Empire 880PE
A cartridge Empire sold on the strength of one elliptical tip and a magazine's two-word verdict - "truly excellent."
Overview
The 880PE was Empire Scientific's elliptical-stylus version of its 880P moving-magnet cartridge. Empire pitched it as the next step up: the same basic generator, fitted with a bi-radial elliptical diamond that could trace the high-frequency grooves the conical tip smeared. Empire's own advertising gave the specs plainly. Frequency response was 8 to 30,000 cps, output was 8.0 millivolts per channel, channel separation was better than 30 dB, load impedance was 47,000 ohms, and the tracking force window was ½ to 4 grams. That last figure is the one collectors still talk about. A half-gram lower limit was genuinely low for the period, and it took a decent arm to use it.
The stylus was a 0.2 × 0.9-mil bi-radial elliptical, hand-polished. The cartridge body weighed 10 grams and had a 15-degree vertical tracking angle. Compliance was rated at 20 × 10⁻⁶ cm/dyne, which is high-compliance territory. That pairs well with low-mass arms, and a heavy, stiff tonearm gets mistracking at the light end of the tracking range. Mounting was conventional: four terminals, standard 7/16- or ½-inch centers, so it drops into most component arms of the era. In Empire's own framing, the 880PE was "the 880P plus some new ones." The elliptical stylus was the headline change, and an elliptical replacement stylus was offered alongside the complete cartridge.
Empire leaned hard on a single line of praise in its advertising, attributing to Audio the claim that the 880P/880PE was "truly excellent… the finest cartridge tested." That's marketing copy repeating a review's pull-quote, and it should be read that way. The underlying review was real, though. High Fidelity (September 1964, p.55) published an evaluation of the cartridge covering its frequency response and channel separation. It noted that the unit ships with the necessary mounting hardware, a small screwdriver, and installation instructions, and it confirmed the cartridge fits most component tone arms. The same review observed that one factor in the cartridge's behavior "becomes less of a factor in the audible response when played over very wide-range equipment." That is a measured, qualified assessment, not the ad copy's unqualified superlative.
The 880PE's high-frequency claim of 30,000 cps is best treated as a rated figure rather than an audible one. What actually mattered on a 1964 record player was the elliptical tip's ability to hold the inner grooves together and the 8-mV output's ability to drive the phono stages of the day without strain. The 30 dB-plus separation spec was respectable for a moving-magnet design of the period and is the number that separates a competent stereo cartridge from a muddy one.
In Empire's line, the 880PE is the elliptical-stylus sibling of the 880P. It shares the generator and mounting and differs in the tip. Empire positioned both as part of its broader "most perfect products" family, alongside the Grenadier loudspeakers and the Troubador turntables, and the 880P/880PE pair appeared in the company's World's Fair-era advertising as the cartridge offering of the moment. The retail price quoted in the trade press for the 880PE was $29.95. That was a meaningful sum in 1964, roughly the cost of a decent set of records, and it shows Empire was selling this as a serious component rather than a budget afterthought. One trade listing shows $14.95 in a different context. The $29.95 figure is the one attached to the 880PE specifically, and the discrepancy is flagged here rather than resolved.
For anyone chasing one today, the practical concerns are the stylus and the suspension. The high-compliance rating means the cartridge wants a light, free-moving arm. A heavy DJ-style arm will bottom it out, and the ½-gram tracking claim becomes academic. The 8-mV output is hot enough for most vintage phono inputs but may need padding on modern high-gain stages. The elliptical tip, being the whole point of the PE designation, is the first thing to inspect. A genuine Empire bi-radial replacement is the difference between hearing what High Fidelity measured and hearing a cartridge that has given up on the top octave.
It is a period piece, unapologetically: a moving-magnet cartridge from the year the elliptical stylus was becoming the dividing line between "good" and "serious" in the phono world, sold with a magazine quote stapled to its reputation. The 880PE earns its place in a collection not because it was the finest cartridge ever made, but because it was a well-specified, honestly engineered example of Empire doing what Empire did — and because that hand-polished 0.2 × 0.9-mil tip is still the thing that makes or breaks one.
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