I have an ion usb turntable, and I need a new cartridge. I have been using the numark tony touch cx-1 cartridge.
I am sorry if my request may seem ignorant; it is b/c my knowledge is limited.
After learning a little bit more about turntables, vinyl, cartridges, and more, I hate that I used the cx1; a spherically cut, dj cartridge.
I know I need to get a cartrdige with good compliance?, an elliptical or vertical stylus cut, and my big problem, one that fits my tonearm.
It is not that there is not any, it is just I do not have any fucking clue what does or will fit my turntable. Will I be able to plug most cartridges into my tonearm? Do most cartridges fit pretty much the majority of turntables? What type of carrtidges should I or do I need to be looking for in regard to the ion usb turntable? Are there any specific cartridges that anyone knows that fit and work well with the ion usb turntable? Also, I do not want to spend a fortune, goddam hopefully under a $100, but do not let that max, keep any good suggestions, information, and knowledge from being posted! Thank you all so much!

I do not know your turntable and arm, but I would be surprised if Shure did not have an appropriate cartridge for you. They make good stuff, and it is reasonable.

Cheers

Unless you have something really strange, it fits one of two standards. Labels escape recall at the moment but the one used on many less expensive tone arms is a plug in type. The manufacturing standards are agreed upon and these need no alignment or adjustment, although the tone arm may allow for a simple stylus pressure adjustment. Many are available at a different prices and good quality is available.

The other is the standard two screw mount. The cartridge is bolted to the tone arm head and its four pins connect via clips to the tone arm wiring. Except for some of the more expensive, specialized ones, any cartridge will fit any arm, but all must be careful installed, aligned, and adjusted. There are different tone arms with different response characteristics and it is better to mate tone arm and cartridge of comparable internal construction (such as high vs low compliance) but the basic installment, adjustment, and use are all the same.

This second type also comes in moving magnet vs moving coil. Moving coil is much more expensive and requires a different and more expensive phone preamp. Your TT certainly did not come with a moving coil cartridge.

While there are many retailers, this is a good place to see what is available
http://www.needledoctor.com/

my arm definitely does not take a a s-mount cartrduge, but i am not sure if it takes a p-mount? the cx1, the cartridge i had been using, has more of a circular type of an end, as is the arm's female part has a more circular type of input end. no screws, just press in.
are p-mount and s-mount the only two types of cartridges made?
also, i have been to needledoctor.com, still utilizing it i guess, but am very much still searching. thank you so much!

The p-mount (press into place) and the bolt -on (get out your tool kit) are the two types. S or otherwise-shaped tonearms are irrelevant. Yours sounds like p-mount.

Yup; p-mount is push four tiny pins into four tiny holes, set stylus pressure and anti-skating, if you have it, and away you go.

Is there a volume control, or any type of "analog" calibration control on the turntable? If not, you could have problems if the new cartridge has lower or higher sensitivity than the original.

If the new cartridge has higher output, you run the risk of overloading (clipping) its built-in A/D converter. If the output is lower, you get a lower signal-to-noise ratio and you won't be able to get a full 0dB digital output.


...Back in the "vinyl days", I was a big fan of Grado cartridges. They had a reputation for great quality at reasonable prices. But, it appears that all of their cartriges are 1/2" screw-mount.

There is a trap for the unwary here. The combination of cartridge compliance and arm inertia sets the low frequency roll-off. If you increase the compliance you will reduce the roll-off frequency and may unwittingly overload your amplifier with a large but inaudible input.

As an extreme example, fit a high compliance cartridge to a massive arm then play an eccentric record with it. (That's eccentric in the mechanical sense, not a comment on the music!) The arm will stay still while the stylus faithfully follows the wobble and swamps your amplifier input with 1.8Hz. A cheap, low compliance cartridge would force that heavy arm to 'move with the groove'. (The other side of the coin is that a low compliance cartridge on a light arm does not respond to audible low frequencies.)

While on the subject of mechanical resonances, the high frequency roll-off is set by the elasticity of the vinyl surface and the stylus tip mass. Above this frequency the stylus stays put while the vinyl deforms around it - perhaps permanently! The lower the mass the better.

