Does anyone here have experience with this cartridge… AT-VM95SH
It’s an Audio Technica Shibata cartridge.
If you just want to buy the needle,.it’s called… AT-VMN95SH
It fits as a replacement needle for,.among other things, Linn’s K5, K9 and K18 housings.
I myself am incredibly impressed with it.
I had a very ignorant friend (I don’t dare write knowledgeable friend ) recap a Linn Axis I had lying around.
This very ignorant friend has soon recapped all of Sweden’s older Linn products,.and also quite a few outside Sweden’s borders.
My ignorant friend did a fantastic job with my Axis,.it started playing incredibly well.
So well,.that lots of my friends who have top-notch twelves bought themselves a Linn Axis, and let my ignorant friend put his magic hands on their Axis’s.
We’ve all been hooked on this cartridge mentioned in the title… AT-VM95SH
Preferably with an older “house” from Linn as these are made of metal.
So if you have such a house,.just buy the needle.
I would like to use this thread to advise on this cartridge, which is also available in a Micro-line version… AT-VM95ML
As well as gather experiences from those of you who have tried these two mentioned above.
If you perhaps have a “second system” next to your top-notch Linn twelve,.then this cartridge is an excellent choice.
I myself have equipped my recapped and overhauled Linn Axis with this AT-VM95SH.
Lejonklou’s best MM-riaa Slipsik 8,.and Vertere’s Redline tonearm-cable and Redline interconnect to and from this MM-riaa.
Everything is standing on the Mana Acoustic Reference wall-shelf.
The result is so good that when I play on the above setup, I don’t think about my LP12.
It would be incredibly interesting to hear from those of you who have tried any of the above mentioned pickups…
If you have similar experiences to me.
They will fit a K9, but not a K18. Not sure about the K5.
I’ve got all of the range except the SH and use them with a K9 metal body.
The most musically coherent to my ears is the E, but I use the EN due to inner groove distortion on my old LP12. The E worked OK on a more modern LP12 (early 2000s) in terms of IGD.
The ML offers the best Hi-Fi of the four I own and is superb in terms of IGD but might be a bit ‘thin’ in some systems and is not as engaging to my ears, although still very enjoyable.
I had a Slipsik 8 and it worked well with all four, as do Naim 322 phono cards.
I have been using this cartridge on my LP12 for coming up to three years now and very impressed with its performance. I bought it as a good starter cartridge as most of my budget at the time was spent on up stream items of the LP12, new speakers and a new Hifi rack.
I would be more than happy to just replace the stylus when the time comes although I am very tempted to upgrade to one of the metal body models like VM750SH or VM760slc.
Can’t comment on how it compares to similar carts as I haven’t tried others.
I’m very interested in these MM carts from Audio Technica more so with a company doing metal body kits for them.
Rig B and Trig B
For two and three mounting screws.
I wish info was a bit less secret about them.
I didn’t enjoy the 520EB and 540ML as much as the VM95 range. Better Hi-Fi though, as you’d expect. My dealer checked with Audio Technica in the UK that they are suitable for an Ekos 2 and they said ‘yes’, so it wasn’t that.
I’ve had the 95C, E and SH.
All were fine budget cartridges, the ML seem to be very popular, I thought it was a bit thin or non coherent.
RigB do some interesting mods to AT bodies.
…
AT-VM95SH
) recap a Linn Axis I had lying around.
It would be incredibly interesting to hear from those of you who have tried any of the above mentioned pickups…
