Audio Technica based cartridges

[Floyddroid]

Do you mean the PTG/II?
It is one of my favourites. The AT95SA I have is rather good as well. They just seem to
Do things well, for a reasonable cost.
I have got rid of the plastic housing and have it in a wooden body. I mean to fit an aluminium body to it at one point.

I also have a heavily modified DL103 (boron canti and shibata tip) that ticks all of the right boxes.

Oh, why do you prefer the OC9?

Aye. PTG/II

[Floyddroid]

Do you mean the PTG/II?
It is one of my favourites. The AT95SA I have is rather good as well. They just seem to
Do things well, for a reasonable cost.
I have got rid of the plastic housing and have it in a wooden body. I mean to fit an aluminium body to it at one point.

I also have a heavily modified DL103 (boron canti and shibata tip) that ticks all of the right boxes.

Oh, why do you prefer the OC9?

I like the OC9 because it has a live feel to it. It is great will all genres of music and has a great liveliness about it.

[garrard]

The AT95E has been discontinued and is no longer listed on the AT website. The AT95EX has replaced it with a .03x.07 stylus.

Marketing exercise I suspect. A number of us bought AT95E carts and even the paper slip inside said it had 0.3x0.7. They must have thought the change was confusing and warranted a new letter to be added

[DSJR]

Later styli for the 95E do seem well ground and polished and even the Rega Carbon (posh AT91) has a nice conical finish on it, albeit with more glue than on the finest styli out there

Looking at the current AT catalogue, the 95E and 95EX have identical specs, so whether the EX is more than just a housing colour change I don't know.

The 95E family body has been tweaked at least in appearance these days and the pins appear golden in colour now. In the past, I believe the Linn K5 and K9 used 95E internals (K18 too?) and this was proof enough that a better diamond, cantilever and suspension could work wonders. Going too mad though intrudes on the 500 series and these supposedly DO have a better internal design and coil winding.

As for sound, every time I listen through a 95E I keep wanting a bit more 'air' and 'clarity' up top. The Carbon has a sparkle to it which isn't strictly 'truthful' but it's entertaining and an elliptical tip for this body (Dual DN251E from Thakker - also for one of their own nomenclature) refines this to a similar slightly polite sound as the 95E has. The deck and arm play a large part in this as well and the 95E is one of those that can transform itself for the better in a turntable system way outside it's humble price level.

Sadly, the 500 series seem to be an excuse for a large price increase, the 120E at £79 ten years ago and finishing at around £129 now becoming the 530 at £179 and the 440MLa/MLb having nearly £100 increase to £249 in the 540. have a look (with a translator) to the German Lowbeats site for excellent reviews, measurements too (EEK!) and most important, sound bytes presented of all the cartridges they test..

Thing is, rather than a dull balance with ehf recovery, modern AT's tend to be flat with an ehf peak, which can upset some marginal phono stages on surface ticks and splats. I was told once that Japanese vinyl is softer and appreciates this characteristic, but many modern cartridges tend to be this way and only the old fashioned designs buck the current trend I think.

[GrahamS]

Just BTW - I have since been told by a reliable source inside AT that the AT95EX stylus has an improved "suspension" compared to the AT95E. This is now a moot point as both are discontinued.

[hifi_dave]

The new and improved VM95 series has taken over and still very reasonably priced.

[Jac Hawk]

Must admit, I keep gravitating back to Audio Technica cartridges. I am using an AT33 PLGIII at the moment though I will be moving back to an OC9 ml3 when funds allow. I have owned two and three grand cartridges in the past and they didn't make me smile the way the Audio Technica's do. The only thing that came close was a Denon 103. Some of the early Linn cartridges were re-badged Audio Technica's I believe? Just my view guys, don't shoot me for it.

Yo know who you need to speak to if you want a new AT cart