Shure ML140HE Phono cartridge Review

The ML140HE is one of a new series of Shure cartridges incorporating many of the innovations originally introduced in Shure’s V15 series in newly designed cartridge bodies. Replacing the traditionally chunky, block-like Shure cartridge shape is a slim, tapered body whose total weight of 4.5 grams is about 2 grams lower than that of the company’s older models. The coil and core assembly, rigidly encapsulated in plastic, features interlocking laminated pole pieces and coil leads terminated in gold-plated pins.

The user-replaceable stylus assembly includes the integral hinged Dynamic Stabilizer first introduced in the V15 Type IV and later incorporated in other Shure cartridges. In normal operation, its conducting carbon-fiber brush rides in the groove to remove dust and debris and to drain away any accumulated static charges on the vinyl surface. The pivots of the hinged assembly contain a viscous damping material, so that the stabilizer actually damps vertical arm/cartridge resonances and improves the ability of the pickup to track warped records. The entire stabilizer can be swung up out of the way if one does not wish to use it; in its fully lowered position it also serves as a stylus guard.

The ML140HE has a Side-Guard feature that raises the stylus into the cartridge if it is accidentally scrubbed from side to side, thus minimizing the possibility of stylus damage. The stylus itself is a nude-mounted diamond with a hyperelliptical tip (0.2 x 1.5 mils) that has been specially polished to reduce record wear. The cantilever (like that of the V15 Type V) is a hollow beryllium tube, which is said by Shure to provide a very high ratio of stiffness to density. Actual transduction of stylus motion to electrical output is done by a tiny magnet at the pivoted end of the cantilever, near the open ends of the pole pieces.

The ML140HE has a rated output of 4 millivolts per channel at 5 cm/s peak groove velocity, with a channel separation of at least 25 dB at 1,000 Hz and 15 dB at 10,000 Hz. The channel outputs are balanced within 2 dB. Optimum tracking force is 1 gram (1.25 grams maximum), but to compensate for the weight of the stabilizer the arm’s vertical force must be set 0.5 gram higher. Price: $190.

Laboratory Measurements

The total effective mass of the ML140HE cartridge and the test arm was 15 grams, and the system’s 10-Hz resonant frequency was in the ideal range. In order to measure this frequency (using the Shure ERA V “Audio Obstacle Course” test record), it was necessary to swing the Dynamic Stabilizer up so that it did not contact the record. With the stabilizer in use, the vertical resonance of the arm/cartridge system was so fully damped no arm movement could be seen.

The output at a 3.54-cm/s groove velocity at 1,000 Hz was 4.1 millivolts per channel, with the channel levels matched within 0.1 dB. The cartridge tracked the Fairchild 101 test record (30 cm/s at 1,000 Hz) at 0.75 gram, the Cook 60 (32 Hz) at 1 gram, and the 70-micrometer level of the 300-Hz tones on the German HiFi #2 record at 1 gram; at the rated maximum force of 1.25 grams, it tracked the 80-micrometer level of the HiFi #2 record. The cartridge’s frequency response was affected only slightly by changing the load capacitance from 150 to 385 picofarads. This increased its output in the 5,000- to 15,000-Hz range and decreased it between 15,000 and 20,000 Hz by a maximum of slightly more than 1 dB.

We used a load of 225 picofarads for our measurements, and the response was within + 0.5, -1 dB from 40 to 20,000 Hz, both channels yielding identical response curves. The channel separation was 25 to 30 dB from 500 to 10,000 Hz, 13 dB at 15,000 Hz, and 10 dB at 20,000 Hz. The intermodulation distortion was measured with Shure’s TTR-102 test record; readings were between 1.2 and 1.8 per cent from 7 to 24 cm/s and 2.5 per cent at 27 cm/s. High-frequency tracking distortion, measured with the l0.8-kHz tone bursts of the Shure TTR-103 test record, was 0.6 to 0.7 per cent from 15 to 30 cm/s. Using the CBS STR 112 test record, the square-wave response showed a slight overshoot (about 15 per cent) on the 1,000-Hz waveform followed by lower-level ringing at about 40,000 Hz; the ringing is on the record and only shows up with a cartridge that can track this high. With the ERA IV “Audio Obstacle Course” record, it showed traces of mistracking only on the maximum level of the flute section. The ERA V record revealed a trace of mistracking on Level 6 (the maximum), indicating that the “trackability” of the ML140HE is well above average.

Comment

The Shure ML140HE embodies almost every feature of the top-of-the-line V15 Type V (with only slightly lower-rated trackability) at a substantially lower price. While perhaps no one of its features could be said to give the cartridge a decisive competitive advantage, all of its characteristics add up to make it a rather impressive product.

The proof of a cartridge is in the listening, and in our listening tests the ML140HE did a first-rate job with a variety of records. It was unfailingly smooth and clean sounding, it tracked warped records in a superior fashion when used in a low-mass tone arm, and it was almost totally noncritical with respect to its loading by the amplifier and cable capacitance.

Although we could not directly measure the ML140HE’s frequency response above the audio range, it is plain from its square-wave response that the low-mass stylus system and the numerous design improvements in the fixed magnetic system give it the sort of extended high-frequency response once associated only with moving-coil designs. It is an excellent cartridge in every respect.

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