Audio-Technica AT95E Phonograph Cartridge for 1/2" Mount Turntables

At this price point, this is a remarkable cartridge. I bought it to rehab an old Elac Miracord turntable, roughly fifty years old. In the course of the rehab, I also replaced the RCA cables on the table. And several small tweaks were performed to my system around the time of the cartridge being installed that certainly had an effect on the system's sound: I put in 12 gauge speaker wire, I changed the speakers over from a pair of bookshelf JBLs to a pair of Klipsch KG 5.2 (this resulting in a massive upgrade), and the turntable was changed from a balky Dual to the aforementioned Elac (also a large upgrade). So you can take my review with a grain of salt. It is probably hard to track down just what those improvements did individually. The Amp being used with this system is a Luxman r115. However, the end result is fantastic, and at least part of it is due to the needle/cartridge. Very full, bright, sound with a lot of punch. I put on Rory Gallagher's "Calling Card"-- a favorite lp, and one I know inside and out, and was very impressed with the overall sound. In short succession, I spun through Jimmy Smith, BB King, UFO and George Jones, and all sounded very very good. Tracking at 1.5 grams seemed on target. Minimal noise. Yes, you can likely do better. But it will cost you more. But this is very reasonable at less than forty bucks and frankly an upgrade for most listeners. My review is upped a notch (IE, from four to five stars) simply on the price value.

This arrived in a plain white box when I ordered it directly from Amazon and I kinda wondered if it was even legit (it was). I have a 1978 Japan made Technics SL-220. It has the 1200 style "S" arm so it's compatible with the nifty Technics overhang gauge. After some research I read time and time again the recommendation for this cartridge and the great match it was for my turntable in terms of compliance and such. Set it with the gauge in my technics headshell and I haven't touched it since because it is without fault to be modest. I have no distortion inner groove or otherwise. Right now I have a TC750 preamp going into a Yamaha RX-V377 a/v receiver and feeding Energy RC Micro 5.1 speakers (Canadian sister company to Klipsch). So modest equipment that has served me very well for movies and music through my Yamaha CD player. My turntable with this cart blows the CDP-S300 away with a decent pressing. The words I've heard to describe the AT95e do not really do it justice. It's great, and PHENOMINAL for the price. Everything sounds natural and very musical and not at all fatiguing. I have 50 hours on it at this point. I would say that it was great from the first minutes of use and did noticeably improve up to about 25 hours and then tapered off from there. I'd say at 30 hours you have it pretty well broken in. I plan to purchase the LP Gear AT-95SE stylus in the future as I hear great things about that upgrade. But honestly, this is adequate with the stock stylus for my application and I'd say most people's as well. It's a fantastic cartridge for all types of rock and metal I've tried so far. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I have a few turntables from a old Benjamin ELAC Miracord to my JVC QL-Y7, I been trying a few cartridges that would work with the Miracord for my less than desirable condition LPs, and on the cheap $$. This AT95E is my best under $100 cartridge that has worked for me. Sounded wonderful right from the start. Normally I'll play 50 or more hours for the cartridge/stylus to settle in, but this AT95E sounds very nice from the 1st LP. I set it up using a Baerwald protractor, set the tracking force per recommendations using a digital gauge and it has tracked very well and sounds better than I expected since. I have approximately 25 hours play so far, several of my older less than excellent condition LPs, and the AT95E played better than a handful of other under $100 carts in my system on this turntable. Then do this for less than than $50 on a Miracord with its arm mass - very nice.. When I wear this one down, I'll have no 2nd thoughts replacing it with another AT95E. I find the more $$ a cartridge is not always the best. My other main turntable, I have carts from just a little over $100 to over $1500 and my two favorite carts are one just over $100 and two others $500, so if you think you might be missing a lot because the AT95E is so affordable, you might get more than one would think. There are a lot of variables in systems and ones desires, and this AT95E fills one of my needs within my system. Great bargain, good tracking, respectable specs for a cart at the price point I give it 5 stars for a under $50 cartridge. What's not to like on the AT95E. The reviews for a less than $50 cartridges, I had to give it a try and I'm glad I did. I also got the AT-120E (for another turntable), and these AT cartridges give a lot for the $$. Sure you could go to higher end cartridges, but those that want an affordable cart and needs a turntable to play once in awhile and don't want to put a lot into it, this cart should be considered. Shipping from AV-House - arrived sooner than I had expected. A nice bargain always makes my day.

