A very indepth analysis of the Shure M44-7 v M55E cartridges

[brian2957]

I've been reading your posts Andy, but a lot to take in. I still have an M55e here and may have a 44-7 somewhere, both without a stylus though. I may try the M55e on my Rega Planar 3 if I can find a decent cheap stylus. We'll see. Anyway, keep up the good work mate

[Gazjam]

I've been reading your posts Andy, but a lot to take in. I still have an M55e here and may have a 44-7 somewhere, both without a stylus though. I may try the M55e on my Rega Planar 3 if I can find a decent cheap stylus. We'll see. Anyway, keep up the good work mate

Enjoying the pressie from Santa mate?

[Jimbo]

Shure Adventures Pt IV - Problems = Solutions!

Not Shure (sorry) if anyone is following this little series of posts as I don't seem to get much feedback, anyway I do this so others can have a play if they fancy. Firstly, a BIG thanks to Tony over on PFM for sending me a link to a pair of splitters which can be modded to add capacitance to the Croft MM phonostage!!!!!. Here is a link if you fancy producing something yourselves https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gold-Plated...f_=as_li_ss_tl

Yep, a big link. I've a set of loading plugs for the EAR 834P clone and the resistors have a 5% tolerance which to me is no good as I'm supposed to be critically matching each channel as closely as possible. So it looks like I may have to order some resistors from here https://www.vishay.com/en/product/31814/ with a tolerance of 0.005% or it might be a call to Hi-Fi collective if I can't get the correct value, tolerance goes down to 0.01% but that's not too shabby. I'll make up a pair of loading plugs for the Croft once I've got a properly measured value from the MM stage itself. I'm already bugging a few people with brains far larger than mine to have a look at the insides of the Croft and figure this out. It may even be that
I have to make a pair for the EAR 834P clone. We shall see when critical listening tests start. I've added another 3.5hours on the M44-7 stylus today which is approaching the half way period.

It now appears that JICO are making M44 stylii which are compatible with the M55E, thats great if yoy wamt boron but what about Sapphire and Ruby which is something that JICO used to produce for the M55E. Both Ruby and Sapphire are better cantilever materials (to my ears) than Boron. Boron is cheaper but the others do offer a significant upgrade and by experimenting with these materials you can get a cheap entry level into listening to cartridges with Crystal based cantilevers, a little like https://ortofon.com/products/mc-diamond ok, this cart is £10K but it does have a diamond cantilever. I'm not suggesting a 50-60 year old cartridge would sound anything like Ortofon's top cart but the JICO crystal based cantilevers offer a massive upgrade to the Boron cantilevers, and once you factor in the diamond profile it's a killer combo. Please don't bother flaming me for making comparison with a 60 year old MM cart. You won't get any response from me.

OK, enough for tonight. I've got to listen to Atomic Rooster.....

Stay tuned....

Ruby and Sapphire are also available.

[brian2957]

Enjoying the pressie from Santa mate?

Of course buddy

[Wakefield Turntables]

I've been reading your posts Andy, but a lot to take in. I still have an M55e here and may have a 44-7 somewhere, both without a stylus though. I may try the M55e on my Rega Planar 3 if I can find a decent cheap stylus. We'll see. Anyway, keep up the good work mate

Hi Brian, hope your ok! Hope you enjoy the Rega Planar 3

Ruby and Sapphire are also available.

OOOOOhhhh.....

[brian2957]

Hi Brian, hope your ok! Hope you enjoy the Rega Planar 3



OOOOOhhhh.....

Aye doin fine Andy. Hope all's well your end. Yup, I'm really enjoying the Planar 3. Can't really muck around with it which suits me fine

[Wakefield Turntables]

Shure Adventures Pt V - Further set up tweaks.

