My "new" turntable (not yet here) currently has an Ortofon OM series cartridge, and I believe it accepts other OM-series styli. I saw an ad on eBay for an Ortofon OM Blue Spherical kit (new). I'm assuming this is not a very good stylus, since a spherical stylus is inferior to an elliptical. Or is my assumption incorrect, and like other things, there are good and bad sphericals?
Obviously frequency extension and flatness of response are two of the most important aspects of a cartridge. So, yes, there are good and bad spherical since most spherical styli will not be able to trace the highest frequencies due to the shape of the stylus vs. the size of the groove modulation. You would want to weigh all issues into the account, but somewhat like expecting the cheapest car to be the best built, most conical styli are placed on the least expensive cartridges. That usualy means they have the lowest compliance, highest loss cantilever, etc. Stepping up to an eliptical stylus is probably more than worth the money unless you are planning on playing a lot of mono recordings.
Hey, Jan, thanks for the reply. I thought spherical wasn't particularly good, based on what I'd read previously. As it turns out, I believe my turntable has an older series Ortofon, which is not OM capable. I may end up buying a new cartridge, anyway, once the cartridge on the unit (which is supposed to working fine, according to the seller) needs replacing.