Pickering XV-15 stylus compatibility & is the 625 MM or MI??? Q&A

[Kent T]

All Stanton 680/681, and Pickering XV 15 cartridges are moving iron, aka MI. All stylus options thusly interchange.

[steven94]

 mamakasou the color of the carts doesn't mean much. There should be no problem with the VTA between the two different stylus assuming that the suspensions are in good shape. I change out stylus all the time.Using two identical headshells with stanton 680 carts.One is set up for stanton stylus and one for pickering. I have no problem with VTA. Sometimes i have to change the VTF but thats it. Hope this helps

[mamakasou]

Excuse my confusion.

I read that apart from the design that I am familiar with, there must be an early Pickering XV15/Stanton 680/681 body that came with mounting ears of a different angle. Earlier (pre 70s?) designs of the Stanton 681EE for instance (?).

[steven94]

 yes there are two different body styles the older one the mounting ears are flush with the top and the black plastic cap at the rear sticks out of the housing almost 1/8 in, the newer one the ears are at an angle of approx 15 degs and the black plastic housing is almost flush. This change I believe happened in the late 70's. The newer one VTA is approx 3/32 in higher. Sorry about previous statement I use only the newer 681 bodies and had forgot about the older body lack of rake.I found I have an older pickering body and did the comparison. This is where I got the rough 3/32 measurement. I rechecked the height with a 4606 DEX (pickering style stylus) and a 681EEE and they were about identical.So the VTA is the same.

[mamakasou]

Thanks for the answers.

If anyone has experience with the original Stanton D6800EE, how does it compare to an original Pickering D625E in terms of sound?
Does the D6800EE have a leaner, more detailed sound?

[GP49]

It has been a long time since I listened to my 681EE (the cartridge that came with the D6800EE) but I remember its having a less prominent high end than the 681EEE and XV15/625E. 

I no longer know about the capacitive and resistive loading into which these cartridges were operating at the time.  Both have a significant effect on the treble response of MM/MI cartridges.  So I can't say which was more "correct."

[mamakasou]

Thank you Gene.

I dont have a D6800EEE to compare to my D625E

But compared to my D680 the D625E has a more punchy and fuller lower-end.

I prefer that kind of full sound.
The D680 is definately more lean and is a bit more pronounced in the higher frequencies.

So, if the D6800EE is similar to the D680 in that respect, i gues it isnt woth looking for it (?)

Greetings, Nick.

[GP49]

If punchier is your preference, I would say that the version of D6800EE that I have would not be worth pursuing.

But there were two versions (at least) of D6800EE.  The early ones had a tubular cantilever with an open end and a nude diamond cemented to one layer of metal.  The later ones, like the D6800EEE and 625E, had the "cobra-head" cantilever and the diamond (probably late EEE and all 625E, a diamond tip on a non-diamond shank) cemented to two layers of metal, which was more rugged.  I only have early D6800EE, that came with the 681EE.

The 680EE came only with the later cantilever.  Wasn't its stylus the D680EE (only two zeros)?

[mamakasou]

Gene, thanks for the reply.

The stylus i have has silver letters with the word Stanton on one side and D680 on the other side. It is a "cobra head" .3 x .7 mil. Based on my research the Stanton 680EE cartridge only came with the D680 stylus. But i could be wrong.

The D680 is a fine stylus, but it lacks the impact of the D625E. It is generally more soft but with a bit more silky highs.

Your early D6800EE is it still working? I wonder if there were differences in sound between the early and newer versions.

[GP49]

My early D6800EE still works but the diamond shows evidence of wear, though it may be only
burnishing of the diamond.  I haven't looked at it in a long time.  But from my memory, "silkier
highs" would be a good characterization compared to the 681EEE and 625E.

Those straight, tubular cantilevers also had very minimal clearance from the record surface.  
The "cobra-head" solved that problem.  The early ones also lacked the STaNTOn
lettering on one side of the stylus grip.  The lack of the registered trademark and
copyrighted logo made it easy for fakers to make imitations.

[mamakasou]

Gene, regardless of how it sounds, this early Stanton D6800EE needle you have in working condition, must be a rare thing.

All these original 40+ years needles are like a dinosaur that survived the catastrophe.

I don't know if anyone is familiar with it, but there was a conical Pickering D350 needle that belonged to the DCF seriers together with the D625E, D400E and some others. I suppose it must have been the daddy of the D6807A - the stylus for the Stanton 681A.

Do you have any of the above Gene? Maybe you can shed some light on how they sound.

[GP49]

I have one, maybe two D400.  I used the D400 for quite some time and remember it as a clean-sounding stylus that was tolerant of less-than perfect records, as one would expect from a 0.4 x 0.7 elliptical, and at its minimum 2 gram tracking weight, an excellent tracker.  The D750 was Pickering's equivalent to the 681EE, apparently; mine has the same tubular cantilever.  It was succeeded by the D1200, which I also have; it has the "cobra-head" cantilever.  The 750 and 1200 are pretty, with their gilded-looking, plated bodies (the 625E is metallic goldtone paint). Probably I also have a D350, too; and definitely a D150 or D100 that came with a Technics SL1300 direct-drive turntable that I bought for $15 and fixed.

Most of these other than the D400 came after I had settled on the 681EE and later the 881S so they didn't get that much listening time.  Perhaps I should get them out and photograph them all lined up in a row as eye candy?

[Lynnot]

Hi,

I have one of those Pickering D350's on an early grey XV15 body. It came with a Technics SL-1200 which has left many years ago.

Rgds, Tony

[mamakasou]

Amazing lineup of Pickering needles you have Gene. !  Maybe that photo is a good idea.

So how does the D350 sound compared to your other needles, Tony!?

I am really curious about this higher end conical needle in the DCF range.

[Wout]

Wrt the early original D6800EE stylus: these were calibrated at 1.5g VTF. This was later changed to calibration @1g.
This happened before the body change to fully encapsulated. I guess something was changed in the suspension.

The suspension of the D1200, D6800EEE, D680, D625 is definitely different than the older original styli like the D6800EE, D750, D400, D350 etc. This can be seen by the location of the tie-wire soldered to the back end of the tube. In the older styli, the tie-wire was soldered to the bottom, in the newer ones it's soldered at the top.