Phono Cartridge Reviews

The Shure V15-III is the latest of Shure's top-of-the-line "Super-track" pickups, earlier versions of which we scorned because of their dished-down response in the 6kHz range and their consequent "dead" sound. (We were unimpressed with Shure's suggestion that the pickup cable capacitance be increased to a total of around 300pF, since few audiophiles are equipped to measure either cable capacitance or frequency response).

The V15-III's specifications (unlike those for the earlier models) include a statement about cable capacitance, calling for "400 to 500 picofarads total capacitance per channel," which did not look encouraging to us. Almost perversely, it seems, the pickup, no longer needs a specific value of capacitance across it in order to produce linear frequency response, and it is less susceptible to response changes as a result of capacitive loading than any previous V15 model.

But immune, it ain't. With the manufacturer's recommended maximum shunt capacitance of 500pF, there is a barely audible brightening of the sound which virtually obscures the rolloff that sets in above 10kHz (fig.1). With shunt capacitance of less than the minimum-recommended 400pF, there is still none of that suckout in the 6–10kHz range which disqualified the previous V15 models from consideration by perfectionists. It is the first Shure high-trackability pickup with the breath of life to its sound. It is also somewhat better than the V15-II Improved in several other respects.

Trackability
The high end is smoother and more extended than before, and surpasses both the Decca Mark V and the Ortofon M-15 Super in this respect. Trackability is even better by a small but significant factor than the previous V15, although this may not always be evident in a direct comparison between them. The broad response trough around 7kHz in the previous model (which the recommended additional cable capacitance helped to correct) tended to reduce the audibility of mistracking distortion, making the pickup sound cleaner than it actually was. The "Era III" V15. with no such trough, reproduces whatever breakup there is more noticeably, so although there is less (on a given segment of overcut groove), it may be equally if not more audible. So the V15-III's substantially more-realistic sound does have its price.

On the other hand, there seems little room for doubt that the V15-III is the best-tracking pickup that money can buy. It will handle exceedingly high modulation velocities a shade better than the Ortofon M15 and considerably better than the Decca Mark V, although it is necessary to point out that few discs of music are overcut to the point where even the Decca is overtaxed. The superior trackability of the Shure and the Ortofon are more in the nature of a reserve capability than a clearcut sonic superiority. And we found a few discs that mistracked with all three pickups, thus proving that the problem of trackability has not yet been solved.

Separation & Texture
Stereo separation measured better than any. pickup we have ever tested, particularly at the high end (where all others tend to lose separation), and not surprisingly, the sound was superbly spacious. Stereo imaging did not, however, seem to be quite as definitely specific as it was from the Decca, although it was a shade better in this respect than the Ortofon. Neither did it have quite the feeling of front-to-rear perspective of the Decca, although again it was judged slightly better in this respect than the Ortofon.

In terms of texture, the rankings were the same again. By comparison with the Decca's crystalline transparency and airy openness, the Shure sounded very subtly grainy and dry, but slightly less so on both counts than the Ortofon M-15 Super.

Sound quality
The overall sound of the V15-III was judged to be generally excellent, with little coloration except for a slight steeliness at the high end, which was most noticeable when reproducing massed violins, and a vague impression of heaviness. At the extreme high end, the Shure had an almost whispery delicacy—a quality we have observed from ellipticals in the past, and one which we are not convinced is entirely accurate. Original master tapes have it, but not quite to the degree we heard here. We suspect that what is happening is that the elliptical stylus is causing a slightly rising (but not peaked) high end from discs that were adjusted to sound right at the recording studio when played with a spherical stylus.

We did not test the spherical-tip version of the V15-III. but we can predict with reasonable certainty that it would have less of that extreme-top whisper and a somewhat coarser texture, with slightly less-clean tracing of loud high-frequency modulations. On the other hand, if it was also capable of tracing cleanly at 1½ grams or less—Shure's spec sheet suggests that it is—it would probably completely abolish record wear as a consideration (leaving tick accrual as the only possible consequence of disc use).

Shure recommends between ¾ and 1¼ grams of tracking force for the elliptical version, and this was the first time we did not feel it necessary to track a pickup at the manufacturer's maximum recommended force (for cleanest sound and minimum wear). In a good arm, we found no improvement in cleanness at forces greater than 1 gram, so that was the force used for the tests.

We mentioned that the V15-III had a subtly heavy sound, and we measured a very slight low-end rise that could conceivably account for this, but we have no idea what could be causing that rise. Usually, the low-frequenoy performance of different pickups is identical, except through the range where the cartridge compliance is starting to resonate with the mass of the arm. Thus, a "muddy" low end generally indicates merely that the resonance is occurring at too low a frequency, and is feeding subsonic signals through a system that can't handle them, while a "full" low end usually suggests that the resonance is occurring in or near the audible range (footnote 1).

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Footnote 1: That is of course an over-simplification. The stylus damping will also affect the low-end character, by limiting the sharpness of the bass resonance, as will (naturally) any devices like transformers that are inserted between the pickup and the preamp inputs.