio-Technica VM750SH.

They also list at Crutchfield a higher end AUDIO TECHNICA
Audio-Technica VM760SLC
with a high frequency response to 30,000 Hz and a linear contact stylus. $649.99


Neither sport the high frequency specs. like the Old Audio Technica AT-20SLA / SS which was made for CD-4, but they may work anyway. Anyone with tested results is encouraged to post on this thread. The Shibata Stylus alone is a big find! It looks much like the old At20SLA/SS

 

[vinylguy4]

I have a similar AT150SH and did not get great results with cd-4, sounds great otherwise. I put a AT440ML stylus on the AT150 and got better cd-4 results.
I just think the ML stylus is better than the SH for CD-4. Still got best results with AT-20sla.
My next cartridge will be a VM740ML - There was a site that showed test results above 30k with decent separation.

 

[kfbkfb]

http://pspatialaudio.com/carts_4_CD4.htm^^^
...the inter-channel crosstalk needs to be certainly better than -12dB and preferably better than -20dB.


Kirk Bayne

 

[TVB]

Would the new shibata stylus for this cart fit an AT 15 or 20 cart body? If it does this could be great news.

 

[ghalteman]

Would the new shibata stylus for this cart fit an AT 15 or 20 cart body? If it does this could be great news.

I can't answer that. Wish I knew. Maybe a rep. at Audio Technica could answer that question.

 

[vinylguy4]

No, the new stylus for the VM740ml, VM750sa,etc will not fit the AT15sa or AT20sla.

I did just get a new Audio Technica VM740ML cartridge. Good news is that it works well for CD-4. I did some testing with all my
most difficult CD-4 records and the Microline stylus and cartridge performed as good as my AT440MLa(which is good).
I did put the AT150sa stylus on the new VM740ml and tried a couple CD-4 records and did not do well, same as with the AT150sa.
So, I like the Microline stylus and not the Shibata for CD-4. Possibly the Shibata on the VM750SH is better than the AT150sa but I'm not going to try.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

No, the new stylus for the VM740ml, VM750sa,etc will not fit the AT15sa or AT20sla.

I did just get a new Audio Technica VM740ML cartridge. Good news is that it works well for CD-4. I did some testing with all my
most difficult CD-4 records and the Microline stylus and cartridge performed as good as my AT440MLa(which is good).
I did put the AT150sa stylus on the new VM740ml and tried a couple CD-4 records and did not do well, same as with the AT150sa.
So, I like the Microline stylus and not the Shibata for CD-4. Possibly the Shibata on the VM750SH is better than the AT150sa but I'm not going to try.

Thanks for the info, I have a VM740ML I need to try, I’ve been using an AT-15S.

 

[fredblue]

fwiw my issue with the 740ML would be compliance, leading to the same dilemma i encountered with my 540ML, which requires you run it at at least 2g., more vtf than i'm comfortable with and so have gone back to a 440MLb which only requires 1.4g stylus pressure.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

fwiw my issue with the 740ML would be compliance, leading to the same dilemma i encountered with my 540ML, which requires you run it at at least 2g., more vtf than i'm comfortable with and so have gone back to a 440MLb which only requires 1.4g stylus pressure.

I'm looking to finally try a new cart for setup for XMAS. I was looking in again to the VM750SH and also found this one (more $ though), has about 2g's to run per spec's also; but it is Shibata and Freq. up to 47K? I've never tried a MC cart. as well???

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-coil/at-oc9xsh

 

[fredblue]

I'm looking to finally try a new cart for setup for XMAS. I was looking in again to the VM750SH and also found this one (more $ though), has about 2g's to run per spec's also; but it is Shibata and Freq. up to 47K? I've never tried a MC cart. as well???

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-coil/at-oc9xsh

it's a moving coil cart., Mister P.

for CD-4 purposes, i should say = abort! - abort! - abort!

edit: you could of course splash the cash, take the risk and try it out via a CD-4 pre-preamp (like ye olde Ortofon MCA-76) and then daisychain into the MM input of a CD-4 demodulator.. but tbh i was totally unsuccessful when i went down that particular rabbit hole so wouldn't personally recommend it

 

[par4ken]

I'm looking to finally try a new cart for setup for XMAS. I was looking in again to the VM750SH and also found this one (more $ though), has about 2g's to run per spec's also; but it is Shibata and Freq. up to 47K? I've never tried a MC cart. as well???

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-coil/at-oc9xsh

In my experience moving coils are the best for CD-4. They produce the best overall sound quality as well!

 

[par4ken]

edit: you could of course splash the cash, take the risk and try it out via a CD-4 pre-preamp (like ye olde Ortofon MCA-76) and then daisychain into the MM input of a CD-4 demodulator.. but tbh i was totally unsuccessful when i went down that particular rabbit hole so wouldn't personally recommend it

I have an MCA-76 which works fine. My Akai MC step-up transformer works great as well. I have also used a homebuilt 6DJ8 tube based pre-preamplifier designed by Joe Curcio. It also works great with the caveat that it inverts phase so the front and rear demodulator outputs are reversed! IMHO the sound quality improvement from MM to MC is almost as great as the change from crystal/ceramic to MM!

