Shure M55E or Shure V15 mk3 - Which would you have?

[Wakefield Turntables]

I fancy a change of cartridge on my Alphason MC100 tonearm so the contenders are

Shure M55E with snakewood replacement body and with the new NEO SAS/S stylus https://www.jico-stylus.com/product_info.php?products_id=1672

or

Original Shure V15 mk 3 with the VN35MR stylus

Decisions, decisions, what would you pick?

:eek:

[dantheman91]

V15 MK3....:)

[drSM]

Slightly off topic but if u will indulge me
I have a V15 III w a Jico SAS in a Graham 1.5 arm thats in good condition after refurb, on a td124 . I am very fond of the sound of this combination.
I AB tested it last nite against an old but hardly used Ortofon SL15Q in a refurbed 3012 II, on another td124.
Ancillary equipment as below.
Plugged into the MM and MC inputs of the preamp.

The Ortofon was streets ahead in every way !
For added fun we used 2 ELO Discovery LPs . My pals Jap pressing against my old UK presssing .
The UK pressing was clearly superior and this 'superiority' was more evident with the Ortofon.
The Jap pressing sounded 'less inferior' when played using the Ortofon .
Yes I like the V15 III but the SL15 Q is a much better cartridge - even tho i believe the 3012 is ill suited to it.

[struth]

I'm a fan of the 55 either with a nos or sas. It's hard to beat musically

[Wakefield Turntables]

Well the only I ask is because I had a little single malt last night and fancied a change on my lenco from the usual m55e. I've had the V15 MSK 3 sitting on my shelf for ages and wondered how it would sound on the Alphason tonearm. And, it sounds bloody great. I need to properly set the cart up and have a good listen but it looks like it might oust the old m55e

[Barry]

I ran through the Shure series in my audio career: M3D; M55E; M75ED; V15 Mk.II (Improved) and V15 Mk.III, after which I abandoned Shure for ADC, Ortofon and Decca.

I still have a couple of Shure M55Es - kept out of nostalgia.

But if you can get hold of a Shure V15 Mk.IV with the hyperelliptical stylus that would be well worth considering (Shure had by then woken up to the fact that 'trackability' is not the 'be all and end all' of a cartridge, and started to pay attention to the sound quality).

[Wakefield Turntables]

I don't intend buying anymore Shure carts, I thought it might be fun to debate the differences between the two. Ultimately it's my choice I suppose. So I'm having some fun messing around trying them both out and eventually the winner will remain on the Lenco 75 and play through my EAR 834 clone.

[narabdela]

I've owned both. I think the M55E is the more forgiving cartridge. It suits a much wider range of tonearms, and sounds bloody good even with older (charity shop?) records, but a V15 mk3 in a properly fettled setup can sound sublime.

[Batty]

I'm running a V15 III with Neo SAS/SS on a Hadcock GH288 unipivot attached to a stiffened Luxman PD264.
Sounds great to me, light and airy with an even balance across the frequency range. Tracking at 1gm.
I have the standard Jico and an Ed saunders stylus but the neo SAS/SS kills them for detail.