BSR X5M cartridge problems

[ben]

Originally Posted by G4XWDJim

Ben, all of my cartridges H and Ms have the plastic ST 10 stylus with the double diameter shank, the intention being I would think is that the small diameter fits in the ears of the armature. They seem to work ok like that.

Good news on the successful fix!

Regarding the above. The presence of ST10 in the M carts is simply because someone fitted the wrong stylus at some point. You may want to try to use the higher compliance metal styli as an experiment, but as mentioned, the likelhood is that the rubber ears have deformed over time to accommodate the thicker plastic stylus shank, so a slimmer metal one may well move about in use and sound crappy. If so, you'll just have to leave the plastic one in.

The plastic ones seem to have difficulty tracking anything with lots of groove modulation such as disco and funk, at least without some extra downforce weight added, which is not in the best interests of record wear. They were meant for old decks with chunky metal arms (Garrard Autoslim, BSR UA6/8/12/14, etc) which would not make good use of a higher compliance setup.

[vidjoman]

I repaired one where the thick plastic stylus had been wrongly fitted and had opened the ears so the better metal stylus rattled around. I removed the stylus and applied a small amount of silicon rubber to the ears and inserted a piece of lightly greased wire into it to create a slot for the stylus to fit into. Waited 24 hours, removed the wire and replaced the metal stylus assembly. It worked very well and saved a working cartridge.