Dansette Conquest cartridge.

['LIVEWIRE?']

Point taken, Techman, but as I didn't choose the cartridge (The player's owner did) I fitted what was provided. This doesn't alter the fact that I and many others played records on BSR decks fitted with TC8 Cartridges, and, as I said, I still have many of the records I bought 50 years ago and more, and they play and sound OK on my TEAC Turntable, which is fitted with an Audio Technica Magnetic Cartridge. Brassbits, the Ronette 105 clone is a stereo cartridge. I wouldn't know about the original Ronette one, as I've never seen one.

[AC/HL]

You'll likely find the other two wires tucked up under the pickup arm. They will need to be joined or "bridged" on the tag strip underneath the turntable.
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...14&postcount=7

[AC/HL]

Alternative colours: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...9&postcount=15 but the idea is the same, four wires from the pickup joined together below decks. The outer two (left + and right +) together and the other two and chassis together.
It will be obvious in practice.

[Techman]

If he chooses the BSR X5M cartridge he won't need to worry about bridging connections.

I was going to add this to the previous post, but had to wind it up quickly due to the phone ringing, and that was that the X5M cartridge has more 'grunt' than any of the others, so much so that you can nearly get away with one in a single stage amplifier player, although you'll still need the volume flat out to get any sort of reasonable sound level when playing 12" 33 rpm records due to the low groove modulation levels of these.

The other ceramic cartridges don't have the same 'grunt' as the crystal X5M, but give a somewhat smoother, and perhaps nicer sound - the choice is yours. Whatever type of 'flip under' flag type cartridge you fit, you may find that you have to make and fit a spacer into a deep headshell so that the flag doesn't come into contact with its edge when fitted.

To the OP, Simon - I would advise you against buying old Dansette and similar players for restoration, as most of them have single stage amplifiers and WILL need a HIGH OUTPUT Crystal cartridge (that's what the 'H' stands for in the cartridge model number), and these are now unobtainable, so you'll need to get into amplifier building and the skill and expense that that involves to be able to use a medium 'M' output cartridge, again, the choice is yours. You've been lucky this time finding one of the rarer ones with a two stage amplifier.

['LIVEWIRE?']

As a footnote to all the above there is currently on e-bay a genuine NOS Ronette stereo 108 cartridge foe under £35. This has all-metal styli, too! It's o/p is 200mV compared to the 250 quoted for the clone, but is otherwise similar.

[simonbridge]

Are these the cheap chinese ones that people keep mentioning.
Would this work with the ECL82?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RECORD-PL...UAAOSwdJtdWnYV

[simonbridge]

Learnt a few valuable lessons doing this.
Never thought for one minute the cartridge would be an issue. I have spent quite a bit of time refurbing it now so need to at least finish it and see if I can sell it.

Will most likely go for the BSR X5 as it seems that most of the recommendations are for this cartridge.

['LIVEWIRE?']

That is one of the type which should work OK with the ECL82, Simon. They come with a stylus designed to play 33 & 45RPM records. A BSR X5 may have too high an output for a 2-stage amplifier such as that in your Dansette Conquest.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by 'LIVEWIRE?'

A BSR X5 may have too high an output for a 2-stage amplifier such as that in your Dansette Conquest.

Sorry, but that's completely wrong information.

The X5M is a MEDIUM OUTPUT cartridge which means it's EXACTLY right for a two stage valve amplifier. The X5H version was a high output type which was designed for use with the single stage valve amplifiers - this latter type is no longer available.

I think it's become high time to get some facts out there. The crystal cartridges were basically from the valve era and the ceramic types were from the transistor era, with some possibly unintentional overlap.

All those ceramic cartridges listed, such as the BSR SC11M, SC12M, were really designed for use in multi stage transistor amplifiers. They don't have quite enough output to fully drive even a two stage valve amplifier, but they do just about manage it and sound quite nice, even though the volume control needs to be fairly well up when playing LPs.

The BSR X5M was intended to drive two stage valve amplifiers at the latter end of the valve era, normally to convert non-compatible mono record players to stereo compatibility. It so happens that the output is high enough to just about drive a single stage amplifier acceptably, so long as you don't want too much volume from LP records, ie, they will play 45s and 78s with quite good volume on a single stage amplifier player. The correct cartridge to use for a single stage player would be the X5H if it were still available. There was once a high output version of the ceramic type cartridges, but even these weren't anywhere near as high as the equivalent high output crystal cartridges.

I can tell you exactly how all these cartridge variants work with different amplifiers as I've got examples of them all right here, and have tried all the various combinations myself.

[BRASSBITS]

Originally Posted by BRASSBITS

if these are of interest to you I have a couple of each that's surplus in original box , BSR X5M, BSR SC11M, BSR SC12M All of these are new old stock and never been removed from their box all have a flip over Stereo LP/78 stylus.

pm for more details

if other members are interested I also have a new old stock never removed from box BSR X5H

[Edward Huggins]

PM sent.