Stupid question...

[dav305z]

I want to replace the stylus on this old turntable I got. The cartridge is an Empire 999 TE/X. Now, do I have to find a stylus for this specific model, or will a number of Empire brand styli work. For instance, Radio Shack sells an Empire S2000. I saw a model specific one on Ebay, but it was a generic brand, does that matter?

Also, just to be sure, a worn stylus would be responsible for fuzzy sound with a lot of background noise, right? I had originally just planned on replacing the cartridge, but have since found it's nothing to sneez at.

[jrhymeammo]

I dont exactly know your situation, but most importantly stop playing your records for now. Chances are Empire 999 is heavy damaged. If you play records with damaged needle, you are re-grooving/destroying your records. Let’s say you are applying 2 grams of track force with your current setup. That force you are playing is HUGE considering the size of contact surface. The size of contact surface between your needle and vinyl is about the same size of Microdot, if not much smaller. Now I can’t do a precise calculation for you, but I’ve heard numerous times that if you use one gram of downforce you can think that it equals to one ton (1,000 kilograms) of pressure per square inch. So, if your needle is misshaped, you are killing your favorite records. For the same reason you should play clean records. If you play dirty record with a piece of dust, you might as well be dragging a rock size of a car on a highway at 100 mph. Also, you may want to get a cheap cartridge force gauge to make sure you dont have too little or too much force.

I guess you are not interested in Grado Black. They offer in both P-mount and Standard half inch, and other companies offer the same. Standard Half inch and P-mount should fit 99.9% of tonearms out there.

If you havent seen this site, it is worth a look.
http://www.needledoctor.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.402/.f
any cartridge under 50 bucks will sound hundred times better than your lets say "damaged" cartridge. Or at least you may not have to repurchase your favorite records too soon.

This site may help you now or in near future.
http://www.audiophilia.com/features/cartridge_setup.htm

To check and see if your arm will accept half inch or P-mount, this site should help you determine.
http://www.turntablebasics.com/advice.html

This section of forum has been dead for some reason. I really hope you will get advises from others with better words and experiences.

Good Luck

[JoeE SP9]

I would recommend that you replace the cartridge. I'm fairly certain you have an "S" shaped tonearm. It needs a standard mount headshell. If you don't want to spend a lot of money a Shure M97 or Grado Black or any standard mount cartridge will work. Make sure the cartridge is aligned properly and the vertical tracking angle and stylus pressure are properly adjusted.

[A35460073B]

Ya know, I have an old Grado cartridge that hasn't seen a lot of use. I've had it for years, but have rarely used the TT it's installed on. It might still be good enough. It was worth $75 about... 8 years ago? But has not seen 8 years' worth of use. You can have it for the price of shipping. It's a moving magnet species, a simple P-mount.

[jrhymeammo]

http://www.needledoctor.com/s.nl/sc.12/.f

[dav305z]

Damn! I just bought a full priced one from them and had't seen that page. Oh well, at least I know what I'm getting.