Hold on a moment. It seems as if the general consensus is that spudzmeckenzie's turntable has a P-mount cartridge. However, all the pictures I've been able to find of an "ion usb turntable" clearly show a standard headshell that takes a normal 1/2" mount cartridge. Also, I've checked pictures of the Numark CX1, and this is clearly a cartridge packaged into a standard bayonet-type headshell mount. This is not at all the same as a P-mount. This type of cartridge (where it plugs into a standard headshell mount) is commonly described as "disco type". You might want to get another disco-type cartridge to avoid the need to install and align a 1/2" mounting cartridge into a headshell. But be careful about output level: the CX1's output level is stated to be 4mV. A lot of disco type cartridges have higher outputs, and as DVDdoug mentions, this could overload the ion's A/D converters.

Re. the discussion of cartridge compliance: as others have stated, you need to get a cartridge whose compliance is well-matched to the arm on the turntable, in order to avoid things like record warps from generating troublesome signals. I have the feeling that many will get the impression that high compliance cartridges are better than low compliance ones. This isn't necessarily true: many extremely high quality moving coil cartridges have fairly modest compliances, and should be matched with medium-to-high mass arms.

From the pictures of the ion usb turntable I've seen, the arm looks to be probably a medium mass type, so you need a medium compliance cartridge: somewhere around the 15-20cu range. Which is at odds with using a disco type cartridge, which typically have quite low compliances (10cu or lower) since they need to be robust enough to withstand "scratching".

thank you so much cliveb! yes, i could tell that i did not have a p-mount; i just had no clue what the alternative, if there even was one, was called!
and yes, i know, i hate knowing that i have been using the cx-1, and that was mainly for the stylus' cut, and now knowing that about the compliance makes me cringe even more.
i think i would be fine, really probably rather, install and align a 1/2" mount cardtridge if that would be better for playback, record care, and everything else. knowing that, what would probably be my options from there? could i more than likely purchase just about any 1/2" mount cartrdige? also, more ouf of curiosity, but if i were to remain with a disco type cardtridge, are there any, at least known to anyone, that would have an elliptical or vertical cut and have a medium compliance?
also, just as a sidenote, i occassionally use the ion turntable to digitize or rip records, but very much on the whole, i only use it to playback my records through my stereo. the main aim of my turntable, for me personally, is to playback and listen to my records, not to digitize them. i was able to pick up this turntable for $70 as an open item; that is primarily why I purchased it; I viewed the usb input and digitization as an extra bonus, and very much still want to and will use my turntable to listen to my wax.
thank you all so much!

In order to install a 1/2" mount cartridge, you'll need a headshell. Looking at a picture of the Numark CX1, it appears to use the SME headshell locking mechanism - this type was very common on a wide range of turntables back in the 70s and 80s. See the Mr Stylus website for a range of pictures of headshell types.
Perhaps your Ion turntable came with a headshell? If not, you'll need to buy one. I'm not saying you should buy it from Mr Stylus - that was just a convenient website I found that had some pictures of headshells.

As for what cartridge to buy: if you do have or get a standard headshell, then yes, you can physically fit any 1/2" mount cartridge. But given the turntable itself, you don't want to go buying a top-flight one.
The Shure M97E is probably too compliant for your arm, and the other common Shure cartridge (M92E) appears to be a P-mount.
In the Audio Technica range, the highly regarded AT440ML is again probably too high-end for your needs. Perhaps the AT100E would be a better bet.
From the Ortofon range, I'd say the OM5E is probably about right for your turntable. Ortofon also make a few disco-style cartridges with elliptical stylii (eg. the Concorde DJ E and the Concorde Broadcast E), but they won't be such high quality as the OM5E - they are still built for rugged DJ use rather than sound quality. Of course the advantage to getting a disco-style cartridge is that it's pretty much plug and play - no need to mount it in a headshell and get it properly aligned.

EDIT: having looked more closely at a description of the Numark CX1, I'm not at all convinced that a replacement disco-style cartridge from the likes of Ortofon would be any better. As far as I can tell, the CX1 is Numark's top-of-the-line DJ cartridge. Just because it has a spherical stylus doesn't necessarily mean it's no good. But from a pure sound quality point of view, I'd expect the AT110E or the OM5E to be somewhat more refined.


In that case the output level may not be such an issue. When you're just listening, the signal isn't going through the A/D converter so there's no possible overload issue. But on the rare occasions when you do use it to digitise, the A/D converter issue does come into play (unless you choose instead to feed the line level analogue output from the turntable into a soundcard - which might actually have better A/D converters in any case).