My Sony XL-MC3 post quad days MC cartridge was the one that I had the most success with. The Audio Technica AT-ART9XA purchased last year is even better, but expensive!

 

[fredblue]

I have an MCA-76 which works fine. My Akai MC step-up transformer works great as well. I have also used a homebuilt 6DJ8 tube based pre-preamplifier designed by Joe Curcio. It also works great with the caveat that it inverts phase so the front and rear demodulator outputs are reversed! IMHO the sound quality improvement from MM to MC is almost as great as the change from crystal/ceramic to MM!

My Sony XL-MC3 post quad days MC cartridge was the one that I had the most success with. The Audio Technica AT-ART9XA purchased last year is even better, but expensive!

well i'll have to give the MCA-76 another go then

 

[par4ken]

well i'll have to give the MCA-76 another go then

The MCA-76 has a CD-4 switch on it. At first I assumed that it amplified the subcarrier a bit but in fact it switches in a bandpass filter. I hear no difference in either position. I guess that it is there to eliminate the possibility of interference from such things as the horizontal oscillator in the old televisions.

I was going to re-cap mine, I have some replacement caps but the unit works fine as is, so that job is on the back burner.

Moving coils are a low impedance device and so cable capacitance should not be a big deal. I'm not saying it should be disregarded just that the capacitance likely has little or much less effect. The (moving Iron) Grado F-1+ Super Fluxbridger was supposed to not require low capacitance cables either but I never got it to work satisfactory, so I wonder if disregarding cable capacitance is really such a good idea.

I had two of the Sony cartridges, the one with the most miles on it started to give the sandpaper effect, the newer one worked fine. Both sounded the same on stereo. I found an Ortofon SL-20 Q it gave the same sandpaper effect as the worn Sony. Being almost fifty years old I'm sure it had suffered a lot wear as well. Through careless handling I broke the tip off, so if it didn't before it now requires re-tipping for sure. I'm not sure if that would be worthwhile as that cartridge did not sound nearly as good as the Sony or the Audio Technica!

 

[Nyad]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember reading people getting good results with a Denon DL110, (mis-translated as a "Special Elliptical" but actually a line contact)

 

[fredblue]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember reading people getting good results with a Denon DL110, (mis-translated as a "Special Elliptical" but actually a line contact)

for what it's worth i got pretty poor results with CD-4 using a Denon DL-110.

i found the DL-110 to be particularly inconsistent as the arm got closer to the inner grooves where the carrier would often pulse in and out of lock range or just drop out altogether.

 

[Nyad]

for what it's worth i got pretty poor results with CD-4 using a Denon DL-110.

i found the DL-110 to be particularly inconsistent as the arm got closer to the inner grooves where the carrier would often pulse in and out of lock range or just drop out altogether.

Ah, OK, (the pulsing sounds weird...)

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I noticed on a routine Crutchfield mailing, that Audio Technica now has several new High End Phono cartridges available. One with a Shibata Stylus, the AUDIO TECHNICA VM750SH for $399 with a high end of 27000 Hz
Audio-Technica VM750SH.

They also list at Crutchfield a higher end AUDIO TECHNICA
Audio-Technica VM760SLC
with a high frequency response to 30,000 Hz and a linear contact stylus. $649.99


Neither sport the high frequency specs. like the Old Audio Technica AT-20SLA / SS which was made for CD-4, but they may work anyway. Anyone with tested results is encouraged to post on this thread. The Shibata Stylus alone is a big find! It looks much like the old At20SLA/SS

Hey @ghalteman!

I have to credit you for being one of my influencers early on many years ago; we had some correspondence by snail mail which eventually led me to this web site.

Anyway, I just replaced my old AT15s with a new AT VM750SH. First CD-4 try was the album below, and I can report that the cart. reaches high freq. with a solid 30K lock with my Marantz CD-400B. It has great detail and separation; so I can recommend it for a CD-4 cart, at least IMO.

This 1973 Japanese Warner Bros. LP has some wonderful Big Band Jazz, mostly arranged and conducted by Norio Maeda. The songs Bags Groove, Work Song and Take Five are pretty wild in Quad- highly recommended!

Jazz in Quadraphonic​

Label:	Warner Bros. Records – QL-10002W

 

[ghalteman]

I'm still using an Audio Technica AT-20SS here, that is maybe a few times a year since everything has been converted. Interesting Japanese CD-4 you have there! Thanks for your kind words too!

 

[Asklia]

I can confirm as well that the 750SH works very well with my CD-4 records and a Bose 4401 phono input with CD-4 demodulator, which is based inside on a JVC module.

Since the FL needle was more expensive, I went with the SH needle.