I love your bird! Also thanks for putting out all this info!

Your bird made this video even better. He must have been feeling left out. This was a well explained and accurate video in my opinion. You did a great job explaining things. There are a lot of terms to remember. It’s not easy. I have an Ortofon 2M Red with an Elliptical stylus. It sounds great to me and it certainly is not the most expensive cartridge on the market. While I do prefer Elliptical, I don’t think you need a super expensive to get great sound.

Just some additional little details: There are various other shapes of styli tips, like fineline (2M Bronze has that), Shibata (2M Black has that), Fritz Geiger 70 and microline. Most of those have originally been invented for playing quadraphonic records, because those require a higher frequency response, they're often found on higher end stereo cartridges as well. Cantilevers can be made of various other materials as well, like the basic AT3600L and Rega Carbon (that white one that often comes included on entry level turntables) has a carbon cantilever. Very expensive cartridges sometimes have boron cantilevers or even sapphire, ruby or diamond cantilevers. Most of those expensive cartridges are "low output" moving coil (MC), which require the special phono preamps you mentioned, but there are also "high output" MC cartridges that can be connected to the regular MM phono preamps. I agree that, generally, elliptical styli need lower tracking force... but there are exceptions, like the AT95E (the green one that often comes preinstalled on Audio Technica turntables) which needs a tracking force between 2.5 and 3.5 grams. Most elliptical DJ cartridges also track at about 3 grams, like the Ortofon Concorde Gold, Nightclub and MK2 Club. Always check the recommended tracking force before installing a cartridge, setting the force too light can make the stylus bounce in the grooves, which damages the grooves.

Needle is as official as a stylus. Back in the gramophone days it was called a needle and it was really just a piece of needle. Stylus is the new fancy name of the same thing. Very informative video. I needed exactly this video.

Getting into vinyls and this is wildly helpful. Thank you!! Also your bird is so cute.

This professor says a wonderful explanation! Loved the visuals... You could add strain gauge and laser cartridges to your collection. I would tend to class strain gauges as an ultra-high end version of a ceramic cartridge for the sake of simplicity and taxonomy. Again, an excellent presentation! Thanks!

Hello to Rcord-ology just had to say EXCELLENT tutorial on the styles of cartridges out there you nailed it onthe head I loved how you explained how moving magnet and moving coil cartridges worked it was excellent anybody who wants to know about different cartridges should watch this ,I know you said that the cartridge overhang really doesn't matter that is the only disagreement I have some TT'S have an overhang adjustment my old onkyo CP-1055FII had a gauge to set the overhang of any cartridge you had on my audio technica ATlp-120 which was set when I bought it ,I too did not think much of it with cartridge it came with but on certain albums I could hear a slight sound distortion when I never heard on my old TT first thing I checked was the cart alignment it was off ,after adjusting it it improved but I still could hear that it was not right so I looked into the overhang adjustment which was not in the manual but I found it on line the overhang for audio tech lp-120 was .59mm if I remember correctly from tip of stylus to end of half inch mount mine was at 40mm i said to myself this cannot be the problem but being kind of mental I set it to the spec it said and wow I heard the difference in sound and I found my anti-skating improved alot don't ask me how I was having trouble with it before had to turn it up all the way just to get it to stay still but with that minor adjustment it is set to my tracking force and it stays where I place my stylus I still cannot believe it on my crosley C-10 I tried to get overhang spec for it but so far I have not ,but I donnot hear any distortion when playing albums so I guess every TT is different thanks again for your vid JRo

Thank you for making this. Finally some answers that are technical and not subjective flowery observations that other channels give.

Thanks so much for this great explanation! I learned a ton. And loved your feathered friend who almost stole the show

I cannot express how grateful I am to this video ❤️❤️❤️

Good video. I have a Quasar rack system from the late 80's or early 90's. A trick I learned to extend the life of the needle, is to take a slightly damp microfiber cloth and gently pad the stylus. That, plus cleaning the records with mild dish soap and drying them with the microfiber cloth really improved the sound quality. And my vinyl collection is far from pristine.

Good video, thanks! Hard to find cheap 3-mil styli for 78s now. Most cheap dual-flip styli that say there's a 78 rpm side actually have LP styli on both sides.

