Shure M97xE Phono Cartridge.

Manufacturer: Shure Brothers, Inc., 222 Hartrey Avenue, Evanston, IL 60202-3696

Price: $140

Source: Manufacturer loan

Reviewer: Kevin East

The M97xE is the next-to-the-top-of-the-line of Shure cartridges, being outweighed and outpriced only by the V15 Type VxMR. Certainly Shure Brothers have been known over the years for excellent cartridges, and perhaps more importantly, cartridge value. One JAH opined many years ago about the original V15 Type V, "At its `real [street] price' the Type V simply offers more performance and sound quality per dollar than any cartridge I've even heard--period." (No. 16, Fall/Winter 1982) Of course the VxMR was dubbed a "Sensible Standard" in No. 67's recommended list of phono cartridges. The original Type V followed on the heels of the legendary M95ED, the first of Shure's outstanding "real world" moving magnet cartridges with elliptical styli that dared approach the openness and transparency of the then-favored moving coil cartridges.

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Basics: The M97xE is a moving magnet cartridge that weighs 6.6 grams. The elliptical stylus measures 0.2 x 0.7 mils and can be user replaced. The M97xE provides stereo output of 4.0 mV, a rated frequency response of 20Hz-22kHz, and channel separation of 25dB at 1kHz. In addition to Shure's patented dynamic stabilizer and slide guard stylus protections systems, the M97xE has a "de-staticizer" brush attached to the cartridge which contains over 10,000 conductive fibers designed to suck up surface static electricity and channel it to the ground. The M97xE's recommended ("optimal") tracking force is 1.25 grams. However, with the dynamic stabilizer/ de-staticizer in place, the optimal tracking force increases to 1.75 grams.

Associated Hardware: The M97xE was mounted on the stock tone arm of the Rotel RB-955 turntable, replacing the Audio-Technica AT110E that came with the table. Ancillary equipment includes the Sunfire power amplifier, AVA Omega III EC preamplifier, and Legacy Classic loudspeakers. As stated before, the Sunfire's "current" outputs are wired to the Classics' midrange/tweeter driver complement, and its "voltage" outputs are connected to the Classics' woofers. (Note: I had these reversed, i.e., wrong, in the Rotel RB-955 review in No. 74. Oh, the connections were correct; I just wrote `em backwards. Duh.) Speaker wire is Kimber 4VS terminated with banana plugs. Components are plugged into an Adcom ACE-515 line conditioner.

Installation: Installation was straightforward, except the screws that came with the Shure weren't long enough to fit the Rotel's headshell. I set the Shure's screws aside and mounted the cartridge with the Audio-Technica's screws. I don't have a SoundTracktor or GeoDisc, nor do I know anyone who does, so I couldn't check the cartridge's vertical alignment. I had to be content measuring the 16mm overhang from the centerline of the spindle to the tip of the stylus and making sure that the cartridge was squarely in the mount, i.e., not askew. Tracking force was easily set using the Shure SFG-2 gauge. I fiddled with the tracking force, increasing and decreasing it in tenth gram increments, to see if the adjustments yielded any modest or even dramatic improvements in sound quality. They didn't, so the bulk of critical listening was done with the tracking force set at the manufacturer's recommended/ optimal weight of 1.25 grams.

Play: To tell you the truth, I was anticipating a discernible, but perhaps not quantum, leap in playback quality after switching from the AudioTechnica to the Shure. Both Audio-Technica and Shure have excellent reputations for building decent sounding, affordable cartridges. But the Shure costs about $30 more than the Audio-Technica, and, well, it's just that I expected more of the Shure, what with all that V15 Type V corporate pedigree and some notion of trickle-down quality--never mind that of course the Type V's MicroRidge stylus can't possibly trickle down to the M97's elliptical stylus. But those kinds of facts don't necessarily dampen one's expectations. Frankly, the Shure and AudioTechnica sound pretty much the same. I'd like to report that the Shure's bass was deeper, tighter, and faster, but it wasn't. I'd like also to report that its soundstaging was deeper, wider, higher, and more lifelike, but it wasn't. And I'd like to report that the Shure beat the knickers off the Audio-Technica in emulating the crisp transient attacks and open transparency of moving coil cartridges, but it didn't. What the Shure did was sound pretty darned good.

