Which SPU for Schick

[5acan]

Hi,

Wanting to give a try to this combo, I'm wondering which SPU I must choose?
Thanks for sharing your experience or advises

C.

[Macca]

Where are all the SPU fans hiding?

Marco?

[Moko]

Well if you don't want to spend too much money the Classic GMII E is a fine cartridge, I've been using mine for a few years now and am really pleased with it, however I am not sure how much better the SPU's further up the ladder sound and if the extra costs are worth it.

[petrat]

New or used?
If you are prepared to go second-hand, then I believe Thomas personally uses the Anniversary 90 model. If you do find a (ab)used one, I also believe Ortofon will rebuild to original specification. OTOH if you are prepared to spend euros, the latest Anniversary 95 one is stunning, and is available from the Ortofon online shop.

[5acan]

Thanks for your inputs guys,
For what I understand the GM II is the best you can get for price, that's fine.
And conical will give vintage sound vs elliptical more modern.

So last question :eyebrows:
I'm stuck between a EMT TSD15 and a ZYX 50, EMT giving a vintage punchy sound, the ZYX something modern and thinner, which one choose ;-)

[neskor]

On my 12" Schick is SPU Gold right now, much better that previous GM E MKII.

[5acan]

Thanks,
No longer available :(

[Wakefield Turntables]

Silver Meister sounds pretty good.

[5acan]

More I read more I can't decide :lol:
Meister seems good but twice the price of GM...life is hard

[anubisgrau]

buy a bashed one and send it to thomas schick to service. or SL15 (apparently even better for overhaul).

[5acan]

Thanks Gordan,
Probably I will do that, but Thomas seems very buzzy...

[Barry]

Thanks for your inputs guys,
For what I understand the GM II is the best you can get for price, that's fine.
And conical will give vintage sound vs elliptical more modern.

So last question :eyebrows:
I'm stuck between a EMT TSD15 and a ZYX 50, EMT giving a vintage punchy sound, the ZYX something modern and thinner, which one choose ;-)

EMT TSD15. I have used them (or the XSD version) for the last 35 years. One of them is currently on loan to Marco; ask him what he thinks of it.

I also use an Ortofon SPU (the "cooking" GM II) and think the 'sound' is closer to the EMT than other cartridges - not surprisingly as Ortofon supplied cartridges to EMT before EMT designed their own, the latter being obviously influenced by the SPU-A.

[5acan]

Thanks Barry, I didn't know that, so probably not the pah to follow in term of diversification ;-)
May I ask you how you use your EMT?
MM or MC?
SUT?

thnaks

[Barry]

Thanks Barry, I didn't know that, so probably not the path to follow in term of diversification ;-)
May I ask you how you use your EMT?
MM or MC?
SUT?

thnaks

When used with my EMT 929 arm the cartridges are either the TSD15 (with spherical tip) or the TSD15sfl (with a 'fine line' stylus). The EMT 930 turntable has a built in equalisation amplifier (aka phonostage) whose output can be adjusted as high as 5V. I have set mine to give about 100 -200mV output feeding a line-level input of the preamplifier.

If I use the EMT XSD15 cartridge (essentially identical to the TSD, but having an extended stub with the contacts arranged to mate with the standard SME/EIA arm bayonet coupling) with either an SME 3009 II (non improved) or 3012 II arm, then I use a separate phonostage (either a modified Linn LINNK or a Mark Levinson ML25) these latter feeding a line-level input of the preamplifier.

I do have a few SUTs (Nakamichi MC100, Ortofon (Jeurgen Schou) 2-15K, as well as a couple of home made units using Haufe and Sowter transformers), however I find the use of phonostages to be more convenient in my set up.

[5acan]

Thanks for all Barry, very helpful.
My TSD is with VDH boron cantilever...nice and sweet ;-)

[Barry]

Thanks for all Barry, very helpful.
My TSD is with VDH boron cantilever...nice and sweet ;-)

Now that is something special! Was it modified by Van Den Hul? I assume it has a VDH tip. EMT TSDs are now available with the VDH tip as an option. It would be interesting to compare one with the 'sfl' version.

Take very great care not to 'snag' the cantilever. Boron is a brittle material and boron cantilevers can be easily broken; as I know to my cost!

Regards

[5acan]

I know, I broke it once ;-(
This one was retipped with VDH and optimized.