Audiophiles are generally categorised by the ridiculous amounts of money they spend on gear, but sometimes it takes just a little bit of experimenting and luck to realise that being thrifty and being an audiophile aren't always mutually exclusive. My analog setup consists of a restored Thorens TD-160 MK1, Rega RB-300 with upgraded wiring and spring removed, Michell Tecnoweight, Ortofon 2M Bronze and a Gem Dandy cork-rubber mat. This is being fed into a Lounge Audio preamp and then into a fully restored Marantz 2285B. Speakers are B&W CDM-1 SE. Over the past year I've gone through a few cartridges and finally settled on the 2M Bronze; reviews generally have called this cartridge "analytic" (whatever that means!) but I've generally considered it to be a really good cartridge with excellent bass & high frequency extension and lower IGD compared to the Denon DL-103R. Very recently I was offered a very good price for my 2M Bronze and I contemplated selling it, so I bought the AT95E as a stop gap measure. The cartridge arrived in a very nondescript cube box and my first impressions weren't very high. The cartridge is very light and mostly plastic. The good thing about it's shape is that it is very easy to align, but mounting it was quite a chore since the body isn't tapped like the 2M. I also had to switch the counterweight on the Tecnoweight to accommodate the lighter cartridge. Once aligned and set, I put on a Dire Straits record and right off the bat I was very pleasantly surprised. Compared to the 2M Bronze which is approximately 10 times the price, the AT95E wasn't too bad. Despite being a brand new cartridge, the AT95E had good bass and treble extension. What was most striking was that nothing leaped out at you, this cartridge has a very even keeled and well-balanced sound with no part of the frequency spectrum being exaggerated. The bass sounded a little boomy at first but with use it actually seemed to get tighter, I didn't notice too much change in the high frequencies. While the AT95E isn't nearly as resolved as the Bronze, it has pretty good extension on the bass and treble. Compared to the Bronze, the soundstage is narrower, but not to a point where it sounds bad and the AT95E is definitely on the warmer side. There are some tracks where the treble sounds a little tizzy and not as smooth as the bronze, but this is not objectionable and would probably not even get noticed by someone that hasn't heard a more expensive cartridge. Overall, for a cartridge at 1/10th the price of the 2M Bronze, the AT95E did extremely well. I've also owned and used the Shure M97xe and compared to that I would recommend this cartridge any day. If used on a good turntable, the AT95E can definitely do well and I think it was performing at the limits of its performance on my system. This is easily the best $40 I've spent on a cartridge and I have no reservations in recommending it. The only apprehension I have is about the quality of the diamond. I haven't had a chance to view it under a microscope, but I wouldn't necessarily want to play any of my ultra rare or expensive LPs with this stylus until I've examined it under a microscope.

