Jico Custom Shop J50 MM Cartridge

[Chris]

I have enjoyed using Jico replacement stylus on my Shure cartridge over the years. They have a new endeavor that I find fascinating. The use of exotic cantilever materials is very interesting.

Read article.

[speakertom]

Chris:

Very interesting article but two things gave me pause. The first is the use of a conical stylus which flies in the face of all the other work done to achieve a stylus shape that matches the cutter so that the finest high frequency traces can be faithfully followed. The second is the use of wood as a cantilever material. As far as accurately transmitting the stylus motions to the magnets (or coils), a combination of rigidity, light weight, high speed of sound and some other parameters that have been found in speakers to be important are not present so much in wood. I'm not a big user of vinyl, but the Shure Ultra 500 cartridge I use has a beryllium shank on the stylus. Using beryllium in the shank has many of the advantages of the SB Acoustic Satori beryllium tweeters I use which have those advantages in spades. What is probably happening is that the wood gives up some of the accuracy of a light weight, rigid shank to achieve some other desired "musical" rendition of what is on the disk. Of course, the stylus is only a part of the resultant sound, but probably the one most subject to mechanical stresses. Like everything else in audio, it is what floats your boat that is important.

[Chris]

Oct 22, 2022 10:26:00 GMT -5 speakertom said:

Chris:

Very interesting article but two things gave me pause. The first is the use of a conical stylus The second is the use of wood as a cantilever material.

Hi Tom,

WRT to stylus shape. While there are many types of stylus cuts (Shibata, Eliptical, Mircoline, etc) amazingly conical still does provide many benefits (less fussy about alignment for example). To lend weight to the pro conical side of things I only have to say one thing. Denon 103. This cartridge has been in continuous production for 60 years and has no problem with high frequencies and is a darling of audiophiles today

Regarding using wood for a cantilever, you might consult Peter Ledermann who uses a cactus needle for one of his most expensive cartridges.

Peter Ledermann‘s radical design utilizes an actual “cactus spine” for the cantilever. The naturally tapered shape, stacked columnar fibers and desiccated resin damping fit the exact parameters of the perfect cantilever: Low mass, extreme rigidity, internal damping, and tremendous strength.

Hyperion

Many years ago, I had a good belly laugh reading a letter to the Absolute Sound magazine where the writer waxed euphoriclly about the supreriority of cactus needles over steel needles in wind up victrolas. Little did I know there was more truth here than I could have imagined.