Shure M55e report . . . .

So I mounted my newly acquired M55e last night. Not the easiest to line up as the stylus guard on the Jico stylus gets in the way a bit and distorts your view of the stylus tip and cartridge body.

Anyway after some faffing about I got it fairly close to perfect channel balance after which just slight loosening and re-tightening of headshell screws can (after some experimentation) really 'dial in' the sweet spot.

Put on some of my go to records, kapow! Christ this thing is LOUD, possibly the Jico stylus gives it a little more oomph but it was way more than I was expecting having just swapped out a cartridge with very similar output. It tracks like an absolute demon, nothing has even gotten close to phasing it so far. Can't really detect any distortion either and its via a tube phono stage plus I use a tube pre-amp, so any grain becomes fairly obvious.

Sounding very accomplished too. Textured, layered but with good detail and instrument placement. I had my 390pf loading plugs in so just for fun I tried some 330's. Things improved further and there was now real nuance and realism to the music.

I guess I'm probably around 470-500pf in loading capacitance. Some have suggested going up above that, but as my system is very revealing bordering on bright with some material (although I run dual subwoofers!) it seems to sound best with the cart giving a slightly more 'dark' presentation.

Great stuff anyway, a definite keeper. Think I can stretch to a new Jico stylus once every year or so too no concerns putting many, many miles on it.

Thanks all for the recommendations, I know why this cart is so well regarded now, it gets out the way and really allows the music through. Does quiet and loud well (surprisingly dynamic) which is a difficult trick to pull off whilst being an excellent tracker, I can't really fault it!

Here she is: