A Beginner DJ Guide To Turntable Cartridges
By Muxx - January 29th, 2010 - Gear, Tutorials - View CommentsYour grandma may have been playing oldies on her gramophone back in the 1800’s but what we’re up to is way beyond what she’d ever imagine.
I don’t recommend taking grandma out to your next rave but there are a few things you can learn from the same gear she used to spin ‘recs.
At some point while DJing you’ll need to invest in a new set of DJ cartridges for your turntable. These cartridges aren’t expensive and are often very easy to find but there are differences in each which you should know about.
Read on…
The anatomy of DJ cartridges
To put it in the most simplest of terms: the cartridge is what transfers the vibrations from the record into sound.
The needle rides between the grooves of a record and vibrates as it passes along the grooves. The needle is housed inside of the cartridge which in turn is screwed onto the tonearm of your turntable.
There are many various companies which make cartridges but don’t worry because modern cartridges will fit into most turntables due to turntable manufacturers standardizing the connections.
Additional info about needles
DJ cartridges (and pretty much every modern cartridge) use two types of needles:
Spherical needles have a rounded tip which allows them to sit in the grooves and skip less compared to elliptical needles. Spherical needles are used by many beginner DJs (since most basic ones are spherical) and turntablists because they won’t slip while they are scratching and spinning. Unfortunately, spherical needles will cause more wear and tear on your vinyl.
Elliptical needles have a finer point (triangular) so it will sit snuggly between the grooves of the record. Although elliptical needles are more prone to skipping, they provide a better sound quality compared to spherical needles. These types of cartridges are great for DJs that won’t be manhandling their records (think: Trance DJs).
Additional info about cartridges
As mentioned above, the majority of cartridges have become universal for most DJ turntables. The cartridges will screw into the tonearm, touching the connectors and viola, you’re set.
There are two types of cartridges to look out for:
- Half-Inch Mount
- P-Mount
Half-Inch mounted cartridges use a separate mounting piece to connect the cartridge to the tonearm. Additionally, these half-inch mounted cartridges require you to connect the wires – you should generally avoid these (plus most pro DJ cartridges don’t use this type).
P-Mount cartridges is similar to half-inch but all of the connectors are housed internally in the cartridge shell. The P-Mount cartridges is what you’ll be using to DJ.
Which types of cartridges to buy and where
Okay, so this gets us to the most important question of the post: what kind of cartridge should I look for?
For those beginner DJs that want a cheap (but good) pair of cartridges, I would recommend to pick up a pair of Shure M25C ($30) or Stanton 500 V.3 ($75/pair).
For DJs that is willing to spend a bit more money for their cartridges at this point or upgrading, I would recommend the Ortofon Concorde Pro Twin Pack ($200), hands down.
Here are a few pointers before choosing a cartridge:
- Will you do more scratching (spherical) or more mixing (elliptical)?
- Don’t buy the cheapest pair – they will break easily and have crap sound quality
- Don’t buy the most expensive pair (when beginning DJing) – you probably don’t need audiophile level sound quality at this point in time.
Don’t neglect your gear
You should try to replace your cartridges over time because they will experience some major wear and tear from DJing.
You should understand that DJing does also wears on your records, you’re placing a metal needle onto a piece of vinyl.
Like most mechanical devices, you should should try to keep a regular schedule of maintenance to make sure everything is running up to speed and doesn’t cause any more damage to the other parts.
Hopefully this post showed you the types of cartridges DJs use and what to look for when buying them.
As a side note: watch out when wearing a loose shirt, it’s really easy to catch the edge of it on your needle – quickly breaking it (I know…it sucks).
Wanna add some insight or advice? Post a comment below and tell me what you think beginner DJs should be looking for in cartridges
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