There is also a crystal cartridge. The conical stylus isn't quite detailed and tracks a little heavier but is great. Even though it tracks heavier, less record wear because of shape. The blue is nude elliptical. The 2M Bronze is fine line nude and 2M Black is a Shibata which gets really expensive. This is a great video. Love the bird, too.

Great video explaining just what I wanted to know at the level I needed. Thanks!

the bird forced me to like this, but i'd recommend making videos on older styluses like the lp 78s so people who pick up older players know what they're doing

Ceramic and moving coil/moving magnet/moving iron cartridges only have both ends of the left and right transducer exposed in order to have a separate ground for each. This allows for using a symmetrical input on the preamp and to have a better channel separation in comparison to having only three wires. There is no need for any bias voltage to be applied from the preamp to the cartridge of this kind, as it wouldn't do anything except maybe saturating the coils and making them sound worse. There are also strain gauge cartridges, and those do need a DC voltage suppied to them, because they work by changing the resistance of the transducer rather than generating a voltage on their own. Also, you still need to apply the RIAA curve to any cartridge signal, including ceramic, you can't just connect it to a line in. The signal recorded on the record has had its bass purposefully decreased and trebles increased in a specified way to reduce noise on treble and not have the stylus jump out from all the bass, and that has to be exactly reversed in the preamp. But it can be done with passive components if it is already line level, so that means almost no hardware additional to just a line in/Bluetooth speaker in a cheap suitcase player compared to a MC/MM.

Thanks for the Great explanation, great to get more understanding before I start using my 1960's Radiogram & 1970's Sanyo Suitcase Style player 😀👍.

This was exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks a lot!

I just bought my first record player: SL-B2. Is got a piece of junk cartridge on it that I can’t even identify, but I can tell it seem that’s better day. The record player was very dirty, but everything works fine on it. I spent six hours cleaning it so far. And now I am trying to figure out how all this works. I think I’m just gonna buy a basic audio Technica $65 moving magnet and go from there. Thanks for the video.

Is the supposed lack of high frequencies with a conical versus an elliptical stylus a function of its depth in the groove only or also the greater width of contact that the conical stylus has with the groove? Thanks!

Quite funny and well explained. I have ORTOFON D510 on an old but underused Rega Planar 3 1987.

At 8:30 you explain the four connection pins at the back of the cartridge, and say that a small amount of voltage is applied to two of them. That's incorrect. There are left and right positive and left and right ground (or return). The pre-amp applies no voltage to the cartridge. The cartridge is the device that generates a signal voltage.

Thank You! This helped a lot

8:27 is sorta the information I am looking for. I have a turntuble & a record player I modified into a turntable in high school (1997). The tonearm on the record player has 2 wires that run from the stylus & the turntable has the 4 wires that run from cartiridge. Im trying to figure out the difference.

Great video. Thanks for the info.

I have a Realistic SA-155 Integrated Stereo Amplifier and it has a connection and setting on it for ceramic cartridges and they can sound awesome through this device. It has a switch on the back that you can choose between Ceramic or Magnetic depending on your cart. You should get one and do a review of it.

As far as I know, it doesn't matter what kind of cartridge your using, you are going to need a phono stage. When they make records they apply something called the RIAA curve when cutting a lacquer. When playing a lp back, your phono stage will apply the RIAA curve. The RIAA curve in essence reduces the bass and accentuates the treble when cutting a lacquer. Reducing the bass allows you to get more music onto a side of a record. When the signal goes through your phono stage it re-equalizes the bass back to flat and pulls down the treble back to flat that was accentuated during cutting of the lacquer. When the treble gets pulled down it brings down a lot of noise with it as well. All of this means that you get more music on each side of the record and the record has less noise. Without a phono stage the record would have no bass and the treble would be extremely excessive.

The bird wanted to point out the stylus.

The proper name is needle. Even Maestro Fresh-Wes said so 😂

very good and interesting video..explaining things nicely and simply....good work....ade

New drinking game: Take a shot everytime he says yadda yadda yadda lol Also here’s a cool fact: conical styli are the best stylus for styrene (please correct me if I’m wrong)

Hey! I got today a turntable model is Auna TT classic light and it ha that ceramic cartridge. Is the needle is bad? Does damage the vinyl?

new drinking game. take a shot every time he says "yadda yadda yadda"

thanks that was very clear and easy to understand the difference thanks again

Hi, I need help with my record player which is needing a neddle change...I have a metz hifi studio center 4500. No idea where I can buy a new neddle. I found this one (DN211 0.6mil spherical diamond stylus) online. Any tips?

