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Shure cartridge query

L

Linnovice

pfm Member
Hi all, I have a query in regard to a phono cartridge that I’m wondering if anyone can help with. I run a Technics SL1200 MkII with an Ortofon 2M Bronze Cartridge. I find it a nice combination if a little on the bright side. A few years ago I came across a Shure M75B Type 2 Cartridge fitted with a Shure 6 T2 Stylus and for some reason, which I can’t remember now, decided to buy it. I’ve not got around to fitting it until yesterday and only then after finding it in a drawer and being curious.

I have to say I like the sound of it. It’s less bright and clinical than the Ortofon and a little more expressive in the bass and lower mids. This I suppose is the important part, that I like it. But, it does raise some questions for me. What is the history of this Shure range and what do the numbers mean. ie. 6 T2. I’ve looked around on the internet and although there’s quite a lot of information there, it appears there is more than one model in the M75 stable. The last Shure cartridge I had was a V15 mounted in a SME II arm back in the 70/80’s so know very little about them now (most of which I’ve forgotten . . . its an age thing).

Is there anyone out there who has experience of this combination and where it sits in the ‘quality’ range? All information would be gratefully received.
 
Perhaps not cartridges for a detail freak
Will not match any tonearm.
Personally I love them due to their coherence.

I still have a M75 though no knowledge to stylus number query.
The V15/III were outstanding imo, new Jico needles were available at some point.
No idea if it will work in the Technics tonearm, probably not optimised.

nos M97ex still available looking around, its the choice I'd go for with SL1200 but others may advise.
 
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M75B Type 2 and M75-6 Type 2 were the same thing, only the model designation was changed to help distinguish between the increasing tip profile options (which the letter/number suffix indicate).

Both 'B' and '-6' refer to the same bonded 0.6mil (0.0006") spherical tip.

As to loading, with most Shure cartridges of this vintage, resistance can be as high as 100,000 Ohms and total capacitance as low as 100pF with little audible change.

M75ED Type 2, with its 0.2 x 0.6mil elliptical, was the 'hot hatch' of its day, however, many folk preferred the sound of spherical tips, especially so, if installed on record changers where keeping one's cartridge level wasn't as much of a concern as how many records one could stack.
 
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Not nearly everything, exactly! However,...

...Shure never published compliance figures for these, preferring instead to quote their famous 'trackability' figures (i.e. maximum recorded velocity for a given optimum VTF at 400Hz, 1000Hz, 5000Hz, and 10000Hz).

With the above in mind, because M75B Type 2, and it's companion product M75EJ Type 2, were spec'd at 1.5 - 3g tracking force (with optimum 'trackability' at 2g), I suspect them to be medium-high compliance vs. those that achieved the same or better 'trackability' at 1g with a .75g - 1.5g range.

Now, I did have to look this bit up in the Shure 1979 Catalogue...

M91ED, M91GD, and M75ED Type 2
Trackability at 1g tracking force (in cm/sec peak recorded velocity)
using a Shure/SME arm:
22cm/sec @ 400Hz
33cm/sec @ 1000Hz
28cm/sec @ 5000Hz
19cm/sec @ 10000Hz​

If you really want to know the compliance value, you could use a test record to determine the resonant frequency (Fr); then, using said Fr, along with the mass of the cartridge/mounting hardware and the tonearm effective mass, transpose the following formula:
Fr = 1000/(2pi x sqrt(M x C))​
into
C = (1000/(2pi x sqrt(M)) / sqrt(Fr)​
where:
Fr = Resonance frequency of tonearm/cartridge (in Hz)
pi = pi (as in 3.14 is close enough)
M = effective mass of tonearm + mass of cartridge + mounting hardware (in grams)
C = phono cartridge compliance (dynamic ref. 10Hz)​

Then again, you wouldn't need the compliance figure, if what you wanted was to calculate the expected tonearm/cartridge resonance frequency; your once complimentary Shure test record will have already indicated such by causing your M75ED Type 2 to do the electric boogaloo (mechanical really). :)
 
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Thanks!

I habitually use the Vinyl Engine online resonance calculator, hence the need for a compliance figure.

Your post provided much food for thought. I have multiple Shure Audio Obstacle course LPs & an Ortofon test LP. Would they assist in my studies?
 
serendipitydawg said:
Thanks!

I habitually use the Vinyl Engine online resonance calculator, hence the need for a compliance figure.

Your post provided much food for thought. I have multiple Shure Audio Obstacle course LPs & an Ortofon test LP. Would they assist in my studies?
Click to expand...
You're welcome.

If you have Shure's 'An Audio Obstacle Course - Era IV' TTR115, or 'The V15 Type V Shure Audio Obstacle Course' TTR117 you can use the resonance test to determine your tonearm/cartridge resonance frequency.
 
IIRC Shure used 'thixotropic' (or similar) suspension systems which have a compliance and loss that are frequency dependent. So the values for LF arm resonance and HF stylus resonance may not be the same.
 
The M75 was never expensive, it was a standard item in most budget to mid price systems of the 70s and 80s. The AT 95E was generally thought to be better, I certainly preferred an AT 110 to an M75ED type 2. Neither were expensive, the 95 was a sub - £20 cart in the early 90s, with the 110 coming in at £20-25, the Shure probably less.
 
M75ED Type 2 was $59.95 in 1976; V15 Type III was $85. Both featured the same nude 0.2 x 0.7mil tip.

By comparison, both of the later released AT-95E and AT-110E featured the same bonded 0.4 x 0.7mil tip. This would equate to any of the 'E', 'EJ' or 'ECS' suffix Shure cartridges (the sole exception being M55E at 0.2 x 0.7mil).
 
M75 EJ was my first cartridge, in a TD 150 chassis with the mark 1 arm. I have a fair few collected in my little box of cartridges.
 
madmike said:
M75 EJ was my first cartridge, in a TD 150 chassis with the mark 1 arm. I have a fair few collected in my little box of cartridges.
Click to expand...
One of your M75 bodies plus $193.36 (plus $20-odd shipping) will land you one of the best MMs money can buy. JICO N75ED/2 SAS/B; micro-ridge tip with boron cantilever, plus virtual immunity to cartridge loading issues.
 
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