DJ Equipment Reviews

The Shure M35S DJ cartridge, sure it’s a good deal

Shure may not be the name it once was in the days of digital DJs, but any working DJ who ever got close to a DJ turntable or spins on one knows for sure of Shure. The best DJ equipment reviews and the most well known Shure DJ products are of course their DJ cartridges, which managed to take spotlight from other bigger names in the pro audio industry, also with some big DJ product reviews on their side. In the end, it’s the working DJ and his opinion that makes or breaks a DJ brand, and for Shure and their DJ cartridges at least, it was positively "spin me some more of that!". And spin we shall, with the M35S DJ cartridge, or next scheduled DJ product review.

If you don’t know by now, check out what Shure is best known for in a previous post on the top 10 DJ microphones, but from 80 years ago when it all started, these guys have been through it all and could now be called "the grand daddies" of live recording or something. For working DJs however, it was the DJ cartridges from Shure that closed the deal, and the M35S is a good general choice for a DJ to make, to see what Shure is all about. The M35S DJ equipment review must mention the new designed needle that it uses, which has two major applications in the DJ’s life. Both are equally important, one being the high accuracy of sound reproduction, which is always paramount on any DJ cartridge, and the second is changes made for additional and substantial skipping resistance in mixing.

Most of the tracking accuracy of the M35S is because of the versatile Shure type I medium diameter cantilever that it uses. With this new design, the M35S can withstand continuous use and hours in a row of spinning and mixing, while still maintaining the compliance to trace very very small signal modulation on your record, down to the millionth of an inch (Shure says, I didn’t really measure, to be honest…). The anti skip policy for the M35S is partly achieved through the tracking force, in this case of between 3 and 5 grams, which should definitely be enough to keep the M35S on track, as far as regular DJ mixing is concerned, with an average of 4 grams. Because of this, the M35S DJ cartridge is recommended for general DJ applications, including live mixing and for the studio DJ, where tracking accuracy is required and also an anti skipping technology (although to achieve the anti skip just through tracking force is fairly old when you look at other DJ turntables on the market).

Now for some technological specifications which I know some working DJs have been waiting for from this DJ product review of the M35S (link to PDF overview):

• the tonearm mount is a standard half of inch, ensuring wide compatibility of the M35S
• the cantilever is a low mass type I from Shure, heat treated aluminum alloy made with a wall thickness of 1.0 mil and 30 mil diameter
• frequency range is normal, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz
• the stylus tip is made from polished natural gemstone, with a spherical shape and a radius of 0.7 mil
• net weight of the M35S is 6.2 grams and a height of 15.9 mm
• and as a proof of trust from Shure, the M35S comes with a full one year warranty for any defects

The M35S DJ cartridge comes in a package that also has and extra set of four headshell wires, a stylus cleaning brush, the headshell weight (of 3 grams), a user guide and a stylus guard for protection for the working DJ to use. Having been designed for mixing, the M35S DJ cartridge is recommended by this DJ equipment review to working DJs who want top tracking accuracy in their gigs, but don’t want to get a highly specialized (and probably highly expensive) DJ cartridge for the job. The M35S will do the trick just fine…

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