Early Shure stylus

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

Radioman390 wrote:

> Is there a source for the Shure M-216 tonearm stylus?
> The tone arm was marketed as the Stereo Dynetic M-216 or 212 (depending on the
> length). The arm was black, tapered, and rotated on a ruby bearing. The
> cartridge was a plugin, and was hinged at the end of the tonearm, and the
> stylus was similar to the M3 style, which required a pointed hook to pull out
> or push into the hole.
> I'm also looking for the even rarer stylus for the MONO cartridge (single pin,
> rather than the double).
>
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Unfortunately it was discontinued long ago. The stylus was the Shure
N21D, which was also popularly used to upgrade the M3D and M7D
cartridges to better tracking at lower tracking force, 1.5 grams, as I
recall. It was so popular that Shure actually marketed the M7/N21D
combination so a buyer wouldn't have to buy the M3D or M7D and discard
its heavier-tracking stylus (3-5 grams), replacing it with a separately
purchased N21D. There was an even lower-tracking force interchangeable
stylus, the N22D (.075 to 1.5 grams) but it was discontinued even before
the N21D.

It's not probable but perhaps some dealer still has an N21D as New Old
Stock. Or you could use the Shure N3D stylus, which will fit and is
still available at

http://www.needledoctor.com

but you will need to modify the arm to track at 3 grams.

Older members of this group who are also pack rats may even have kept a
Shure M7/N21D in their Ancient Old Cartridges box. I plead guilty but
don't know where it is, any more.

Beware "universal" cross references to after market styli. Most seem to
think that the N21D and the N3D are identical. They aren't. Besides
the difference in tracking weight, the N21D has a tubular stylus
cantilever; the N3D has a stylus cantilever stamped out of flat sheet metal.

-GP