I have noticed how often Shure, Stanton and even in their day Pickering, get slammed for being somewhat less that others think of the likes of the low end Grado and the like.
It seemed to me that at their price points they offered great value and trackability. The norm today is that any cart that tracks at near 2 grams is acceptable.
I still remember reading reviews of the Shure Type 3, the IV, the V in all its versions (I owned one) and liked it and praising it trackability and flat frequency response when compared to moving coils that often seem tipped up in the HF.
In radio stations I worked the M44E and the Stanton 500's were the norm. One station owner was such an audiophile he used Stanton 600s on his tables and tube phono stages that the previous engineer hand made. Pretty much unheard of in the day. Back cueing has taken a toll on many a cartridge.
I still would think that the Shure could hold it's own against the comp in the same price point. I still have an old Stanton 881S on an old Project One DR220 and an even older Shure M91ED on an old, refrub Dual 502. I have owned many Grados over the years and the Shures are the equal to me of the Prestige line IMHO and Grados can have a hum problem on some tables.
It seems that the better carts seem to start at the $500 price point and can get excellent over $1K with the right phono stage.
I am curious where many started your TT journey years ago and where are you now?
I have noticed how often Shure, Stanton and even in their day Pickering, get slammed for being somewhat less that others think of the likes of the low end Grado and the like.
It seemed to me that at their price points they offered great value and trackability. The norm today is that any cart that tracks at near 2 grams is acceptable.
I still remember reading reviews of the Shure Type 3, the IV, the V in all its versions (I owned one) and liked it and praising it trackability and flat frequency response when compared to moving coils that often seem tipped up in the HF.
In radio stations I worked the M44E and the Stanton 500's were the norm. One station owner was such an audiophile he used Stanton 600s on his tables and tube phono stages that the previous engineer hand made. Pretty much unheard of in the day. Back cueing has taken a toll on many a cartridge.
I still would think that the Shure could hold it's own against the comp in the same price point. I still have an old Stanton 881S on an old Project One DR220 and an even older Shure M91ED on an old, refrub Dual 502. I have owned many Grados over the years and the Shures are the equal to me of the Prestige line IMHO and Grados can have a hum problem on some tables.
It seems that the better carts seem to start at the $500 price point and can get excellent over $1K with the right phono stage.
I am curious where many started your TT journey years ago and where are you now?