Stanton make several variants of the 500 II and I was wondering whether any Hi Fi junkies could opine on which version of the 500 II stylus is best for spinning those easy-wear styrene pressings

What I mean by best is which version of the Stanton 500 does LEAST damage to the vinyl?

Steve

I'd recommend if you can to move away from the 500 series and look at the 680's.

I've current moved to this with the 1210 deck and either the D6800EL styles or the newer HP rate styles give both better sound quaility and less wear.

I'm lucky; I've a guy localy who is a Technic's expert and he's just serviced three decks for me, the two mobile units have the HP and the home one the D680. Well worth the small investment.

Let me know if you'd like his details, he's far more techie then me about these things

If they do an elliptical stylus go for that, but at the end of the day the Stanton 500 isn't much cop and is designed for wedding party disc jockeys. I guess for about £20 on discount they could be worse though, but you'd be better off spending a bit more on a hi-fi cartridge, the Stanton isn't one.

Apparently, hHigher up the Stanton range tehre are some surprisingly good models that are absolute bargains, but I haven't a clue which ones they are now.

Pottsy has some fantastic stylus that get right down in the groove, not sure what they are called but apparently only avaliable in America! cuts out noise from scratches ect, as long as they're not really deep gouges.

Pottsy has some fantastic stylus that get right down in the groove, not sure what they are called but apparently only avaliable in America! cuts out noise from scratches ect, as long as they're not really deep gouges.

To get rid of noise its useful to have a mono button as this cuts out the signal from unmodulated vinyl on most 60s mono pressings. Thats vinyl where there is no signal, just noise. Even if its not obvious background noise you can tell when its gone. Getting too deep into a groove on mono records isn't such a good idea as they were intended to be played with old spherical stylii in a mono system and modern carts track differently.

You can't cut out noise from scratches unless your cartridge is either avoiding contact with the scratches (and setting it up properly does have that effect but see comments about riding deep in the groove) or has such a limited range that it can't reproduce the noise a scratch makes. Which would be pretty appalling.

i've just been looking into cartridges etc. currently using ortofon concorde DJ ones which are ok:

https://www.djstore.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.pl?i...ts-ap5555yaaaaa

but thinking of trading up to the top of the range scratch ones. not intending to do any scratching obviously but want to reduce the chances of needle burn from cuing:

https://www.djstore.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.pl?i...ts-aahamabaccaa

i've just been looking into cartridges etc. currently using ortofon concorde DJ ones which are ok:

https://www.djstore.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.pl?i...ts-ap5555yaaaaa

but thinking of trading up to the top of the range scratch ones. not intending to do any scratching obviously but want to reduce the chances of needle burn from cuing:

https://www.djstore.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.pl?i...ts-aahamabaccaa

You won't do that by using a scratch cartridge which simply trades sound quality with tracking ability and are designed to be used at greater weight than other designs. Greater tracking force means more lbs per square millimetre, which means faster vinyl wear. These are recommended for 4-5 grams, which is more than twice what I would use at home. Vinyl ruiners par excellence.

Thank you for your assistance, I will indeed "trade up" to the 680 I think. At the end of the day it's got to be worth investing in the stylus!

Thank you for your assistance, I will indeed "trade up" to the 680 I think. At the end of the day it's got to be worth investing in the stylus!

Lately I've been using (and can recommend) the new Shure White Labels on my 1210's.............they have a low tracking force, which is great for less record wear.

Like everything...................You get what you pay for !

Pottsy has some fantastic stylus that get right down in the groove, not sure what they are called but apparently only avaliable in America! cuts out noise from scratches ect, as long as they're not really deep gouges.

I use Pickering cartridges on my 1210's at home, sound very good.

Pottsy has some fantastic stylus that get right down in the groove, not sure what they are called but apparently only avaliable in America! cuts out noise from scratches ect, as long as they're not really deep gouges.

Hmmm remind me not to buy any vinyl off him then (Hi Pottsy!)

Don't really want the grooves worn out on an expensive record

Hmmm remind me not to buy any vinyl off him then (Hi Pottsy!)

Don't really want the grooves worn out on an expensive record

Didn't realise you had any expensive records Steve

Didn't realise you had any expensive records Steve

Is that why you never book me for the "Ah Well" then?

Is that why you never book me for the "Ah Well" then?

Touche............................

As we're (light-heartedly) verbally fencing my (truthful) reply would be..............................................................................

