Pickering V15 AME Cartridge

1965. An early moving magnet model. The V-15 series came out in 1964 with a variety of different styli available depending of the quality of the turntable. The AME stylus (1965) is the top stylus in the series with an elliptical tip and a tracking force range of 1 to 3 grams.

[DougMen]

I've been listening to all your sample videos here, and without fail, all the Pickerings are the ones that sound the most natural and realistic of all of the many cartridges here, regardless of price. The Stantons aren't far behind, which isn't surprising, since they were the same company, and the Empires were close to the Pickering/Stantons for natural, balanced, and musical sound. Many of the others sounded too bright to me, which made them sound like they were trying too hard to be hi-fi, and that just made them sound more artificial and less natural and musical to me. Most of the higher price Shure ones fall into that category, as do all the Ortofon ones. To my ears, the less expensive Shures, like the M44 and 55, sound better to me than the V15 types. I always used ADC XLMs in the 70s, because I liked the way they sounded in my system, but now I wish I had used Pickerings instead, although the XLMs and ZLM sound very good here too. Thanks for all your hard work here, but you're dangerous for me, because you're making me want to return to vinyl, which I can't afford, and don't have the space for. I barely have space for my hundreds of CDs in my tiny one room apartment.