I forgot about those cartridge/head shell in one things, never having seen one in the flesh. KAB carries several that are definitely HiFi, not DJ types, intended to get the best out of the Technics SL-1200
http://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/index.htm

my turntable did not come with a headshell. so i definitely will be purchasing a new one.
just to be sure, the SME is a standard/universal headshell, correct? are there other models of standard/universal headshells; consequently, being able to use any of these with my turntable? i know if it is universal, it will fit lol, i just am curious for price, sound, durability, and care quality.
also, with installing a new headshell and installing and aligining a cartridge, what exactly does this entail? this is not that difficult of a process, correct? i know i will definitely learn more and get more precise information later, but i just want to be sure this is not the hardest task in the world.
again, thank you all so much! especially, thank you so much cliveb!

Hopefully someone who knows something useful will speak up, if just to verify that there is such a thing. My efforts to get replacement headshells after the TT was out of production were without fruit; the things I tried did not come close to fitting. This seems to lead to the conclusion that at least some are different, even if there might be one that is widely thought of as "universal."

Can I suggest you simply email support@ion-audio.com and ask about suitable replacement headshells/cartridges? I have not looked closely but you may find what you want from browsing the site. They sell a replacement headshell/cartridge for example.

Unfortunately there are a number of headshell designs around, and various different ones use the term "universal". I think perhaps the use of the word "universal" in these cases refers to the fact that those headshells will fit any of the same manufacturer's arms. Which isn't much help, of course.

The reason I suggested that you probably need the SME style headshell is because: (i) the picture of the Numark CX1 I've seen has a vertical pin on it which makes it look like the SME mount; and (ii) lots of arms from the 70s and 80s used the SME type headshell mount, and it became something of an industry standard.

BUT... I've never actually handled one of these "disco style" cartridges, so I can't be sure. As honestguv suggests, the best bet would be to email Ion technical support for guidance. Failing that, I would expect that disco cartridges are built to fit the most common DJ turntable around, which is the Technics SL1200. So the safest option might be to buy a headshell for an SL1200. Ebay is probably the cheapest place to get one.

EDIT: just had a poke around on Ebay, and found a listing here for a headshell which states that it fits Technics and Numark turntables. the clear implication is that the mounting mechanism for Technics and Numark is the same, so if your Numark disco cartridge fits the Ion turntable, seems a good bet that a Technics headshell is what you need. (And unless my fading memory fails me, I'm pretty sure that Technics headshells use the SME mount).

Unfortunately, setting up a cartridge is not a trivial exercise. The object is to keep the cartridge in line with the groove, ie on a tangent, from start to finish. If you try this with a standard arm you'll soon find that it's impossible. The best you can achieve is to minimize the alignment error by (a) angling the cartridge and (b) placing the arm pivot so that the stylus tip overhangs the turntable centre. These two parameters are not the same for every cartridge/arm combination; they depend upon the distance from the arm pivot to the stylus tip. In most cases they are preset by the designer and no adjustments can be made. What this means is that if you go swapping cartridges at random your alignment will most likely be wrong.

Long ago I had a book that explained all this and gave formulae for angle and overhang but I doubt very much whether I could find it now. If I turn up any information I'll post it here but in the meantime you might like to try the maths yourself. The angle and overhang might be fixed but you can at least check that they are correct.

If you get a decent headshell, it'll have slots rather than holes for mounting the cartridge. This allows the overhang to be adjusted and the angle of the cartridge to be twisted.

As a general rule, most arms these days are pretty close to a standard: pivot to stylus is usually 9", with an overhang of about 19mm. Here is a PDF file of a cartridge protractor that should give a pretty good alignment:

Click to view attachment
Print it out (making sure that you switch OFF the automatic scaling usually done by Acrobat), and the object is to get the cartridge body parallel to the tangential lines when the stylus is placed on the two locations marked 'S'. This results in a zero tracking error at those two points, which in turn gives you the best compromise of tracking error across the whole record.

Cartridge to tonearm alignment is important and not particularly easy, that is why p-mount was developed. A major fact is that it is rather difficult to see just where the stylus tip really is in relationship to the alignment tool. Shift the position of your head a fraction of a degree and you are lining up on something other than what you may think, kind of like making that 1000 yard shot with iron sights.

Therefore you must be able to use both the near and far alignment points, before and behind the stylus. Can you get your head at the right angle to really see what you want? Can you get enough light in there is properly illuminate all the necessary parts at once? Can you tighten the bolts holding the cartridge to the head shell without shifting the position of the cartridge just that little bit? Patience is the major virtue.

