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Goldring 800 cartridge

kevinrt

pfm Member
I recently received a Goldring 800 cartridge included along with a 3009 tonearm (non improved) which I bought. It came with a stylus which still has a tip on it.

Does anyone know anything about this cartridge? I think it may be a similar age to the tonearm.

I don’t expect it to be excellent but may give it a try out of interest.

regards

Kevin
 
It's a perfectly competent budget cartridge from the 1970s and certainly turns in a decent enough performance. Something like a modern AT-VM95E should put it in its place, however.

As an aside, some people will try and tell you that it can be upgraded with a spanky new posh stylus and will then outperform high end moving coils but, as I suspect these people are the same ones that think a Rega RB250 can be tweaked to out-perform an SME V, they are best ignored.
 
I wouldn't say it's anything special and its frequency response varied with room temperature! (this was picked up in the reviews of the time)

I mainly used mine for 78s, but an AT95E with 78 stylus was better and the AT-MONO3/SP better still!
 
If I remember correctly there is a little section of bar magnet above the removable stylus on the G800 - there's a real fashion for re-magnetising Triang and Hornby motor magnets of this age - wonder if anyone considered doing it for vintage MM carts? DGP
 
If I remember correctly there is a little section of bar magnet above the removable stylus on the G800 - there's a real fashion for re-magnetising Triang and Hornby motor magnets of this age - wonder if anyone considered doing it for vintage MM carts?

Interesting, that would imply it is a moving iron design, not moving magnet, i.e. similar to a Nagaoka or Grado.
 
Yes, moving iron, induced magnet, take your pick. With benefit of hindsight, makes the 2000 series seem a bit ironic.

Goldring-G800-body.jpg
 
Yes - definitely a budget but quite competent cartridge, very popular back in the early 1970s - most came to market in either a Garrard SP25 mk2/3 or the BSR McDonald MP60.

Quite a few notches lower than the other favourites of the time, such as Shure M55E or the M75 series.
 
Very often found hiding in old Lenco headshells, which is unsurprising given the Goldring connection. I’ve never tried one. My first system second-hand GL75 had already had it evicted for a Shure M75EJ, which was likely a horrific compliance match to the heavy Lenco arm.

What was the best stylus one could get for a G800/850? I recall there were a few different ones of different colours. I would think one that made it as far as a SME 3009 would be pretty good.
 
The stylus that came with it is red. Not sure what that signifies or what other options were available.

Kevin
 
Assuming original Goldring, red will be a D110H stylus as fitted to 800H, a .7mil spherical. 800H was described as being for inexpensive changers tracking between 2.5 to 4.0g with 3g recommended. The 'H' also indicated high output which was spec'd at 8mV. What was nice at the time is that the body would take D110E, their 0.3 x 0.7mil elliptical and track at 0.75 to 1.75g, essentially making this into 800E.

I do recall reading of the ambient temperature affects upon sound quality, something that Goldring reportedly corrected early on by changing the rubber damping compound.
 
What was the best stylus one could get for a G800/850? I recall there were a few different ones of different colours. I would think one that made it as far as a SME 3009 would be pretty good.

there were four if I remember correctly:

White - the standard conical that tracked at 2.5g
Red - larger conical that tracked at 3g
Grey - elliptical that tracked at 1.5g
Another colour I can’t remember - higher specification elliptical that tracked at 1.25g

There was also a 78rpm stylus IIRC.
 
78 stylus was blue. Goldring already tried to crack the American market in the 50s when their cartridges were imported and badged by Recoton.
 
One of these was fitted in a Garrard AP76 which I purchased new from Comet in 1972. I didn't like it at all, very dull sounding I seem to remember. Mine had the white stylus I think and I soon replaced it with a Shure M44E and a few years later a M75ED. I still have that somewhere, but my Dad had the G800 off me and used it in an SP25/III.
 
I still have a G800 which came originally with a Garrard SP25. A few years ago I bought an aftermarket 78 Stylus for it so I could play 78s That aftermarket stylus is white but definitley 78 you can see visually it is substantially different to a microgroove stylus. So colours are not necessarily consistent.
 
It was commented back in the day, that with Radio One using the lowly G800 cartridge, how did they manage to get such a super sound? Can't remember the reasons given.
 


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