Shelter 5000 Cartridge

[MartinT]

I wasted no time in getting the Shelter 5000 into my Dynavector headshell and setting it up. This cartridge is heavy! It comes in at 11g and, together with the headshell, weighs in at 28g. I had to bring out the heaviest counterweight for the Dynavector's stub-arm for the first time.

First impressions (this is not really fair as it hasn't run in yet): I dropped the stylus onto one of my favourite test records, Steely Dan's Gaucho, and wondered if I had got the volume wrong. Turned it up and *yikes* turned it back down again! Surface noise is the lowest I've yet experienced. I'll have to set a new baseline in my head.

Back is the structural solidity of the Dynavector DV-20X2L, but not its darkness. The lush midrange of the Shelter 501-II is replaced with the most detailed, separated and dynamic space I've yet heard. Not at all lush. Energy keeps coming to mind - the 5000 has huge energy. Together with the Choir Audio SUT, it has simply knockout attack and clout.

At the high end is the extension of the AT-33PTG but with much finer detailing and texture. No splashy shoutiness now. The separation of instruments is incredible and I can hear into the music more than ever before. I can almost walk around the strands of music, focussing on each part as I wish.

That's all for now, I need to play many more records and there are only so many hours left in my life

[colinB]

That i one huge cartridge. Did you have to buy it from Japan?

[MartinT]

No, I bought it from Hong Kong from a well-known eBay trader called Juki (his account is 2juki). It was an excellent and painless transaction.

[alfie2902]

Looks stunning! I'm a big fan of the 501 & 901 but haven't heard the 5000, it seems to review very well though!

Thanks for the first impressions, Martin, I will look forward to you adding to this over the next month as it wears in a little!

[Marco]

Looking very good Martin (fab pics)! So it was worth the wait then?

I'm looking forward to hearing the beast next time I'm down!

Marco.

P.S Remember that all reviews should go in S.O.G

[MartinT]

Looking very good Martin (fab pics)! So it was worth the wait then?

Yes, it was definitely worth waiting for. As for the photos, I'm learning from Hamish: tripod and natural light.

P.S Remember that all reviews should go in S.O.G

Oops, yes my mistake

[MartinT]

More thoughts after listening last night. What this cartridge seems to do that some of my more midrange ones didn't is to bring out events hidden deep in the mix and make them obvious for the first time. It's not that they weren't there before, but now it makes you really listen to them. This is in addition to the more immediately obvious dynamics, incredible sense of swell towards climaxes and leading edge clout.

Just two examples: in 'Whole Lotta Love' on Led Zeppelin II, the steel tubular bells have a metallic shimmer all of their own, a far cry from the 'clang' that they usually sound like. In Yello's Flag, especially in 'Tied Up', there is an impossible amount of detail presented but what smacks you in the head is the brass, rising way above the average level of the track.

To get things into perspective, this cartridge is not as big a step sound-wise as the Choir Audio SUT-H7 proved to be in my system. Yet this is a true piece of high end transducer that digs more from the grooves than I thought possible. It's a scary thought that there are three models: 7000, 9000 and Harmony, above this one!

[MartinT]

The Shelter is a big cartridge and the Dynavector arm was at its height limit trying to accommodate it. I wasn't happy with the arrangement so tonight I completely dismantled the arm and plate from the deck and re-mounted the plate on spacers. Putting everything back together, I now have a good 2-3mm extra height adjustment and can properly fine tune VTA away from its end stop.

Doing so (increasing the height) has brought me just a little additional refinement and sweetness, so it was well worth the effort. I also notice a further reduction in surface noise, always welcome.

[MartinT]

I've just finished final tweaking and have ended up running VTA with just a tiny tail-high setup. I also found that tracking weight had altered to 1.75g (I must have accidentally turned the knob at some point) so it's back to 1.85g. Everything sounds good so I'll leave it like that.

[MartinT]

But see http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=13537 for more of the story and a lesson learned. Everything is sounding very good indeed now and I shall switch back to the Shelter once I'm happy that things are settling down.