There are a fair number of web pages with detailed alignment and adjustment instructions (adjustment (mainly) comes after alignment but some preliminary work is necessary to enable the proper alignment conditions). Some of them put an inordinate amount of emphasis on irrelevant components, such as VTA (not available on a great many tonearms and probably not important anyway with most cartridges, beyond what the manufacturer did in designing the tonearm) and azimuth (also not available as a explicit adjustment on most tonearms, but of some importance). Looking up several, and getting some aspects clear by reading different viewpoints, may be one of the better routes to keeping your sanity.

An LP with test tracks specifically for adjusting tracking weight and anti-skate is very helpful. While their tasks are intended to be done by ear, an oscilloscope, or one of the programs that uses your soundcard like an oscilloscope, can be quite helpful.

thank you all so goddam much!
i forgot i wanted to post last time about how much more i am understanding the differences b/w them all now. but i digress.
cliveb, it definitely fits the SME standard, or i believe it does. i forgot my dad has an old pioneer turntable from the 70s. i went to look at the cartridge, headshell, and stylus. after looking at that again, and other pictures, i clearly now see the differences b/w the stylus, cardtridge, and headshell, and can spot each one immediately. the cx1, with plugging directly into the headshell mount, very much led to much confusion on my part initially with understanding some of the differences b/w the parts and being able to identify them.
my father's headshell fits perfectly with the ion turntable, and it is a sme, again i believe, and w/e it is, fits absolutely perfectly. i went and looked at ion-audio.com, and the pictures for the headshell and cartridge were identical. a quick btw, my father's turntable is a Pionneer PL-A45, with original headshell and cartridge, and audio-technica stylus.
alignment and adjustment i will have to learn more on later, but i think now that i definitely have a good idea of what i need and want to be looking for. thank you all so much for all your help! you have all been fucking amazing! and always for further information, i coming back to these forums! thank you all so much!

the only difference i have noticed with my father's headshell is that it takes a s-mount cartridge, which i believe the s-mount is the screw on cartridges correct? lmao, but it defintiely is the bayonet mount type as with these

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Record-Player-Head...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Silver-Metal-Heads...1QQcmdZViewItem

pioneer headshell, requiring s-mount cartridge, again i believe b/c it is the screw on; extremely similar to my father's

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pioneer-headshell-Shur...1QQcmdZViewItem

again, thank you all so much!

You’ve used the term “s-mount” in two or three posts here. I curious where you are getting it. I’ve never come across it applying to anything other than certain camera lens.

I think he's getting confused with the fact that standard headshells like this are for use with "S-shape" tonearms (ie. where the arm itself is bent into an "S" shape rather than the headshell providing the necessary crank). They do of course also work with "J-shape" arms, such as the SME 3009.

spudz: there's no such thing as an "S-mount" cartridge. These headshells all take cartridges with the standard 1/2" mount (which means the two bolts you use to mount the cartridge are 1/2" apart).

Asking a question is more polite than pointing out that I already said there is no such thing.

Twice, more or less.

thank you again. when you said "there is no such thing," i was really befuddled. b/c i was like, i know i saw that somewhere, or at least think that for a reason, and now i know why.
when i started looking for the new cartridge, thinking that was what i needed at the time, i was looking at needledoctor.com, and looking at cartridges. and under "mounting" it lists S/P, http://www.needledoctor.com/Grado-Gold-Pre...mp;category=374 . i thought at the time, that p was for p mount, and s was for s-mount. furthermore, i thought that meant one could obtain the cartridge in one of two models, either and s or p-mount. going back and looking at it much more closely, i understand now that "Mounting - S/P" means Standard/P-mount. again, i thought it meant s or p mount, screw mount or press on mount, and that one could receive the shown in cartridge in either of the two models. that is where my confusion laid.
again, thank you all so much! it would have been awhile and a lot of frustration before i would have figured that out; complete ignorance. thank you all so much!

after looking a little more, it seems most of the confusion, lay with not only s/p, but others as here, http://cgi.ebay.com/P-Mount-Cartridge-adap...VQQcmdZViewItem , using s, for standard, interchangebly for with p and 1/2" mount; meaning standard p mount , s/p, or standard screw on, 1/2". i would see things like this, and this, again, is why i thought s-mount, for screw on, existsed. i am so sorry lmao, again, thank you all so much!