Customer Reviews

Shure M44-7H Scratch Cartridge with Headshell

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been DJing for a while now - my weapon of choice is obviously the Technics 1200s series turntables with Serato Scratch Live - and this Shure M447 Cartridge/Headshell Combo. It is actually really convenient, especially for those of you who are learning to mix, scratch, and whatever else using turntables.

Not a lot really needs to be said, but this cartridge is the top pick amongst the majority of DJs I've worked with over the years. Most club DJs will swear by this cartridge, and personally I feel the best fit is with the Technics Headshell. Not to mention it looks slick installed on a black or silver model 1200.

To be fair, I should also mention that I've owned a variety of Stanton and Ortofon cartridges over there years - some for different styles of music, although the M447 does the job of all of them, and exceptionally well. The audio quality is superb across various genres and at this time it is my most heavily used cartridge. Naturally, I do have two pairs of this cartridge which all mount beautifully in the Shure Blue Cartridge Case which I also highly recommend. For backups I use the Ortofon Q-Bert and Digitrak cartridges, although the M447 is still my favorite.

You can't go wrong, this is a 5-Star product across the board!

If you don't know Shure's reputation, you probably are not from this planet... This is the best scratch cartridge ever made !! Perfect sound quality, insane for scratches, loud bass response, long last standing and so on. Do not waste your time and money... GET IT RIGHT NOW !!

cool packaging comes pre-installed into the headshell comes with extra wires, screws, and a small screwdriver. the sound is a lot better than my ortofons

I thought I needed a new one because I had so many hours on the one in my Technics SL-1200MD3. I probably should have bought just the M44-7 replacement cartridge only instead of the complete unit. Oh well. Now I have two complete units.

I'll admit I haven't listened to very many other cartridges, but these were a great replacement for the Stanton 500Bs that came with my T.60 turntables. These have more dynamic range and deliver more bass, and clear highs. The stanton 500Bs had a little bit of distortion in the treble range when playing passages with lots of bass. The Shure's handle the same passages better, with less audible distortion. I believe part of the distortion I was hearing was due to the straight tone-arms reverberation on the T.60s. I've since upgraded to Technic 1200s with the S shaped tone-arms which seems to help as well.

The main advantage I've noticed with this stylus over the Stanton's is the increased clearance from the bottom of the cartridge to the bottom of the stylus. I have a few warped records that I couldn't get to play with the Stanton due to the record actually bumping into the bottom of the cartridge. The Shure's handle these records great with an extra 2mm or so more clearance.

I have been buying and abusing these for 5+ years. They are hands down the best needles for scratching and playing. They offer excellent sound and durability.

must have for DJs...high fidelity and needles stay on track when performing excessive scratching, backspins, and beat juggling. definitely recommend people to buy these + 1200s

great price no hassle shipping i was originally just looking for replacement styli but at this price...why not grab some back up for my decks...tried and true no problems just plug n play now have 6 full set ups may get one more pair then i will be set. if you play out on serato great tracking bulletproof setup......

I needed to replace the stylus on my Technics SL-1200MK2, so i decided to order a new headshell as well. Well, i was extremely pleased when i received my order and inserted it into my tonearm. BOOM! My turntable sounded brand new, and my albums never sounded better. I bet my old needle was ruining my vinyl before i bought this new stylus. It was like night and day, for reals! If you are thinking about replacing your stylus, DO IT IMMEDIATELY!!! Your albums will thank you for it and your stereo too!

I previously owned Ortofon Conconrd CCs (very good), Numark CX1s (utter garbage) and Stanton AL500s (good).

I purchased these carts based on the recommendations of several dozen fellow Djs and they were not wrong. Like any stylus, just slapping them on and expecting top performance will not deliver the results you will be (or should be) looking for. Be sure sure to balance your tonearm correctly. I use 3.5g weight on these needles, if you are not scratching and doing more mixing you can probably reduce that by up to a gram. Also ensure your tone arm is in parallel to the platter by using the height adjust on your turntable.

The first M447-H I purchased was the needle/cart combo. Fitting this to the headshell was simple yet entirely fiddly process (for me at least). My second purchase was the needle/cart/headshell combo which required no messing around at all and almost guarantees you are set up correctly (unless you want to mount the screws further to the back of the headshell or want to set it at the 23 degree angle for scratching with an S shape tonearm.

It'e easy to be tempted into dropping several hundred bucks on other needles but I assure you, these really do the business.