UNDERSTANDING THE SIZES AND SHAPES OF AUDIO-TECHNICA STYLUS TIPS AND CONTACT AREAS IN THE RECORD GROOVE FOR MICROGROOVE LONG PLAY VINYL RECORDS (LP)
Conical 0,6mil
0,3 x 0,7mil
2,2 x 0,12mil
2,7 x 0,26mil
Special Line Contact R 1,5 x 0,28mil
Stylus curvature radius
Elliptical
MicroLinear
Shibata
Stylus shape
R
= 1,5mil
Stylus front view
R
R
R
r = 0,3mil
r = 0,26mil
r = 0,28mil
r = 0,12mil
Stylus horizontal cross-section
R = 0,6mil
AT-OC9XEB AT-OC9XEN
AT-ART1000x
Audio‑Technica
AT-OC9XML AT33PTG/II
AT-OC9XSH
AT33MONO (0,65mil)
AT-ART20 - AT-ART9XI
moving coil cartridges
AT33Sa - AT-ART9XA
AT33EV
AT-OC9XSL
Audio‑Technica
VM610MONO
VM530EN VM520EB
VM740ML VM540ML
VM750SH
VM760SLC
VM510CB
VM Series cartridges
Audio‑Technica
AT-VM95E AT-VM95EN
AT-VM95ML
AT-VM95SH
AT-VM95C
VM95 Series cartridges
Audio‑Technica moving magnet DJ cartridges
AT-XP3
AT-XP5 - AT-XP7
Audio‑Technica moving magnet
AT81CP
AT85EP
P-mount cartridges
Dimensions (see
R=0,7mil r=0,3mil
R=2,2mil r=0,12mil
R=2,7mil r=0,26mil
R=1,5mil r=0,28mil
R=0,6mil
horizontal cross section)
D2
D2
D2
D2
D2
Contact surface on record groove (stylus side view)
D1
D1
D1
D1
D1
Approximative contact dimensions ratio
D1/D2=1
D1/D2=1,60
D1/D2=2,25
D1/D2=3
D1/D2=6
(1) D2 represents the contact dimension at the horizontal plane while D1 shows the contact dimension at the vertical plane. These two dimensions indicate the contact area between the record groove walls and the stylus tip. D2 must be as small as possible to track small groove variations (high frequency). The total contact area should be as large as possible to minimize record wear and maximize accurate reproduction. The larger the area, the smaller pressure from the cartridge on the record; as opposed to the smaller the area, the more pressure is applied on a specific point of the groove, leading to record wear. We can see from the above table that the Line Contact and Microlinear shapes offer a smaller horizontal contact area leading to superior precision and high frequency transcription, while offering a larger contact area than conical or elliptical styli due to a taller vertical contact area minimizing record wear.
Understanding the styli sizes of Standard Play Shellac records (SP)
3mil Conical
Stylus sizes Stylus shape
Stylus front view
R
Stylus horizontal cross-section
R = 3mil
Audio‑Technica VM Series SP cartridges
VM670SP
Illustration of different sizes between two typical conical styli: – on the left, 3mil radius SP stylus for 78 rpm records – on the right, typical 0.6mil conical LP stylus for 33 1/3 and 45rpm records LP and SP record grooves are represented at the same scale – groove width of LP record 0.0025”, groove width of SP record 0.0070” – groove depth of LP record 0.0013”, groove depth of SP record 0.0029”
Audio‑Technica VM95 Series SP cartridges
AT-VM95SP
Audio-Technica Phono Cartridges Guide 2025 - 63
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