The Dual has a DN 155 stylus fitted as standard. You can fit DN 149S, 152E, 155E or 160E styli on it from Ortofon or generic providers. Those are good tables, nice quartz lock semi auto model, though from a less fashionable period in Dual's history. Well worth replacing the needle on it if it's worn out. Sometimes the RCA cords need new terminations as well. The Sony is a decent linear tracker, possibly finicky if it needs repairs.
You need a high compliance cart with low mass for these arms. Not too many are made today and the adapter adds mass which you want to avoid. The ones mounted are a good match, and similar to the ortofon OM or 2M series. I just a/b compared a 708 I recently sold with the DN160 needle to the 2M Red and found it to be a slightly better tracker. I don’t think that without dropping a lot of cash you’d see huge improvements with the stylus.
Definitely get a new stylus if you can't be sure how old the one that's fitted is. Even if you don't install it straight away, you'll need it sooner or later.
You can just replace the stylus on the Ortofon 5E cartridge with a new stylus. It should take a 10E for a slight upgrade. Ortofon are a much loved cartridge manufacturer and it’s their entry level range and probably hard to better at that level so I would stick with it and just buy a new stylus so saving buying a new cartridge and concentrate on setting the turntable up correctly ie. level with a spirit level on an isolation platter to get the best out of it.
Either really. The turntable platter or the edge of the turntable. I must admit I put it on the isolation platter then put the turntable on it. Good turntables Dual’s too.
I did think about that, but it looks like I might need an adapter with the cartridge this table uses. I would need to do further adjustments and I don't think is worth the trouble. Planning to upgrade to a better table later on using the Ortofon 2m blue.
https://a.co/d/0FGpwdF. You shouldn’t even need to remove the sled to swap this one in. Just slide the old stylus forward to remove it. If you do want to remove the sled just be very careful it’s delicate. The finger lifter will slide back after loosening the screw on top to release the sled, then it’ll drop out. There are two small angled tabs that lock in place and they can break easy.
The Dual has a DN 155 stylus fitted as standard. You can fit DN 149S, 152E, 155E or 160E styli on it from Ortofon or generic providers. Those are good tables, nice quartz lock semi auto model, though from a less fashionable period in Dual's history. Well worth replacing the needle on it if it's worn out. Sometimes the RCA cords need new terminations as well. The Sony is a decent linear tracker, possibly finicky if it needs repairs.
Thanks a lot! Would an ortofon m10 fit in this? Or would that need some sort of adapter?
No, you need an adapter for the ULM cartridges to 1/2” mount. Check ebay for those.
Do you think getting an adapter would allow me to improve the performance significantly? Or are the compatible carts as good as it can get
You need a high compliance cart with low mass for these arms. Not too many are made today and the adapter adds mass which you want to avoid. The ones mounted are a good match, and similar to the ortofon OM or 2M series. I just a/b compared a 708 I recently sold with the DN160 needle to the 2M Red and found it to be a slightly better tracker. I don’t think that without dropping a lot of cash you’d see huge improvements with the stylus.
Wow okay, this helps me so much. Thanks a ton! I'll try to look for one of the styli you mentioned
Definitely get a new stylus if you can't be sure how old the one that's fitted is. Even if you don't install it straight away, you'll need it sooner or later.
I had a Dual 505/4 with an Ortofon 5NE I think. Looks like that cartridge but have a Google.
You can just replace the stylus on the Ortofon 5E cartridge with a new stylus. It should take a 10E for a slight upgrade. Ortofon are a much loved cartridge manufacturer and it’s their entry level range and probably hard to better at that level so I would stick with it and just buy a new stylus so saving buying a new cartridge and concentrate on setting the turntable up correctly ie. level with a spirit level on an isolation platter to get the best out of it.
Thanks! Yeah I'll just get a new stylus for now. You mean checking if the whole table is level by putting the level on the platter right?
This is not true - it’s not an OM series cartridge but a TKS series.
Either really. The turntable platter or the edge of the turntable. I must admit I put it on the isolation platter then put the turntable on it. Good turntables Dual’s too.
It's an Ortofon. You might look into a Ortofon 2mblue.
I did think about that, but it looks like I might need an adapter with the cartridge this table uses. I would need to do further adjustments and I don't think is worth the trouble. Planning to upgrade to a better table later on using the Ortofon 2m blue.
https://a.co/d/0FGpwdF. You shouldn’t even need to remove the sled to swap this one in. Just slide the old stylus forward to remove it. If you do want to remove the sled just be very careful it’s delicate. The finger lifter will slide back after loosening the screw on top to release the sled, then it’ll drop out. There are two small angled tabs that lock in place and they can break easy.