[HiFiFun]

Hello all,
I'm trying to help someone long distance determine
what stylus he needs for this AstroSonic.

I asked him to try and shoot a photo of the cart,
knowing the tonearm won't lift up very far.

I'm not to the point of asking him to pull the changer, as
he has zero experience with this.

So, if someone knows outright what cart this takes,
let me know !
Thanks,
HFF

[TC Chris]

What is "this Astrosonic?"

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Chris, I believe HFF is referring to a Magnavox Astro-Sonic solid state stereo.

HFF, you don't say which changer it has, but, if it has the older S-600 series changer, there is a screw on top of the tone arm that he can remove and take the cartridge out of the tone arm.  Many times the model of the cartridge is printed on top of the cartridge.  I don't know how the newer cartridges are removed.

[HiFiFun]

Whoops. Forgot the photo of the console.
 
The owner sent me a very fuzzy photo
of the cart.
I told him to put a mirror under the tonearm and take
a clear photo.

The AstroSonic appears to be from 1970's, all guesses at this point,
until further info/photos.

I think this is an 800 series changer, with the cart pigtail to attach it to tonearm.

If so, I found the cartridge info in the downloads section.
HFF

[Motorola Minion]

Larry, I believe this is a 1970 changer and similar to a 1967 and 1969 changer I have on the bench (both W803s and with a similar tone-arm) with the same cartridge, a P-mount Electro Voice 275, needle is a Pfanstiehl 557 per the V-M website. I keep those 557's around, just like the pre-67 Micromatics that used an EV150 series and 365 needle.

For bothe W803's, I removed ONE screw with a stubby Philips and the cart dropped so I did not need to lift the arm .
There are three wires and you need a small needle-nose to pull off those flat terminal connectors. Use lots of light and a magnetized screwdriver. Back before I had the patience to do this, I had much better eyesight


 

[Motorola Minion]

Please disregard the W803 number posted above, the Magnavox Micromatic's I'm working on are both W624 series.

Also, the cartridge wires are brown and white with a gray as a single combined ground, on the center terminal of the EV275 cart. I use a test record to verify channels are not reversed, and if they are, I switch the RCA plugs. The less handling of cart wires, the better.