Can You Upload A 45 RPM collection video please??????

i had a retip done.it is sapphire.sound is soft as opposed to the diamond.is sapphire like that

I’m in education/training/professional development. Your presentation skills are incredible.

Ahaha I love the bird!! Also thank you, very informative and well explained, thank you

BTW, piezoelectric is not pronounced "pie'-zo"; it is pronounced "pee-et'-zo". Although the dictionary or thesaurus might disagree, it is an Italian word originally, and most English-speaking people have retained the Italian pronunciation. (Though I probably spelled it wrong, you get the idea.)

Hmmmm.. I always thought a conical tip was just that- a conical shape just like a pencil; and an elliptical tip was like a flattened cone. Seen from the top, a conical looks round, and the elliptical, a football shape. The elliptical has a much thinner area in contact with the groove; and so can read the high frequencies much more accurately than a fatter conical tip.

Great info! ty!

I have a arvin stereo/ record player from the 70s - i cant find replacement needle???

I’ve had ceramic cartridges produce good sound, granted not as good as a higher quality mm cartridge and stylus , the difference can be marginal to my surprise vs price differences.

Thoroughly enjoyed the entire video. I AM a geek.

After I used the protractor to align the cartridge, the cartridge was actually off a little bit visually from the headshell. So which method should you go by? Thanks!

How do I know what needle I need for my record player?

What about Moving Iron ? Cause that Grado Prestige Gold that you hold , I used to have , and it stated Moving Iron .

Good day sir can you help me? How to find needle of TRIO KP-M350 MK11 TURNTABLE

Beautiful and informative video

I've recently got a Stanton T.92 record player for my 78 collection. As I learn about the ins/outs of the accessories and requirements I half to ask what you would recommend overall for my 78 collection. Can I get a cartridge name and a stylus type as I feel I've been overloaded with types from Amazon and can't choose.

Hi there, one question. Can a magnetic cartridge like audio-technica cartridge replace the red ceramic cartridge on a suitcase player?

Any recordmend a good affordable 78 rpm cartridges pls 🙏 not over 100 pr 200

Thank you for this tutorial regarding different terminology for cartridges and stylus, however I'm a bit confused on one term you keep referring to......what does "yada yada yada yada" mean?

My go too,Shure SC 35

Plus tax..... Love the Elvis reference. 😁🤣

Very well Explained 👍👍👍👍

There is no diamond stylus that touches the bottom of a record groove as far as i know. Maybe a fritz gyger? The bottom of a groove is created by the cutting ruby only.... Regards from Holland 🎉

I've noticed your favorite phrase is Yada Yada Yada

I just purchased a 1960's GE RP-1110a record player it did not have a needle . Who do you recommend to help me find a needle / cartridge for this record player? I have only 2 wires going to it. my guess is it is mono. thanks for your help.

How much weight of ceramic pinkup should fall on the record?

Watched for stylus info, stayed for the Birb

THE BIRD THOUGH

Is there a cartridge that is compatible with an old morse electrophonic?

Can you recommend me some cheap replacement cartridges and styluses for Crosley-type record players?

Most people don't need anything beyond a .3 x .7 mil elliptical......but the more advanced shapes do sound better (not by much though)

My own dad from starting at home, being asked to some venues to full on DJing at last even for pirate radio channels 😂 he swear by small pen cartidges with ceramic or diamond cause of longevity 😊

So a 3k player is determine by the needle right?

If my turntable uses mm cartridges, does that mean all or most mm cartridges are conpatible?

you didn't explain how the needle is able to isolate the left and right channel information from the grooves. I am very curious about how that part works Also a better analogy of the piezoelectric effect as a function of the seramic element would be comparing it to the seramic transducer in an electronic drumpad or birthday card. because it is more relevant to the subject and easyer to understand than the quartz watch analogy. Especially to someone new to this stuff.

I’ve heard of ceramic, magnetic 🧲, and Astatic record player cartridges. Some record player needles 🪡 are diamond 💎. Is diamond 💎 the best stylus? Your friend, Jeff.

In the 1950's there was an osmium stylus which played for about 20 hours. As I play approximately 10 hours per week that would mean I would have to replace it every two weeks. Yikes!

