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Stylus / Cartridge Manufacturers

The Two Big Players

It is pretty much safe to say that although some DJ equipment manufacturers pass styli to be their own (some record players for hifi don't even allow the user to change the stylus) if you want decent sound in your DJing you'll probably be getting one of these.

Ortofon

These two Swedish bods have been making cartridges and like since their re-grouping after the second world war. However the company can be traced back to as early as 1918!

I could bore you with all the background but they revolutionised the sound world by producing the first ever fully synchronised sound film. They were also the first company to produce an outdoor sound recording. So that's nice. They made huge wodges of cash by patenting their discovery and then flogged the rights to film studios around the world making more than just a couple of quid I should guess. They've won a whole bunch of awards and are viewed by the industry and themselves as driving for the absolute best in the highest technical quality through boundary pushing research and ideas. They have made over 300 cartridges alone! But I won't.......

With one of these you will get a good quality all round cartridge with proven history in its roots. More seen as a DJ mixers cartridge although they have branched out into the realm of the scratcher. They have designed not only cartridge and stylus but also complete units that include all three, thus removing the need for a separate headshell. See the Ortofon Concorde named as they look like, well.... the front of a Concorde aeroplane. Innovative to say the least (apart from Concorde being decommisioned by BA and don't fly anymore is a tad ironic) and all price ranges here are covered from inexpensive to very expensive indeed.

Shure

Shure cartridges and needles are renowned for their more warm sound. You may find the bass is a little bit less than those of the ortofon so something worth considering when making your choice. Others like me would tell you I can't tell the difference. Again all areas are catered for by this manufacturer from the budget needle to the full scratchers' cartridge.

Shure design their product to have high trackability in the groove without the need for excessive downforce to keep them there. This will mean that any shure cartridge and stylus combo will be very light on your records reducing the speed of vinyl burn to the point wheer some say it is non-existent. Not literally as a record will wear very gradually n matter what teh choice. THey are great though and I swear by them..

The scratchers cartridge of choice is the Shure M44-7s which when set up correctly on a top end turntable will mean that the record is practically unskippable, a turntablists heaven! They are totally worth every penny and I'd recommend them to anyone, scratcher or not.

Which Should You Go For?

On a general note its down to personal taste and preference so I can't give you a straight answer. Most Djs will favour one or the other. Just remember that if you mix house or trance or even drum and bass where you want the full range then the Ortofon's may be the way forward. The Shure's may produce less bass. However even if you connect the Ortofon's up to a crap turntable or hifi with rubbish non responsive speakers this won't fix your lack of bass problem!

I've been using one Ortofon and one Shure for quite a while now (I was very poor and they were borrowed) and to be honest I haven't been able to tell the difference between the two in the time that I've had them. I have recently upgraded to the Shure M44-7s due to their favoured scratching handling but are also great for mixing which is often overlooked. many DJs will automatically put them aside as not an option because they are for turntablist / scratchers, like they are the only group of DJs allowed to use them. Some unwritten law or summat, so really it boils down to what you want to do on the decks, which shape of stylus is most suited and the amount of cash you have to spend.

I chose the M44-7s as that way i get the best of both worlds, mixing and scratching. Bargain on!

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