Equipment Time-out: New Stylus Cartridge

Equipment Time-out: New Stylus Cartridge. It has been years (over 25) since I had to buy a replacement phono-graph needle, also known as a cartridge. Radio Shack does not carry them in their stores. Prices can range from $30 dollars on up to many hundreds of dollars. I bought an Audio-Technica AT90 Universal Replacement Magnetic Phono Cartridge, for $40. The specs are mind boggling. First off, my ancient (college era) turntable is a Sony belt drive and I love it.  It has a hydraulic tonearm lift lever that makes needle dropping easy and accurate.  For you phonophiles out there, the specs on the new cartridge are: frequency response: 20-20.000 Hz. Channel separation - at 1 kHz - 24 dB; at 10 kHz - 15 dB. Tracking Force Range: 1.0 to 1.5 grams. Output at 1 kHz, 5 cm/sec: 3.5 mV. And the business end - the Stylus Type is a 0.7 mil Conical Diamond. This is the record I used to try out the new cartridge.  It sounded great - what a difference. Prince's Parade: Music from the Motion Picture Under the Cherry Moon, from 1986.  It has a hit single "Kiss" on it.  It was his last record with The Revolution.