I've been using my diamond stylus for 30 years, it's a 78 RPM Shure stylus with a 2.5 mil conical diamond. I've played 1000s of hours of records with it, all 78s (I sold my LPs when CD's came out in the 80's.) I recently looked at the stylus under a 50 X microscope and see no sign of wear, should I use higher power magnification? The records sound great. My 78's are mostly 1950s R&B, they can be shellac or vinyl. I don't see how vinyl is hard enough to wear down diamond. Diamond is 1000000 times harder than vinyl or shellac so if anything wears down it won't be the diamond. Even if there's dirt in the grooves, dirt is silicon dioxide, nowhere near as hard as diamond. I'm still waiting for my 30 year old stylus to wear out and I'll let you know when it does.

🤘

Needle dates back to the 78 rpm days.

p.s. I had two 78 styli (having got the old one re-tipped). I interchanged them once too often and this has made the socket in the cartridge loose. Oh dear. I don't think superglue can handle that. Where ? can I get a replacement cartridge exactly like the one I have. Also, where ? can I find a replacement headshell, which is easier to interchange without wrecking anything. Would appreciate some help here, please, anyone! (The ''obsolete'' format shouldn't ever become totally obsolete *. There is too much life in the old 78s yet. Not to mention history perfectly captured - musical history, social history, it's all in there! And in case anyone doesn't already know it, the sounds recorded in those grooves is way beyond what many people might expect. The 78 has been down-played by ignorant people for way too long. Whoever said that 10,000 kHz was the best they achieved back then was SO wrong!!) [ * And you can't mend an mp3 or a compact disc with superglue. Built-in obsolescence!]

There are three kinds of cartridges the third being moving coil.

Then that would mean that the more a conical needle wore, the more it would pick up, since it would be covering more surface?

I remember 'close n play' record players. Years later I bought a real turntable. The ceramic cartridge had so much weight on the record it ruined albums. The difference was like buying a camera. Get the crappy camera if you wanted to get "snapshots" or get a real camera if you wanted to practice "photography".

Cool

hm I've never heard bout ceramic cartriges before but being 7:04 more rigid than movin-magnet ones, don't they damagely deform a record much? 7:37 "da bird is comin into da shot okay" 😁😆😂😄

as a non american, what does this (sorry ,possibly not written correctly) "yattayattayatta" mean????

So size does matter.

Output voltage is irrelevant factor. None of proper sounding cartages has nothing to do with ceramics and high output.

Needle is as official as a stylus. Back in the gramophone days it was called a needle and it was really just a piece of needle. Stylus is the new fancy name of the same thing.

piezo... I don't know where piezoelectric came from--maybe autocorrect...

8:16

Cartridges and their stylus are a bit like cars, you get what you pay for. If you accept the attitude of the doubters then every one would be driving Lada's because why buy an Audi, BMW or a Mercedes-Benz or even an SUV when a Lada will do the job at a fraction of the cost, granted not very well but it is a car after all. To get the benefit of an up market cartridge you need a suitable system to exploit the additional detail, better tracking and overall musicality on offer. People who doubt this will probably have lesser capable systems that will not benefit from such an upgrade. That's fine, but do not slag off the people who want a better Hi-Fi. There are more Audi's, BMW's etc etc on our roads than Lada's, says it all really.

So fact or myth, do cheap ceramic ruin your records?

!!!

1pice

Disappointing -- No discussion about the architecture of the "coil & magnets" of a moving magnet cart and how they are arranged and interact. MM carts. are STILL the most common type of cart in use.

A lot of ccomments talking about the quality of their needles. I wouldn't even worry about it unless youre going to play records recorded towards the end of the vinyl era. Most vinyl recordings are from less quality recorders. The quality of a players needle is only as good as the recorders needle.

I hate the long ‘nose picker’ cartridge 😳 they look ridiculous and ruin the whole aesthetic for me .

Um, that Grado you're holding is moving IRON, not moving magnet...nor is it moving coil. But I get it, you're trying to get more basic info across. Still...

Nice channel, may I suggest using the expression, "yada yada yada," less, perhaps, a lot less. You seem to be reasonably intelligent and I'm sure you can use other verbage more effectively. Just my humble feedback !

Don't talk anything Respect the last one. Why?

Too many yada-yada-yadas...appreciate the info, but too many yayas are distracting.

All of them over priced like everything else audio.