Who´s got a new P77 then ?

[Chris]

As I was expecting to send my paratrace Troika back to Esco or Goldring for a retip soon (no treble after 8 years light use) I was mulling over buying a replacement to tide me over. Then, reading a Spanish forum, I learned of an Italian guy who retips at very reasonable prices. Given the expense of MCs and retipping them I often wonder how MMs might sound through my system today (valve phono) so I dug out my ancient A&R P77 and my slightly younger Rega Elys ( cantilever well off centre and stuck) and sent them off to said gent in Italy hoping perhaps to salvage one of them. I had stuck the P77 stylus assembly with Loctite (Thanks Mr. Hughes) which made necessary a hurried explanation over the web to Maurizio who it would seem has a special liquid to loosen said adhesive.
Well, in the end, and after consulting with me for my OK, he fitted a hyper elliptical to my P77 and sorted my Rega cantilever problem so I now have 2 "reserves".
The trouble is that I am not so sure the P77 is in fact a reserve any longer. I fitted it into my Ittok last Saturday afternoon, you know, a rush job - no daylight etc.so the adjustment can and will be improved upon - I didn´t even look whether the arm was parallel or not, or at the right height for VTA - and the 30 odd year old little gem (sorry) sounds amazing. Gone is the oh so warm bass and I now have treble that I had forgotten all about and I swear I am now in no hurry to send my Troika off to the UK. This now poses the quandary over whether to entrust Maurizio with my Troika and forget about mineral cantilevers and generator rebuilds and just get this HE tip onto my Troika and spend the saving elsewhere.

Funnily enough, while the 2 cartridges were away for 3 or 4 months - the process took this long because his son was born in the interim, he did try the HE tip on the Rega and said it didn´t gel, much preferring the results with the A&R.

can´t wait to really check the set up to see if I can get the last touch of class and repose which is the only thing in which the Troika excels over the MM as far as I am concerned or can discern so far.

[gninnam]

Great result!
I have a few P77's and one got re-tipped by Expert many years ago and it was well worth the money, once used for a good few hours it sounded very good for a lowly MM cart.

[indie roehre]

I have the P77 with the SAS 1 stylus from Jico. It fits perfectly and it is much better than the original stylus and beats every other MM cartridge- easily. regards. Knut

[cre009]

Out of interest which SAS stylus are you using? One specified for Shure cartridges?

I have three original bodied A&R cartridges plus a magnesium bodied version and a now broken Stilton version.

I have always liked the P77 stylus but was less keen on the E77 and never really liked the C77. Not enthusiastic about the mag bodied or Stilton versions but have always liked the original.

The P77s are now a bit over used as my go to cartridge and stylus for testing purposes.

[indie roehre]

It is the replacement (neo)SAS Stylus 1 for the Jico SAS MM cartridge - a limited edition cartridge a few years ago.

[blackholesun]

Esco still sell brand new P77 stylus assemblies. They used to make them for A&R and still have some stock. I paid under 100 quid last year including postage to Poland. It's a nice cart, but I prefer Denon DL-110.

[cre009]

ok - thanks

just found quite a bit of discussion at LH

https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/in...p?topic=7995.0

[Chris]

The original P77 profile wouldn´t have held a candle to what I´m hearing with the Hyper elliptical. It is quite literally chalk and cheese. I´m comparing it with my Troika, albeit retipped a few years ago. Absolutely no comparison. And it cost me a fair bit less than 100 squid. I like it so much that I´m seriously thinking of getting my Troika fitted with the same tip and forgetting mineral cantilevers and Fritz Gyger tips etc. Ok. It won´t be like an original Troika but I had to have it rebuilt when I bought it second-hand so it never was, to my ears at least.