I recently bought some more carts that i saw on ebay, jumped on them because they were pretty cheap for what they were.
First one was a dynavector dv20x2 low output mc that was very cheap but a bit of a punt because there wasnt much info on the listing.
Turns out, that happily i got an absolute bargain because it is practically unworn. when i looked at it under the microscope i couldnt see any wear. Its is obviously very low hours, id be surprised if it is any more than 100 hours.
Second cart is another vm750sh which is again low hours. The listing was much more informative and the condition again looking at it with the microscope, is obviously very low hours.
The price was again very cheap for what it is.
The second part of this was that the 750sh came with an audio technica lh15 technihard headshell which cost a bomb to buy new. Too heavy for the jvc so not much use to me but it can be sold on to recoup some of the cost, and a spare very low hours vmn40ml stylus.
So it occurred to me to stick that on the old 440mlb because the cantilever on that got wrecked years ago.
So essentially a 3rd cart for nowt. So i decided to get a rigb body for it just to see. They arent a great deal of money, you can either fit it yourself which is simple enough, or send it off and have the guys who sell it to fit it.
Fitting is simple. take off the sticker that has the cartridge designation on it, remove the little screw, and crack off the body which has a little dab of epoxy holding it on.
Then clean the body off with some alcohol, mix up and dab on a little epoxy (which it comes with incedentally), slip the rigb body on and put the screw back in, then leave it to set.
Doddle.
So, what has it done to the 440?
The 440 sounded practically the same with the original stylus and the vmn40ml, a little thin, a little balanced towards the top end, and a little thin in the midrange. Fitting the new body seems to have altered the balance. It is much more neutrally balanced than it was. The top to bottom bias is flatter if that makes sense.
Its more natural sounding, especially in the midrange where it was abit hollow on voices where it is now more realistic.
Actually, i think more realistic is a good description of what im hearing, its more realistic than what is essentially a vm740ml, the 750 body with the 40ml stylus which ive compared it to aswell.
The 440 generator is a little bit different to the 750 generator, the 440 coils measure 490mh inductance and 3.2k impedance where the 750 generator measures 460mh and 2k7 quoted. So not much, but there are subtle differences.
So, in terms of the body change, i think that it was worth it. Tilting the balance has for me made this cart more enjoyable than it was originally. 59 quid well spent.
Would i change one of the 700 series bodies for the rigb body? For the sake of 60 quid i probably would, the rigb 440 is slightly more natural than a standard 740ml, but i cant say how much of that is the rigb body or the 440 generator.
Its gone on emmas jvc, works really well on it so it can stay on that.
The dynavector has gone on the lenco, so i now have a pair of 750sh carts to go on the pair of cx arms i have partially built. But thats another story