Shure M55e, I recently inherited one.....

[freefallrob]

Hi guys, after my AT95e, er....broke...:rolleyes:, I set about finding a recently inherited Shure cart, which turned out to be the M55e.

I know very little about Shure carts and the great scheme of things so I thought i'll clean it up (was a bit yucky) and fit it and see what occurs...

Well set up at about 2grams, Stevenson on my RB301, it tracks well enough and sounds rich and detailed through the EAR834P i'm using at present, very musical in fact, with many a musical phrase/rhythm and texture uncovered along which punchy bass and good stereo.

It remains bright enough across the side on my set up.

Question, where and how do you get new styli from, I've seen a few NOS on ebay but I've no idea which 'copies' are any good/rubbish.

[DSJR]

The M55e was similar to the first generation V15 I recall.

The stylus I have in mine is the Ed Saunders one, which tracks well at 1.8g or so and gives a smooth, slightly treble-restrained sound, the sssting at very high frequencies of the original being very well controlled I think. The diamond os nice and well set too..

[Barry]

Does your M55E have a brown coloured body or a black one? The brown M55E was my first 'serious' cartridge (following the M3D), and was made by Shure in the US. Some Shure cartridges are made for Shure in Mexico, and are considered by some to be not as good as those made in the US.

I'm not sure if the black bodied M55Es are also made in the US or in Mexico. I have one; it came with a TT and arm I bought many years ago, and kept it out of nostalgia (reminding me of my first M55E).

From memory, I think I tracked the M55E at 2.0g. Usually I start with the maximum recommended tracking weight less 0.25g, and then experiment with small changes around that value.

As far as replacement stylii are concerned, the Ed Sauders stylii are well regarded and are readily obtainable on eBay.

[Clive197]

My recollection is that the M55E was the upgrade to the M3D, the next upgrade from the 55 was the 75 and then you hankered after a V15.
Shure produced the cheaper M97 which was the V15 stylus in a less expensive body and motor.

They were all well thought of at the time (early seventies). Obviously 40 odd years can play tricks with ones memory.

[freefallrob]

I think the cart I have is black bodied which I guess would be a later one, it was dark the night, I'll look in day light to be shure (sorry!).

I need to do a bit more listening to it to make sure my first impressions are correct, i'd say it's certainly coloured sounded, but in a nice way...

Thank you for the info guys.:)