Shure Phonograph V-15 Type II User Guide

THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVANCE
IN PHONO CARTRIDGES SINCE

OF

THE ADVENT

STEREO

THE SHURE V-15 TYPE

.

.

.

II

IMPROVED

la new genre of cartridge,
analog-computer-designed, and measured against
a new and meaningful indicator
of total performance:

TRACKABILITY:

The radically new
epoch in high performance cartridges and in
the measurement of their performance.
call it the era of superior Trackability. Be­cause of it, all your records will sound better
and, in fact, you will hear some recordings
tracked at light forces for the first time with­out distortion.

V-15

TYPEII heralds a new

We

THE

Although audiophiles prefer minimum tracking forces to mini­mize record
cut recordings at maximum levels with maximum cutting ve­locities to maximize signal-to-noise ratios. Unfortunately, some
high level recordings are cut at velocities so great that even
excellent cartridges have been unable to track some passages,
particularly the high and midrange transients. Hence, high-level
recordings of orchestral bells, harpsichords, pianos, etc., cause
the stylus to part company with the
(it actually ceases to track). At best, this produces an audible
click; at worst,

of increasing tracking force is impractical
because this calls for a stiffer stylus to suppc
the greater weight, and a stiffer stylus
will not track these transients or heavy
low-frequency modulation-to say nothing
of the heavier force accelerating record and
stylus wear to an intolerable degree.

PROBLEM:

wear and preserve fidelity, record makers prefer to

result,. The "obvious"

wsta~ned gross distortion and outr~ght noise

wlldly undulating groove

soli~tion

Shure has collected scores of these demanding high level record­ings and painstakingly and thoroughly analyzed them.

found that in some cases (after only a few
velocity high or midrange groove undulations were "shaved"
off or gouged out by the stylus
fidelity. Other records, which were off-handedly dismissed as
unplayable or poor pressings were found to be neither. They
were

s~rnply too high in recorded velocity and, therefore, un-

trackable by existing styli.
Most significantly, as a result of these analyses, Shure engineers

tablished the maximum recorded velocities of

various frequencies on quality records and

. . .

et about

would track the entire audible

playing) the high

thus eliminating the high

des~gning a cartridge that

ectrum of these maximum

velocities at tracking

forces of less than

1'12

It was

grams.

L

ENTER THE
COMPUTER

:

5

The solution to the problem of true trackability proved so
complex that Shure engineers designed an
puter that closely duplicated the mechanical variables and
characteristics of a phono cartridge. With this unique de­vice, they were able to observe precisely what happened
when you varied the many factors which affect
ability: inertia of tip end of the stylus or the magnet end of
the stylus; the compliance between the record and the
needle tip, or the compliance of the stylus shank, or the
compliance of the bearing; the viscous damping of the
bearing; the tracking force; the recorded velocity of the
record, etc., etc. The number of permutations and

analog-com-

track-

com-