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Shure V15 - a benchmark in magnetic cartridges

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The first of the classic Shure's was the Shure V15 that arrived on the hifi scene in 1964, that cartridge is named after it's VTA of 15° and the descendants of this cartridge are still manufactured to this day, it featured a biradial elliptical stylus (0,0002x0,0009).

It was replaced with the Shure V15 Type II in 1966, main improvements were in trackability according to the Shure website. The Type II Improved was introduced in 1970 and had a slightly improved element and a better stylus.

The Shure V15 Type III was introduced in 1974 and it had a new pole piece and that amongst with other improvements meant that it had a 25% less effective mass than the Type II, you could also get it in a more expensive version called V15-IIIHE with an Hyper elliptical stylus.

The later and more modern Shure V15 Type IV was introduced in 1978 and it has a better stylus than the previous model (an hyper elliptical as the IIIHE had), it's also the first in the line that has the "Dynamic Stabilizer" damper brush that we have come to associate with classic V15's, the V15 Type V version had a Beryllium cantilever and a differently cut stylus, the year after that the company introduced a more upmarket version called V15 Type V-MR that was identical to the V but featured a Micro-Ridge line contact stylus.

The Shure V15 type III is considered by most one of the all time great cartridges. The fact that you can still buy replacement stylii for the type III and not the type IV speaks volumes. With the VN35MR stylus the type III comes close to the type V performance. However, the type III does not match all arms, and works best in light weight arms.

Most people find the V-15 III one of the most musical cartridges available, in the sense that it accurately captured the sounds of acoustic instruments. But all of the Shure cartridges have a laid back sound, even the latest versions, which are "tuned" to be more hi-fi.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when mounting the type III is to over tighten the screws. This deforms the chrome look plastic case and makes alignment virtually impossible. If Shure is still doing it's stylus exchange program it is worth doing as it will bring the cartridge to latest specs.

Bear in mind that this is a 30+ year old cartridge. It's still a nice sounding cartridge even in this modern day but don't pay too much for one. And if you are really serious about your music you will only keep this a sort of curio.

Good vinyl playback systems deserve really good cartridges.

I am indebted to Mick Evans for this great article on the Shure V15 cartridge.

At the moment Mick's site is unavailable - but I will add a link as soon as it's back - Good Luck Mick!!

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