To celebrate the vinyl renaissance here at Domus Antiquus, I've indulged in some virgin vinyl reissues, jazz releases of favorite artists (Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd, and Monk), as well as dragging out some favored vinyl which I won't bother repurchasing on CD. At the risk of sounding like, well, a broken record, my complaints about the medium remain unchanged. Without exception each new record was noticeably warped. Both Stan Getz and Cal Tjader (Fantasy 8348) and Monk's Misterioso (Riverside OJC-206/RLP-1133) were minimally bent, but Byrd's Bossa Nova Pelos Passaros (Riverside OJC-107/ RLP-9436) was a roller coaster of vinyl nirvana. Nonetheless, even without the Shure's dynamic stabilizer engaged, they all tracked acceptably, no wanton needling jumping or polite declinations to play. And of course all three LPs exhibited noticeable pops and clicks, even after pre-play cleaning (a brief swipe with a DiscWasher brush lightly dampened with DiscWasher D4 record cleaning fluid). I guess that one can attribute the physical problems with the LPs to Fantasy Records' quality control (Fantasy now issues Riverside), but for all of that Monk's 1958 live date at New York's Five Spot is still as unique, studied, even playful--dig "Just a Gigolo" -- as any. This is a great date that includes Johnny Griffin on tenor sax, Ahmed Abdul Malik on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. Very cool.

Cooler still is the notion that the M97xE didn't intrude into the sound. If it has colorations, they're very similar to those of the Audio-Technica. I say this because, again, the differences, if any, between the two cartridges are for a set of ears far better tuned than mine. Since my vinyl playback, prior to the unfortunate Beogram, was a Technics SL-Q3 with a Shure M95ED cartridge -- both highly regarded in the diaper days of this hallowed journal -- you must understand, gentle reader, that I, like so many, embraced the compact disc, flaws and all, and pretty much never looked back. So I have not taken any time at all in the intervening fifteen-odd years to explore cartridge developments and improvements, and therefore one could fairly assert that my vinyl ears are not as well tuned as my digital ears. Nonetheless, I have enough faith in my hearing acuity to also assert that if there had been significant, audible differences between the Audio-Technica and the Shure, like the obvious differences between the Rotel/Audio-Technica and the Beogram, they would have been plain enough to hear. By the way, I still have the Technics/M95ED combo, and have dusted them off (not literally -- just a turn of phrase; don't put pennies on the headshell eitherY) for a friendly comparison with the Rotel/M97xE (or perhaps the VxMR) which will be reported in a future issue.

Older vinyl included Manassas (Atlantic SD 299030996), Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica (Straight STS 1053), and Jane Siberry's No Borders Here (Open Air OA-0302). While I'll admit to indulging in a bit of wistful backthinking with the Manassas and Trout Mask Replica LPs, Siberry's 1984 opus is a paragon of precision recording, where the engineer's conception of acoustic space propels the song as much as its melody, instrumentation, and lyrics. The Shure, like Audio-Technica, portrayed Siberry's delicate alto with robust shape and fullness. Siberry was tagged as a "new ager" early on, but despite better pop senses than others, say Enya, she was unable to shake the tag. Despite a goodly amount of airplay, No Borders Here, sank from sight, and Siberry retreated to her native Toronto.

Conclusion: The Shure M97xE is an excellent cartridge. My guess is that it doesn't rise to the heights of stablemate Type VxMR or the better of the Sumikos or affordable Grados. However, the fact that it didn't negatively impact vinyl playback is a good thing. It also means that unless I'm very careful, I'll be trying new cartridges for the foreseeable future: i.e., getting sucked into the same sort of audiophilia nervosa that so plagued the hobby before the advent of digital technology -- though it seems not to have abated all that much; it's simply shifted focus. And, folks, swapping cartridges in and out is not my idea of a good time. Suffice it to say that the Shure M97xE sounds mighty fine. I found no fault with it, and if you're looking for an affordable upgrade to whatever came with your rumblefish, you can probably do a whole lot worse than the M97xE. Go for it. --KE