...we were gonna book you for the Easter Sunday All dayer but someone got in before us............ah well

See you soon Stevie

Stanton make several variants of the 500 II and I was wondering whether any Hi Fi junkies could opine on which version of the 500 II stylus is best for spinning those easy-wear styrene pressings

What I mean by best is which version of the Stanton 500 does LEAST damage to the vinyl?

What a shame, I thought this was going to be a really useful and informative post. I am using Stanton 500s myself, as I was lead to believe they were ideal for playing 60s styrene & vinyl. It just seems to me, that what one person recomends as THE one to use,the next person says, is completely wrong. Very confusing, and I'm no wiser than I was before.

I think there must be a misunderstanding between "best sound reproduction" and "least damage done to precious styrene/vinyl" Maybe the cart that gives fantastic sound quality, will also wear your 45s out quicker. The wear factor has to be the most important for us. I'm sure I saw some for sale that were reputed to cause zero cue burn. But if memory serves, they around £100 apiece. I'll try and find them again, and report back. I just thought, surely a gap in the market for one of the manufactures. The perfect cart for 60s & 70s styrene/vinyl [great repoduction and zero wear] could call it the utopia, or the flying pig, or does it already exist??

What a shame, I thought this was going to be a really useful and informative post. I am using Stanton 500s myself, as I was lead to believe they were ideal for playing 60s styrene & vinyl. It just seems to me, that what one person recomends as THE one to use,the next person says, is completely wrong. Very confusing, and I'm no wiser than I was before.

I think there must be a misunderstanding between "best sound reproduction" and "least damage done to precious styrene/vinyl" Maybe the cart that gives fantastic sound quality, will also wear your 45s out quicker. The wear factor has to be the most important for us. I'm sure I saw some for sale that were reputed to cause zero cue burn. But if memory serves, they around £100 apiece. I'll try and find them again, and report back. I just thought, surely a gap in the market for one of the manufactures. The perfect cart for 60s & 70s styrene/vinyl [great repoduction and zero wear] could call it the utopia, or the flying pig, or does it already exist??

There are many cartridges that fulfill this criteria but I doubt whether many people would pay for them. its a combination of sound quality, tracking force and tracking ability. Personally I'd plump for the Denon 301 at about £90 (but its a moving coil so you need to boost the output, but is as it was designhed 40+ years ago for 60s vinyl and still sounds great), the Denon 304 (moving coil again) at about £220 and the Shure V15mxV, now discontinued but still available at about £300. But any cartridge that can track at less than 2.5 grams should be fine if clean and not worn, then you're just looking at sound quality.

Stanton 500s are fine but not really all that much cop in the greater scheme of things, but there are a lot worse costing a lot more!

How the hell does someone get cueing burn playing records at home?

Stanton 500 carts were used by the more discerning DJ in the seventies. The even more discerning DJ used Shure M 44 E's.

Setting up the deck properly helps. If the decks are hired out to Sccratch and Hip Hop DJ's you may need to do a bit of work on them. The clue is "Are the tone arm weights reversed?" if so look very carefully at the height of the tone arm and the angle of the stylus hitting the record. Check the Anti Skate. It should be set at the tracking weight of the Cart. If not you may find the tone arm just refuses to get to the end of the 7" record. Most Scratch/Hip Hop DJ's use 12" singles and very rarely play them all the way through to the end of the groove.

If you're playing 7" singles use the Chunky Technics rubber mats that came with decks. Slip mats are for turntablists who manipulate records so unless you want to repeat the opening horn riff from Harlem Shuffle or the the loop the Beyonce blast from Are You My Woman use a rubber. It's safer and cuts down the risk of feedback.

DJ Deft writes with some sense here

https://www.dj.deft.ukgateway.net/mainpages/cartridges.htm

There are many cartridges that fulfill this criteria but I doubt whether many people would pay for them. its a combination of sound quality, tracking force and tracking ability. Personally I'd plump for the Denon 301 at about £90 (but its a moving coil so you need to boost the output, but is as it was designhed 40+ years ago for 60s vinyl and still sounds great), the Denon 304 (moving coil again) at about £220 and the Shure V15mxV, now discontinued but still available at about £300. But any cartridge that can track at less than 2.5 grams should be fine if clean and not worn, then you're just looking at sound quality.

Stanton 500s are fine but not really all that much cop in the greater scheme of things, but there are a lot worse costing a lot more!

How the hell does someone get cueing burn playing records at home?

Sorry Stuart,

I didn't make myself clear. I'm on about my Techmics 1210s that I use out. Not at home. I'm not interested in scratching either, just playing 45s and dancing to 'em. But with the cost of rare vinyl, I'd like to think I was looking after other peoples records, as well as my own.