Stanton 881s stylus replacement or a new cartridge?

[nfalbert]

I was the principle development engineer for both Stanton and Pickering from 1973-1978,
and I would like to point out the following, and I hope that it will not confuse anyone, as
I see the forum is in good hands with emaidel. He and I were likely ships that pass in the night, my leaving Stanton as he was arriving.

My point is that the 881-S and XSV/3000 were very similar products, having both been
based on the use of high energy rare earth colbalt ring magnets and small diameter cantilever rather than being variable reluctance/moving magnet as were the preceeding company's models such as the 681EEE. However, the 881S used a smaller and lighter
magnet requiring less damping but resulting in upper high end boost which was copensated by increasing the inductance ( more turns of wire on the coils ) from 270mH to 500mH. This change compensated for the loss of output of the smaller magnet 2) flattened out the slight high end boost of the 881S stylus had instead of a smoothly elevated upper midrange of the XSV/3000. As emaidel says, the XSV/3000 stylus works in the 881S body, and may offer an economical solution in these days when LP playback equipment has waned.

[Ed_in_Tx]

I was the principle development engineer for both Stanton and Pickering from 1973-1978...

Welcome! And I have a question of course. What do you think about using my XUV/4500Q stylus in my 881S body? I can't match the loading requirements of the 4500 body so I think this helps smooth out the response and I can get some use out of the 4500Q stylus, which has seen very little use since I bought it for CD-4 in mid-70s.

[nfalbert]

Ed_In_Tx

Thanks!

CD-4.. that's a term I haven't heard in a long, long time.

Assuming you are using an 881S body with the 4500Q stylus, and not the other way around, you might find that merely by keeping the cable capacitance down the 881S body
could satisfactorily match the characteristics of that that stylus, especially taking into account the fact that at he time these were in production, the measured frequency response to 20KHz was an important issue for getting favorable reviews. If you are using
the pair for listening only, I would not be surprised if the fequency response up to your
audible max, perhaps 12-13kHz would be quite acceptable.

Go by how it sounds, and trust your ears.

Neil

[nfalbert]

Ed_In_Tx,

I just tried a D4500Q stylus in an 881 body, and although the cantilever on my stylus seems
to have settled to the point where the stylus guard grazes the record, it seems to sound pretty decent on a couple of classical LP's I tried it on.

Neil

[Ed_in_Tx]

The cantilever suspension on mine is still like new best as I can tell. I set the VTF at 2.2 grams total. Still has about a mm between the guard and the record. Playing it now on an old Cat Stevens LP I've owned since new, and the detail is excellent wthout beiing shrill or excessively bright like when I use the 4500Q body.

[nfalbert]

Good to hear, Ed,


Since I just tuned in a little while ago, I haven't had a chance to see if the antiskate
setting with the brush has been addressed. My belief is that, although the weight of the brush will not factor into the force on the stylus, its skating will, and therefore the antiskate should also be set to 2.2 grams, in this case.

Neil

[Ed_in_Tx]

Ed_In_Tx,

I just tried a D4500Q stylus in an 881 body, and although the cantilever on my stylus seems to have settled to the point where the stylus guard grazes the record, it seems to sound pretty decent on a couple of classical LP's I tried it on.

Neil

I just received a NOS D4500Q stylus that's perfect! Took 34 days from New Zealand but I finally got it, and it's playing as I type. Only about 10 bucks more shipped than they cost new in the '70s so I think pretty good these days for a virgin Quadrahedral stylus. Came in the mail less than an hour ago so I am excited that it GOT here and the cantilever and suspension look perfect and it sounds excellent in the 881S body.

[ludwignut]

Hello,

Rob Here.I'm new.I have a question for the Stanton Pickering guys.Would you sugest using a D 4500 Q for an XLZ cartridge? I noticed that the XLZ had a model and stylus that was a 4500 S.Are these similar?

Rob

[emaidel]

Hello,

Rob Here.I'm new.I have a question for the Stanton Pickering guys.Would you sugest using a D 4500 Q for an XLZ cartridge? I noticed that the XLZ had a model and stylus that was a 4500 S.Are these similar?

Rob

I can't be of much help to you. The XLZ model was, I believe, one of either the "high impedance" or "low impedance" cartrdiges Stanton (and Pickering) introduced in the early 80's as an unsuccessful bid to gain a foothold amongst the moving coil cartridge fans. I know I had one of them (perhaps the XLZ, if it was the one that didn't require a step up transformer) and didn't care much for it at all, feeling it was overly bright and brittle sounding. I just don't know if it was a moving magnet, or moving iron design.