Dear WhatHiFi community, does anyone—by now—know which cartridge is used in the Sony PS-HX500 turntable? Or, at least, what’s the height of the cartridge and the stylus/needle compliance? There where rumours that Sony just bought the AT91/AT95 and built it in this turntable. If so, the AT91 is 17 mm in height, the AT95 17.2 mm … if I’d like to install an Ortofon 2m Black, then I’d have to reduce the height of my slipmat by 1 mm, as you cannot adjust the VTA … though I would have a problem if the used cartridge has a different height than 17 mm. It also would be interesting, how much does the tonearm weigh. Thank you a lot and kindest regards!
Sony PS-HX500 cartridge and tonearm specifications
- Thread starter fooness
- Start date
Al ears
Well-known member
fooness said:
Not too sure about this turntable you'd have to contact Sony as cartridge may differ as to where in the world you buy it.
Not quite sure why you want to know what the tonearm weighs for, it's the effective mass that is important.
Welcome to the forum by the way.
If you believe Rega then VTA is not worth worrying about but my view is if you are likely to swap cartridges from the original then buy a turntable that does allow you to adjust VTA.
Thank you for your answer! “Unfortunately,” I already purchased the turntable a while ago … and now it’s time to upgrade. I really adore the visuality and materiality of this turntable, but the acoustics could be a little better. So I’m going to upgrade the cartridge as first step. I’m using it in phono mode, I don’t use all that hi-res audio recording converting blah at all.
Al ears
Well-known member
fooness said:
I see, however if you don't use the analogue recording facility I wonder why you actually paid for that when you bought can turntable. My advice is to sell it and buy something that is better suited to the Ortofon cartridge. Do you already have the 2M Black?
I’m just about to purchase the 2M Black. The thing is, I looked at all kinds of turntables for almost weeks now and I don’t find something that appeals similar to me.
fooness said:
Been there, done that....I travelled this road a few years ago and have found there is no substitute for a decent tonearm and cartridge. Sure the 2M Black will sound good, but nowhere near as good as it could when mated to a good tonearm.
Personally I would forget about the cartridge upgrade and sell the turntable, this should net you somewhere in the region of £600 available to spend. Save some extra cash and look for tt's in the region of £1K that will ultimately do justice to a an expensive cartridge upgrade. Rega, Pro-ject and Clearadio, to name but three, all have tt's in this price range and all come with 'reasonable' cartridges.
Just my 2p's worth *smile*
Al ears
Well-known member
fooness said:
The poor man's LP12 and likely to be twenty odd years old. Depending on which arm it is fitted with it could be quite good but now probably would require various good service.
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