Record Needles

If you need replacement record needles or record needle cartridges, this handy list of replacements is definitely worth a look. Your turntable may accept some, all, or none of these record needles–double check your make and model against these replacements before purchasing replacement needles just to be on the safe side. Click the image or the links to be taken to a shopping page for each replacement cartridge at Zzounds.com.

ION Audio iCT04DJ Turntable Cartridge

This is a replacement cartridge for use with ION TTUSB and ION TTUSB10 turntables, the Ion Audio ICT04. Please note the HEADSHELL IS NOT INCLUDED. You can purchase the stylus separately:

Ion Audio ICT04RS Replacement Stylus for ICT04

This is the replacement stylus for the ICT04 cartridge. If your existing cartridge is in good shape, you might want to simply order the replacement cartridge as opposed to getting both together.

ortofon replacement cartridge and stylus

The Ortofon Concorde DigiTrack cartridge kit includes both cartridge and stylus and is meant for DJs who use a lot of time-coded vinyl applications including Serato and FinalScratch. With this kit you can play time-coded vinyl records and conventional vinyl records interchangeably.

otrofon OM Arkiv set replacement record needle cartridge set

Ortofon Om Arkiv Cartridge Kit is a cartridge and stylus combo the marketing hype claims is optimized for recording purposes. You can take the hint, right? If you want to pull samples off vinyl, this is your record needle. So says the hype, “OM Arkiv Cartridge is specially designed to provide optimized sound quality specifically for recording purposes. The Arkiv boasts clear and accurate sound reproduction and remarkable stereo imaging”.

This replacement record needle and cartridge kit includes a case and cleaning brush. At press time it was just under $70, too! Newcomers to DJing take note–a replacement record needle and cartridge set like this is not really built to take the pounding you give it night after night playing sets. Take the hype at face value when it says “optimized for recording”. That means you’ll get fewer playing hours out of it in exchange for the tweaked playback.


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Shure M44-7The Shure M44-7. Made especially for scratch DJ’s and turntablists, the marketing hype for the Shure M44-7 claims it is designed not to skip “under even the most demanding circumstances”. The customer reviews for this one bear out the claim, so it’s hard to argue with the hype for a change. This replacement record needle incorporates the Shure wide-diameter Type S cantilever with tracking force of 1.5 to 3.0 grams.

stanton 500v3 replacement record needle

The Stanton 500.V3 Spherical Standard Cartridge is updated version of Stanton’s 500AL.  User reviews give this props for ordinary playback use, but the reviewers also say turntablists ought to skip this in favor of the Shure M44-7. Hard to argue with that, but if you’re looking for something to use for regular vinyl enjoyment the Stanton might be a decent alternative to your factory-issue needle with a consumer-grade player. Don’t skratch with it, though. If you want a needle for record scratching, try

Shure SC35C

Shure SC35C Scratch DJ Turntable Cartridge gets good reviews as a replacement record needle for scratching purposes. The marketing hype from Shure says, “With a tracking force range of 4 to 5 grams, the SC35C provides for significant skip resistance.” This replacement needle has  Shure’s Type I cantilever design (ala the Shure M35S). This one comes with some accessories that includes a spare of headshell wired, plus a stylus cleaning brush and guard.

crosley replacement needle record needleIf you own a Crosley record player then you’ll want to look into these replacement needles for Crosley turntables compatible with this NP3 needle. Do you own a Crosley Composer CD Recorder Turntable? These replacement needles are made for the first and second-generation models.

These are only a small sampling of the record needle replacements available. We’ll add more to this page in time, but if you want to see other choices, have a look at the Zzounds replacement record needle and cartridge page for additional options.

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