I received a vinyl copy of the Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road albums as a gift, knowing my unending and unwavering love of almost everything Beatles. And, an added gift of the Beatles Christmas record/cards. I had purchased the Audio-Technica AT-LP3WH Fully Automatic Belt-Drive Stereo Turntable, White and was using it but decided to try to get a better cartridge. Not that the at91r wasn't good, but I read that the response and the tracking was better on this cartridge. Also, this cartridge seems to be one of the higher rated ones with some stores selling it for almost twice as much as Amazon. The exchange was easy. It was simple to remove the mounting head, just unscrewed. The hardest part was taking the four wires that slipped onto the metal prongs off of the original mount. I used a small screwdriver and a small plier to pry the crimped wire fastener from the attachment point. Then, the new cartridge crimped wire fasteners just slid onto the attachment areas without a problem. Once in place, two small screws to hold the cartridge to the mounting head and then screw the head onto the tone arm. I readjusted the counter weight and anti skating. Having read the reviews, I set them to 2 grams, the recommendation of the manufacturer and the reviewers on this site. It took about 20 minutes to do and the most time wasted as I was checking the installation to determine where to position the cartridge with respect to the front/back opening on the mounting head. Is it better? I noticed that to my ears, the sound does appear fuller. Also, the previous cartridge had a slight problem with the anti skating and I had to lower it to prevent issues. This one track without an issue. So, easy exchange, better tracking, fuller sound response. I'm happy

I inherited my dad's Marantz turntable (and his record collection) when he passed away, and for some odd reason he had a Stanton RS500 cartridge on there. I know for a fact he used to have a Shure on it, but can't remember which model. So I wasn't sure how many hours use the Stanton had and was in the market for an affordable (and decent) cartridge. I came across a garage sale last year and the guy just happened to be selling an Audio-Technica PT300. Of course the guy had no idea how much use it had but to the naked eye the stylus looked like it was in good shape. It was a slight upgrade from the Stanton but wasn't as great as I was hoping for. I had a hard time finding any info on it aside from the user manual but from what I could tell it was a budget cart that had decent sound. So I decided it was time to get a new one online. After doing some research on cartridges under or around $100 I was deciding between the Audio Technica AT120ET, Shure M97xE, and the AT95E. At the time I was a little strapped for cash so I went with the AT95E, but after getting it set up on the turntable and spinning a few records I was really impressed with the sound of this thing. It's well balanced and sounds extremely clear. Although the cart has to be set up exact. I had my VTA (vertical tracking angle) too high which caused the record to skip and repeat the same groove over and over. But after getting it perfect this thing sounds incredible. The only complaint, if you could call it that, is that it's a little quieter than my other carts. I have to turn up the volume a bit more, which makes the background noise of my receiver more noticeable. But that's only when I want to crank it up. Otherwise I'm very happy with this cartridge. I might consider upgrading the stylus to the LP Gear ATN95VL when I reach 1,000 hours of listening. Best $40 I've spent!

-- For the money spent how could one ask for more sound and value from a cartridge-? Not many products in this day and age offer this much value and satisfaction for the money spent. The 95e has to be one of the top sub-$50 cartridges out there, but that opinion will vary according to the taste of different listeners - not everyone has the same ear. I settled on the 95e for a project - a crippled H.K.T40 turntable I was resurrecting from the dead, and it has delivered all the sound I could ask for at this price point. I looked at other options, but having had such good luck with my now old AT2113E from the early 80's I decided after reading many reviews the 95e was more than a safe bet on my shrinking budget to get the old HK going again. A 120 is my goal, but until then this has great overall balance of sound and can be upgraded to a higher end stylus when the time comes as I understand. I am totally satisfied with the 95e's sound and value, hard to go wrong with this one, Audio Technica is from japan and they have always made good quality cartridges -- if you feel the need wade through reviews and see if you can split hairs on which cart. sounds this or that way, but this is a no brainer at this price - of course in the end im only speaking for myself - though the mass of positive reviews on this cartridge speak for themselves and are consistently very good.

