Home Theater Systems Buying Guide
AudioTechnica VM540ML Dual Moving Magnet Cartridge

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Model: VM540ML UPC: 4961310157401 Item: 171419
Product Information
The VM540ML MicroLine stylus cartridge is the premier 500 Series model in Audio-Technica’s new VM cartridge line – a line that harks back to A-T’s early days as a manufacturer primarily of high-end phono cartridges, while also incorporating today’s advanced technology. Like all VM cartridges, the VM540ML is equipped with dual magnets that are positioned to match the left and right channels in the stereo record groove for outstanding channel separation and extended frequency response. The cartridge’s MicroLine stylus allows it to trace the record groove with incredible accuracy, resulting in nuanced audio reproduction that elliptical and conical styli simply can’t match. The stylus’s multilevel shape also wears better than other styli, while reducing the wear on your records.
Features
- VM dual magnet cartridge with MicroLine® stylus
- Aluminum cantilever
- Paratoroidal coils improve generating efficiency
- Center shield plate between the left and right channels reduces crosstalk
- Durable low-resonance polymer cartridge housing

WARNING: California Residents - Proposition 65. This product can expose you to chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.
Specifications
Specifications
- Frequency response: 20 - 27,000Hz
- Channel separation: 28dB (1kHz)
- Vertical tracking force: 1.8 - 2.2g
- Stylus construction: Nude square shank
- Recommended load impedance: 47,000 ohms
- Output: 4.0mV
- Channel balance: 1.0dB
- Stylus shape: 2.2 x 0.12 mil MicroLine
- Mount: 1/2"
- Coil impedance: 2,700 ohms (1kHz)
- DC resistance: 800 ohms
- Load capacitance: 100 - 200pF
- Coil inductance: 460mH (1kHz)
- Static compliance: 40 x 10-6cm/dyne
- Dynamic compliance: 10 x 10 - 6cm/dyne (100Hz)
- Vertical tracking angle: 23°
- Dimensions (H x W x D): 0.7" x 0.7" x 1.1"
- Weight: 0.2 ounces
What's in the Box
What's in the Box
- VM540ML Dual Moving Magnet Cartridge
- Four cartridge installation screws
- Two washers
- Two hex nuts
- Non-magnetic screwdriver
- Brush
- Lead wire set
Reviews

Customer Reviews for AudioTechnica VM540ML Dual Moving Magnet Cartridge
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First thing, I bought the cartridge by itself thinking I could save myself $50 bucks by mounting it myself. I have never done it before and all I had were some printed out 2 point protractors and youtube videos to show me how. Over the course of 2 frustrating days I tried to figure out stuff like overhang and where on the headshell the darn thing goes. I kept getting a 20% Right channel being lower inbalance all the time. Almost wanted to send it back. Then i remembered the packaging came with a plastic fake headshell to which the cartridge was attached. All the pictures online I could find of the thing already mounted on a proper headshell showed it in in the same exact position it came mounted on the plastic headshell. I just placed the plastic headshell over the current headshell with the VM540, and put the screws dead center over where it was mounted. Lucky the plastic headshell has a hole and a peg were the screws go so there is no guess work, after I figured that out, I just aligned it using the protractor and the imbalance was almost corrected, but still there. Just to trouble shoot I increased the tracking force from 2.0g to 2.5 and then to 3.0. I wanted to be fancy and have a low tracking cartridge, but it appears this also helped to fix the imbalance. Probably my entry level table showing some of its limits. Seemed my turntable needed a higher tracking force to get that left channel going sufficiently. Hope this helps and saves someone some time. I am never again mounting a cartridge myself again. After i bought the headshell I think I saved like $20 overall. What was i thinking? Always get the mounted option or pay someone to do it. 2 days of frustration and i probably scratched a record or two in the process. Thank me later.
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I still prefer the M97Xe over this, but I do consider it a worthy replacement.
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The pros; it sounds fantastic! The first songs I played were off Ghost In The Machine (The Police), the half-speed mastered release, and I was hearing an echo off of Stewart Copeland's snare hits that I never knew was there (One World Is Enough). Lots of detail, which I LOVE! It also tracks like a dream.
So, in this price range, I believe this is the cartridge to beat - Just be prepared for what can be a challenging installation. Just keep thinking to yourself, as your searching for the tiny nut and washer you just dropped on the floor, "It's all gonna be worth it the first time I drop the needle on some vinyl."
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Q&A
Customer Q & A
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WARNING: California Residents - Proposition 65. This product can expose you to chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.