Stanton 681 Calibration Standard (c. 1967–1975)
Almost everything still known about the 681 Calibration Standard comes from Stanton's own advertising. The name was the pitch. The 681 was a phono cartridge sold as a reference tool: accurate enough that disc-cutting engineers could trust what they heard when approving test pressings, no more and no less.
Stanton's launch campaign, running in High Fidelity (December 1967, p.29), made some bold guarantees. Frequency response was "virtually a straight line" from 10-20,000 Hz. Channel separation was 35 dB or greater at 1,000 Hz. Output was 0.8 mV/cm/sec. The ads also pushed the "Longhair" brush, an attached stylus brush meant to keep grooves clean for critical listening.
By 1975, Stanton had shifted to an endorsement-style campaign. A later ad in High Fidelity (March 1975, p.6) claimed Capitol Records used the 681 cartridge series to calibrate, evaluate, approve, test, repair, and quality-control its record production. The ad presented the 681 as the primary calibration standard for system checkouts of linearity and equalization.
Independent lab reviews from the period weren't in the material available for this page, so it has to stop at manufacturer's claims and a long, consistent ad run from 1967 into 1975. A period test report would be welcome.
- Type: phono cartridge, marketed as a calibration/reference standard
- Frequency response: 10–20,000 Hz, "virtually a straight line" (manufacturer's claim)
- Channel separation: 35 dB or greater at 1,000 Hz (manufacturer's claim)
- Output: 0.8 mV/cm/sec (manufacturer's claim)
- Feature: "Longhair" stylus brush
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