New stylus for Project III Debut

[hybridauth_Google_117949439720551066952]

Hi,

I've had a Project Debut III for coming on 13 years now and it's had quite a bit of use, much more than the recommended 1,000 hours of use before changing the stylus. Anyway, the sound has deteriorated to a point where I'm getting a lot of noticable distortion of viny listening isn't a pleasure anymore.

Just wondering what people recommend in terms of a replacement. It has a Ortefon OMB5E fitted at the moment. Is it best to go like-for-like or are them some good upgrades that suit this deck well? Even in its younger days I did get some IGD with it.



Cheers,

Rob.

 

[myrrhman]

I have the same deck / cartridge, more like 9 years old and stylus still sounds OK, but I did recently see that Project do a Pick-it cartridge with the same dimensions as the OM5E, manufactured for them by Ortofon. Should be as close as you can get to a like for like replacement with upgrade, I think the tracking weight is different but otherwise should be a straightforwards swap.

 

[Al ears]

As stated above you can change the cartridge or simply buy a replacement stylus. The cartridge route is obviously going to be more expensive. Did you have a budget in mind?

 

[bigfish786]

Have a look into getting the Goldring E3 cartridge. For the money, it is a cracking cartridge.

 

[Al ears]

As bigfish786 says it's a good cartridge and would make a good upgrade. I'd ask if you are competent changing and setting up a cartridge, if not a replacement stylus might be way to go until you can get your deck to a dealership.

 

[hybridauth_Google_117949439720551066952]

Thanks all for the replies. I've never attempted a cartridge change before, and whilst I don't mind getting my hands dirty, fear I would not optimise the installation (or worse). Lockdown may dictate waiting for a while or going with a more straightforward stylus replacement. I can get a small upgrade to an Ortofon 10 for a reasonable price (acually almost identical to the 5E). Ortofon 20 and 30 go beyond what I would like to spend right now.

 

[Al ears]

The OM10 stylus would seem the way to go then.

 

[iMark]

After reading https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?t=12557 I'm not sure if replacing the OM5e stylus by an OM10 is actually a good idea. It's not an upgrade path recommended by Ortofon like replacing the 2M Red stylus by on 2M Blue. But then there are reports that the cartridge of the OM range is the same and that just the styli are different.

 

[daytona600]

ortofon stylus 5/10/20/30/40 all fit the 5E cartridge depends on your budget

 

[myrrhman]

Just an added point in case you don't go down the 5/10/20... stylus replacement route. The instructions for my Project Debut III states the counterweight is designed for cartridges of 3.5 - 5.5g weight. The OM5e (and Project Pick-it derivative) are 5.0g, so no problem, but the 2M series are 7.2g, and the Goldring E3 6.9g, so you'd also need to budget for a new counterweight (about £20.00 I think).

 

[myrrhman]

Apologies for bumping this thread again, but thought it would be useful to relate my recent experiences with a Debut III OM stylus upgrade.
Realised it was probably time to replace my own 10 year old stylus when I fell asleep after a 'virtual pub' session with some friends on Zoom and left the record on all night...after a little research concluded that an OM20 stylus was probably the best upgrade, not cheap at £145 but I was interested to see what difference it would make.
Had to reset the tracking weight - discovered I had set the 5E on the heavy side at just over 1.9g - the 20 is recommended to track at 1.5g, but otherwise straightforward. I thought my turntable sounded fine before, maybe lacking a little definition in the bass but engaging and easy to listen to. The 20 is significantly better - the soundstage has opened up and is much better defined; I'm hearing percussion, cymbals in particular with more precision; and the bass is much stronger without being at all boomy - I find it much easier to follow bass guitar lines in a song than I did. If the OP is still thinking about an upgrade along similar lines, IMHO it would be well worth doing so.