Apparently, this is an updated version of Audio Technica's consumer workhorse cartridge. The updated version of the AT-95 now requires slightly greater tracking force (2 grams of nominal tracking force as opposed to 1.75 grams). Compared to the older version that came with a Thorens TD-235 that I purchased 4 years ago, the current version sounds more dynamic. Percussive sounds like drum kits sound more aggressive and abrupt in their transient attack. To me this sounds more natural. In fact, the current AT-95 sounds great; nothing seems to be added nor taken away. The earlier AT-95 sounds somewhat laid back and slightly muffled in comparison. The price is also slightly lower than the original $50 so this is really good news. Its tracking of inner grooves is also good. In case you're wondering how the AT-95 compares to a premium moving magnet (such as the AT-440ML series) from Audio Technica, the current version sounds most similar to the AT-440MLa. The AT-440ML and AT-440MLb have an advantage in tracking extended highs. Many listeners may mistake this for brightness unless they listen to the duration of the attack and decay of percussive sounds. The much smaller MicroLine stylus of the AT-440ML cartridges simply follow the contours of the grooves more accurately. In fact, it does an even better job at playing inner grooves. You do get what you pay for, you know? If you don't like those and actually prefer the AT-95's sound, you're actually enjoying sound at a much lower price! So you can be a winner either way!

Good

Dopo qualche anno "senza stilo" ho deciso che il mio piatto giradischi doveva tornare a nuova vita. Mi sono guardato intorno a lungo. Prezzi esagerati e dubbi sulla effettiva compatibilità di un nuovo stilo con la mia cartuccia. Poi ho deciso di cambiare radicalmente e ho iniziato a cercare una cartuccia completa. Mi sono imbattuto in questa AUDIO-TECHNICA AT 95EB, a un prezzo che mi è sembrato subito allettante; ho quindi sviscerato il web alla ricerca di pareri e dopo averne trovati moltissimi positivi ho deciso di acquistarla. Una volta montata, vi confesso che sono rimasto colpito dalla chiarezza e dalla pienezza del suono. Aggiungo solo che, pochi giorni fa, parlando con un musicista professionista ed esperto conoscitore di audio, gli ho detto (con un po' di timore, data la sua esperienza) che avevo fatto questo acquisto e che ne ero rimasto molto soddisfatto; lui mi ha confermato che è un'ottima cartuccia, dal rapporto qualità-prezzo davvero conveniente.

La he visto montada en platos bastante caros. No me extraña. El sonido es muy bueno. No me ha parecido que dé una señal tan baja como he leído por ahí. Comparando una buena edición de un vinilo de jazz con el cd, he notado un leve aumento en altas frecuencias y una casi imperceptible disminución de bajas frecuencias en el sonido de esta cápsula. Por el precio que tiene dudo que haya algo mejor.

Perfecta calidad de audio por el precio, creo que es la mejor opción a comprar en este rango de precio. remplaza a una numark groove tool y se nota instantáneamente la mejora en los medios y agudos mucho mas claros. solo lo he podido probar sin subwoofer asi que no pude notar mejoras en los bajos. pero definitivamente vale la pena para subir de nivel tu tornamesa, y la aguja es de mejor calidad así que a largo plazo protege tus viniles.

MISE À JOUR : J'ai rencontré un problème de fabrication et j'ai du renvoyer la cellule. Ce sont des choses qui arrivent sur tous les produits et cela ne change en rien ce que je pensais de ce modèle. Amazon toujours aussi parfait m'a remboursé sans broncher. COMMENTAIRE D'ORIGINE : Je suis plutôt bluffé par cette cellule ! J'avais une Shure SC35C qui coûte quand même un peu plus du double de celle-ci. Résultat... L'AT95E s'en tire bien mieux ! Des basses plus équilibrées, des aiguës beaucoup plus brillants et détaillés, une meilleure séparation stéréo et une force d'appui beaucoup moins abusive ce qui donnera une plus longue espérance de vie à mes vinyles. En lisant les commentaires ici et là j'ai constaté la popularité ce cette cellule. Effectivement, il ne faut pas se fier à son aspect un peu "cheap" car pour une trentaine d'euros on a là un produit d'excellente qualité. Je précise qu'elle est fournie avec une protection en plastique ce qui n'est pas un point négligeable. Une cellule que je recommande à toute personne recherchant un son neutre de qualité Hi-Fi pour un petit budget.