Specification

audio-technica phono cartridges guide - 2019/20 - 57
Understanding the sizes and shapes of Audio-Technica stylus tips
and contact areas in the record groove
for microgroove Long Play vinyl records (LP)
Stylus curvature radius 0,6mil 0,3 x 0,7mil 2,2 x 0,12mil 2,7 x 0,26mil 1,5 x 0,28mil
Stylus shape
Stylus front view
Stylus horizontal
cross
‑s
ection
Audio‑Technica
AT33MONO (0,65mil)
AT-OC9XEB
AT-OC9XML AT-OC9XSH
AT-ART1000
moving coil cartridges AT-MONO3/LP
AT-OC9XEN
AT33PTG/II AT33Sa
A
T-ART7 - AT-ART9
AT
33EV
AT-OC9XSL
Audio‑Technica VM610MONO VM530EN VM740ML
VM Series cartridges
VM750SH VM760SLC
V
M510CB
VM520EB V
M540ML
Audio‑Technica AT-VM95E
A
T-VM95ML
AT-VM95SH
VM95 Series cartridges
AT-VM95C
A
T-VM95EN
Audio‑Technica moving
magnet DJ cartridges
AT-XP3 AT-XP5 - AT-XP7
Audio‑Technica
moving magnet
AT81CP AT85EP
P‑mount cartridges
Dimensions (see
R=0,6mil
R=0,7mil R=
2,2mil
R=
2,7mil
R=
1,5mil
horizontal cross section) r=0,3mil r=0,12mil r=0,26mil r=0,28mil
Contact surface
on record groove
(stylus side view)
Approximative contact
dimensions ratio
D1/D2=1 D1/D2=1,60 D1/D2=2,25 D1/D2=3 D1/D2=6
(1)
D2 represents the contact dimension at the horizontal plane while D1 shows the contact dimension at the vertical plane. These two dimensions indicate the contact area
between the record groove walls and the stylus tip. D2 must be as small as possible to track small groove variations (high frequency). The total contact area should be as
large as possible to minimize record wear and maximize accurate reproduction. The larger the area, the smaller pressure from the cartridge on the record; as opposed to
the smaller the area, the more pressure is applied on a specific point of the groove, leading to record wear.
We can see from the above table that the Line Contact and Microlinear shapes oers a smaller horizontal contact area leading to superior precision and high frequency
transcription, while oering a larger contact area than conical or elliptical styli due to a taller vertical contact area minimizing record wear.
Special
Line Contact
R
r =
0,28mil
= 1,5mil
Shibata
R
R
r =
0,26mil
MicroLinear
r =
0,12mil
R
Elliptical
R
R
r =
0,3mil
Conical
R
R
R =
0,6mil
3mil
Conical
R
R
R =
3mil
2.5mil
Conical
R
R
R =
2.5mil
Understanding the styli sizes of Standard Play Shellac records (SP)
Stylus sizes
S
tylus shape
Stylus front view
Stylus horizontal
cross
‑s
ection
Audio‑Technica
moving coil SP cartridges
AT-MONO3/SP
Audio‑Technica
VM Series SP cartridges
VM670SP
Audio‑Technica
VM95 Series SP cartridges
AT-VM95SP
D2
D1
D2
D1
D2
D1
D2
D1
D2
D1
Illustration of dierent sizes between two typical conical styli:
– on the left, 3mil radius SP stylus for 78rpm records
– on the right, typical 0.6mil conical LP stylus for 33 and 48rpm records
LP and SP record grooves are represented at the same scale
– groove width of LP record 0.0025”, groove width of SP record 0.0070”
– groove depth of LP record 0.0013”, groove depth of SP record 0.0029”