The adventure continues. So far this whole escapade has cost me nothing apart from some electric to power everything. I've managed to solve the problem of loading the Croft with an accurate level of pF so that the Shure carts should be properly loaded and can be assessed accurately against one another and also sonic presentation of the Croft/EAR 834p (clone) phonostages. It turns out I had all the parts sitting around in my garage of plenty. Ages ago I wanted a cheap solution when playing MONO records and I'd bought a couple (in case I lost one) of "Y" splitters to be used with my then Shure M55E and mono stylus. Things move on and stuff gets put in the spares box. I also have a full set of loading plugs, I think these came from Alan (Firebottle). Anyway, I now have capability to listen to the Shure carts at correct pF loading irrespective of phonostage used.

Here's the kit to load the Croft MM phonostage.



More tweaking the the TT setup. The 401 now spins at 33.3 RPM, the laser is very accurate, I've used this system before to monitor the speed of a Pheonix Engineering PSU+Roadrunner controlled Garrard 301 and it pretty much matches it's measurements when you mess around increasing or decreasing the speed. The laser is not the most accurate of kit but I'm confident things are spinning with 0.1 RPM accuracy.


If you remember I had a list of things that I'd done, or would like to do to improve this experiment. I have included a new update of the lists.

Things I could do to further improve this Experiment
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. Could use Townshend Isolation platform for further improvement of airbourne vibration and such like.
2. Feed the phonostages with a cleaner power supply. Could this produce a bias in that the 401 has a clean supply and the phonostages don't?

Factor Affecting the Absolute Performance of the Shure Carts
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The M55E appears to be a marginally better match for the SME V-12.
2. I'm compromising the absolute speed accuracy of the 401, I could use a Roadrunner/Eagle PSU combo to match speed to 0.001 RPM rather than
0.01 RPM accuracy.


Steps Taken to Maximise Performance
------------------------------------------
1. Using Baerweld tracking, setup with respected Dr. Fieckhart protractor
2. Using a true Reference tonearm which matches both the M44-7 and M55E very well.
3. Turntable perfectly level in all planes.
4. Tried to make sure that the 401 is running with a clean power supply, supplied with a PS Audio P10
5. Motor decoupled from 401 less vibration getting into cartridge
6. Tried to improve the trackability of the Carts by making sure the vinyl is as flat as possible and then using heavy record clamp and peripheral
platter ring on vinyl.
7. Both cartridge stylii are new and I have allowed a 30 hours break-in period for any cantilever stiffness.
8. Accurately known and matched loading capacitance for left and right channel cartridge channels.
9. 401 platter damped with a Tenuto platter mat.
10. 401 now accurately setup and running at 33.3 RPM +/- 0.01 RPM.
11. All phonostages now have ability to be accurately loaded with accurately measure pF levels.


The M44-7 is now over half way to being run in, probably at the 17 hour mark now after tonights session. I have switched over to the EAR 834P just for a change away from the Croft. Things sound different, but that is for the better. It's nice to refresh myself with the sound of vintage ECC83's, a marked difference from the 5691's! That's it for tonight.

Stay tuned.....

[Jimbo]

I could do with some of those loading plugs to run the M55E with my Croft.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Speak to Alan (Firebottle) he might be able to make you a set. I will also say that the M55E has weaker channel seperation that the M44-7, stereo imaging may be affected. The M44G might be something to think about it has better channel seperation than the M55E approx. 3dB and THE SAME mV output as the M55E!!!!!! Now if the latest JICO stylii worked with the M44G..........(cue evil bond villan voice) interesting Mr. Bond.....

[Jimbo]

Speak to Alan (Firebottle) he might be able to make you a set. I will also say that the M55E has weaker channel seperation that the M44-7, stereo imaging may be affected. The M44G might be something to think about it has better channel seperation than the M55E approx. 3dB and THE SAME mV output as the M55E!!!!!! Now if the latest JICO stylii worked with the M44G..........(cue evil bond villan voice) interesting Mr. Bond.....

I think JICO said the SAS stylus would fit the M44G aswell as M44-7 so there could be something interesting brewing there....?