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old JVC 4MD 20X cartridge sounds better than an Ortofon X5?


Randy Bey

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I am still trying to wrap my head around this.

True, I haven't put the JVC in the TD165, but I have put the Ortofon in the TD125.

The JVC sounds smoother, more liquid, natural. The Ortofon sounds sibilant, a bit harsher, brighter.

From what I gather the JVC was fairly mass market MM design used in Quad (remember quad?) way back in 1974. This guy has been sitting in my 125 for the last thirty years.

How dare it?

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Who knows? I recently replaced a 10 year old stylus on my Shure V15 Vmr. And wouldnt you know it, the old one sounded better, the new one had more than one defect. And so it goes..

Dont forget those old CD4 pickups had a fairly extended frequency response required to reproduce 4 channels from a two-sided groove. Frankly, the grommet suspension on virtually all pickups is subject to deterioration & stiffening over time due to pollutants and other environmental conditions. Probably the only exception to this is the Decca pickup which has a considerably different design from all other pickups (that I know of).

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I have been using a JVC 4MD 20X cartridge in my Technics SL1300 ever since I bought them both in 1975...it is a great cartridge! Just be sure that the stylus is in great shape and have the cartridge checked out on occassion. There is alot to be said for a cartridge with a Shibata nude diamond stylus, that can pick up from 20 Hz to 60,000Hz...no matter WHEN it was made!! JVC did not actually MAKE the cartridge, but only distributed it....which is logical since JVC was one of the innovators (along with RCA) of CD-4/Discrete quad in those days, and the cartridge was designed specifically for that format! The manufacturer was actually Audio-Technica, if I remember correctly...but Audio-Technica never offered its own badge on it in a version they marketed themselves...as a matter of fact, the Audio-Technica labelled CD-4 cartridges only went up to 45,000 Hz, and were MUCH MORE expensive!

Other specifications of this cartridge: crosstalk 30 dB, recommended tracking force 1.5-2 grams(but is fine at 1.25 grams on many turntables), 1976 MSRP $89.95 (no small price for a cartridge in those days!)

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  • 20 years later...
On 9/22/2003 at 1:52 PM, HDBRbuilder said:

I have been using a JVC 4MD 20X cartridge in my Technics SL1300 ever since I bought them both in 1975...it is a great cartridge! Just be sure that the stylus is in great shape and have the cartridge checked out on occassion. There is alot to be said for a cartridge with a Shibata nude diamond stylus, that can pick up from 20 Hz to 60,000Hz...no matter WHEN it was made!! JVC did not actually MAKE the cartridge, but only distributed it....which is logical since JVC was one of the innovators (along with RCA) of CD-4/Discrete quad in those days, and the cartridge was designed specifically for that format! The manufacturer was actually Audio-Technica, if I remember correctly...but Audio-Technica never offered its own badge on it in a version they marketed themselves...as a matter of fact, the Audio-Technica labelled CD-4 cartridges only went up to 45,000 Hz, and were MUCH MORE expensive!

Other specifications of this cartridge: crosstalk 30 dB, recommended tracking force 1.5-2 grams(but is fine at 1.25 grams on many turntables), 1976 MSRP $89.95 (no small price for a cartridge in those days!)

Hello... This JVC 4MD 20X is MM or MC Phono Cartridges?

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