Replacement Stylus for Ortofon Concorde 30

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

Marvin G wrote:
> 1) After some 25 years of non-use, I am getting back in re-using my
> turntable and tape deck etc as part of my home theatre. Nostalgia has
> got the better of me. I want to pursue replacing the stylus for my
> Ortofon Concorde 30 ( on a Technic SLQ2 turntable). I seem to ahve
two
> choices. I can buy a stylus specific for the Concorde 30(at well over
> $100), or , I can by a cost effective replacement , ie an LM-10
which
> wwould fit, such as the one offered at
> http://www.audioreplay.net/otherstyli.html . The question is, while
it
> is true that the latter is not up to the same spec as the orginal I
am
> replacing, will I hear the difference??? I will be doing a fair bit
of
> transferring of LPs to CD, so I do want a new stylus, but can I get
> away with a $23 reaplcement?...that would be ideal....but not if it
> turns my system into a junky record player!! Any advice would be
> appreciated. The rest of the system has Klipsch Reference speakers,
HK
> AVR-525 reciever, Teac A6300 deck, etc.

<snip>

In case you don't get a definitive, educated response to your question,
I'll provide my ignorant uneducated opinion regarding what I would do.
If it was ME, rather than coughing up probably $140 for the correct
replacement, I'd give the $23 stylus a shot. It may or may not sound
significantly different from the original. I think it's worth a try.
And you're only out $23 if it doesn't sound good. Another possibility
would be to replace the cart entirely with something relatively
inexpensive. Don't quote me on this, but I recall a number of folks
fairly recently recommending a specific model of Audio-Technica cart
that was somewhere around 60 bucks. And I think Grado makes a couple
of low priced cartridges that are highly recommended. Sorry I can't be
more specific, but I just don't follow these things much these days.
Also, a Technics SLQ2 isn't exactly SOTA, so I wouldn't sink too much
money into a cartridge for it, but that's just me. And don't think I'm
"dissing" your turntable. I'm using a Technics SL1800mk2 with a Shure
V-15 type4 cart myself! : ) Good luck on your quest for a stylus, and
hopefully you'll get a more definitive answer from someone more in tune
with such things.