Cheap Chinese cartridges

[tin0gauge]

Relatively new to fixing up an old record players and trying to work to a budget I have tried some of the cheap Chinese cartridges you see on ebay for a few pounds, but find they are low output. They are normally black and red with stereo output.Hhas anyone tested the output voltage on these? Am I wasting my time trying to use them on record players with simple low gain amps like the Dansettes? Alternatives are the BSR high and medium output cartridges and these seem to be around the £40 mark.

[peter_sol]

Those are fine for 2 stage amps but too low for 1 valve EL84 UL84 EL41 UL41
There is no cartridge obtainable now to suit these I regret

[Boater Sam]

Odd that this should come up today, I've just grafted one onto a Decca 94 Radiogram that has the XMS cartridge arm.

The original brown 78 cartridges were OK but the red one is O/C and I have no 78s!
I filed the top of the Chinese cartridge flat and super-glued it to a small ally plate with a hole to line up with one of the tapped holes under the arm.
Worked out the correct length and height to get the tracking right. A slight bend to get the angle correct and connected the wires, mono, to the existing socket in the arm using a 2 pins and a 2 pin molex on the cartridge pins with the wires outside the arm.
Its certainly not the most beautiful job but it is easily reversible.

Well, it works very well, plenty of volume, its a decent amp with a triode feeding the output pentode. Tone is fine, my ears are not good but it sounds fine to me.

So, from an unusable radiogram to a working one for £1.46 including postage, its a cracking deal.
With the problem of making any cartridge fit, and an ordinary amp, using such a cheap disposable cartridge seems to be sensible.

No complaints here.

[AndiiT]

Hi, I have used these cartridges on a number of occasions to restore life to a player with an otherwise dead cartridge. The output is fine for a two stage amp which has moderate gain but far too low for single stage amplifiers.

The "glue" method is the one that I generally adopt and these cartridges will often fit nicely in the brackets used to carry the BSR TC8 mono cartridges. They also make excellent replacements for the Philips cartridges which turn to goo in their headshells; I'm sure I have seen posts elsewhere in this forum of how to mount these Chinese cartridges in both the BSR and Philips carriers.

The sound quality is acceptable for the type of players that they are being used in and the added bonus is that stylii should be readily available for some time as these cartridges are used in the Crossley Cruiser, and similar, "retro" players which seem to be gaining popularity in some circles.

Regards

Andrew

[ben]

Those Chuo Denshi carts are indeed a bargain. I've used them a few times, they're Ok for certain amps. Some pics in this thread.

[Ekcoman]

I fitted one into a Hacker GP42 as the cart was failing and adapted the old cart top fitting and it sounded surprisingly very good indeed.

[wd40addict]

To be a pedant the Chuo Denshi's are Japanese and marked 'CD' on the stylus. The Chinese ones are a knock off and I've found the stylus is not interchangeable with a genuine CD.

See here for more:

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=130162

[TonyDuell]

I fitted one to one of those Sanyo briefcase music centres last year and have been happy with it.

The quality is obviously not as good as a good moving magnet cartridge. You can't expect it to be. But I feel it is certainly comparable to the sort of ceramic cartridge that was originally fitted to Dansettes and similar record players. The output seems (without measuring it) to be similar to a medium-output old cartridge, so I would expect it to work with a 2-stage amplifier (say using a UCL82), or most transistorised amplifiers. I don't think you'll get enough signal for a single-stage UL84-based amplifier.

My view is that said cartridges are a bargain and are ideal for repairing old record players, etc.

[Edward Huggins]

Originally Posted by tin0gauge

Alternatives are the BSR high and medium output cartridges and these seem to be around the £40 mark.

Don't be mislead by currently available BSR ceramic "high" output cartridges.
I think you may be referring to the BSR SC12H, note the "H" suffix.
These only give around the same output, at best, as the earlier crystal medium output cartridges, at around 170-200mV.

[Boater Sam]

If using these on a mono player, is it correct to connect both sides of the cartridge together providing they are in phase?
Presumably then when playing stereo records you get both channels?

[Audio1950]

Yes, that's correct. The easiest way to do this is to connect the wires at the tag strip underneath the deck.

[Boater Sam]

I'll have to do the connections on the cartridge itself, the installation is a little unusual! A wire rapping job seems best, soldering to the pins would be a bad idea.

[Audio1950]

You could always add two more wires and tags to the existing tags?

Barrry

[Boater Sam]

This is all done without proper tags, I've pushed a 2 pole miniature molex on to the cartridge.
Wire wrapped across the tags so that both channels are in parallel, now its louder and sounds just fine for the money.
I would put a photo' up but may get laughed off the forum.

[Records]

I doubt you would, if it works then thats what matters

[Records]

Im actually an owner of 2 of the Crossley retro players, rebranded as boombeat for B and M stores.
I know some people dont like them but for playing second hand lps bought off ebay and found in second hand shops they work very well, so if anybody may get laughed at its probably me

[Techman]

As said, the high output BSR SC12H cartridge isn't actually high output due to it being of the ceramic type. Genuine high output crystal cartridges are no longer generally available in the UK, making proper restoration of single stage amplifier type record players uneconomical for the 'wheeler dealer'.

The cheap Chinese cartridges are very good for what they are, but the output will be a bit too low for most single stage record players without building an extra amplifier stage onto the unit.

The best bet is to obtain a BSR X5M which is a medium output crystal cartridge, but which has a higher output than the BSR SC12H ceramic cartridge. This will never have quite the same volume level as the original high output cartridge, but will be good enough to play old, loud singles. If you can still find any BSR X5H cartridges, then all the better.

[Richie2211]

Are these cheap Chinese cartridges suitable for a Dansette Conquest auto or Major?

[Records]

One of my Crossley players.

[Boater Sam]

You can buy them with a half inch mounting frame at a bit higher price, so then I assume that they will fit an arm with that mounting, tracking and length being suitable though. I just super glued mine in on a scrap of ally without the mounting.
They are not high output, single pentode amps will be very quiet, need a transistor preamp running off the cathode resistor perhaps.