Phonoland

I have a garrard AT-60 and think that I need to replace the cartridge. It cuts out while playing and I have ohmed out the wires and found no breaks in any of the connections. The stereo that it is being played through is also in working order. I am wondering what type of cartridge I may need. Any suggestions? Thanks....

If you have a spare cart you may want to install that one to be sure first. What kind of $$ are you thinking of spending on a cartridge? I don't believe the AT60 will be happy with a high compliance cart like an AT 440ML or Stanton 681 EEE so I'd opt for an AT-70L or AT-71E, Stanton 500AL, or a Shure M97xE which has a stablizer brush built in. Regards.

The Shure M97xE has great sound, but I don't think the cantilever will stand up to use on a changer. The AT60 always performed well with a Pickering DAT2 cartridge. Todays equivalent would be the Stanton 400V3 ($19.95 @ Needle Doctor). It sounds better than you'd think!

Thanks for your suggestions. The extra cartridges that came with the system were junk and I sold them to the gentleman who repaired if for me when I first got the changer. I'll try the Stanton 400V3. Even if that doesn't help the problem, which I'm sure it should. It'll be nice to have an extra cartridge in case.

I've been using a Shure N97xE in an RxT6 on a Garrard AT-70 for years with no problems. That said, now that I thought about it, there would probably be clearence issues with the headshell and the dynamic stablizer brush.

The AT-60 has a better arm, with less friction and mass than the A-70. I was rather disappointed with the performance of the A-70 and Lab-80 in this respect. I have had no problems using any cartridge rated at a tracking force of 1.5 to 3 grams equivalent in an AT-60.

It's not the fact that a unit is a record changer that limits the cartridges it can accept, but rather the pivot friction and mass of the arm.