A New MC to Catch One's Attention

When looking at the Spiel for the Nagra Cart'.

It has a difficult to Grasp Position as a Sale Item, it is offered a Product from a Line to Celebrate 70 Years of being Incorporated but is also a First Product of the type for the Company.

A First Time Product with an asking Price that is far beyond the asking price of very established and experienced Companies that specialise in the Production of the same product. This is a little difficult to comprehend, it is looking likely that a reliance on a Customers Loyalty to the Companies Philosophies behind their products is going to win the sales.

I really can't see the Cart' being ordered as a Blind Purchase by somebody with a Worldly Experience of Hi End Uber Priced Cart's.

When learning about the Body, it is unique as a Material, which is a Plus, especially as the Material has properties which are recognised for the Damping that can be produced.

My query would be how separated in the attractive properties is the Nagra's EXIUM AM to Titanium or Duralumin. It seems Cart's are available with these materials in use for quite a lesser sum of monies.

It is also made known certain Parts that belong to a particular Mechanical Function and also as an Interface are made from Titanium and Coated in a Material referred to as DLC (Diamond Like Carbon). It is suspected by me, that this type of treatment is a concealed IP from other Manufacturers and the Nagra is presenting their usage of a Coating as another USP.

It is not New to see a Ultra Hard Coating applied to parts, Corundum Coatings are not a Stranger to HiFi and the Audio Technica Technihard Coating is this material.

I suggest that AT are not limiting the use of Technihard Coatings to the products it is advertised as being on. I would take a punt and suggest it is also used on other components that they use that are looking best served with a little extra resonance control in place through the use of the coating, the IP for such design might be a guarded info'.

The use of a Ruby Armature and FG Styli is very Scandinavian and not something to new, but the Ruby usage is one that is still maintained by certain renowned Brands.

The Damping Methodology is seeming new to me, but I am not sure if it is unique enough to be a cutting-edge design.

The Coils are Silver and Ultra-Pure, no nines purity to show how unique or how pure, Ultra will have to do. You either want Silver in a Cart' or you don't, for many Silver Coils are a Deal Breaker.

In my system at present the Silver in the Cart' is the only proportion of the signal path that has Silver. 

As this is looking likely to be used with the Nagra Set Up, even though the Specification is looking able to be worked with in a commonly seen Set Up, it is difficult to foresee how it will interface within another system.

I can't but help imagine it would be a Fleet Footed/Lean Presentation, without any traits that could be referred to as a noticeable Richness.    

I'm making a Wild Punt, suggesting 58 Units are now pre-ordered.

Possibly only Two More Pre-Orders needed, and the user feedback can be anticipated to be seen in the not too distant 🔭, I do hope it is not on Limited Edition Cart' No Sixty-Two that would be awkward.

As said many Buzz Words in the Sales Brochure Spiel: Hand Crafted - Diamond Unified Armature and Styli - Hybrid Metal Body (Titanium, Aluminium with a Special Elastomer Damping Applied - Use of Traditional Shippo (Seven Treasures) Enamelling - Attractive Specification to suit the most usual of Set Ups.

There is something in there for everybody to succumb to, even to the point of alluring other Japanese Brand Cart's users through the references made for the Romanticising the usage of Heritage Craft, that is kept ongoing in the present, by those who are dedicated to being disciplined in the required skills as Artisans in their Craft.

It is the referencing to the Traditional Craft in conjunction with Hand Crafted that is the Clever Angle. The Cart' is produced from Parts that are not in any way, using a methodology that shares a method of production from a Heritage Skill.

A Technician employed to assemble the finished item, is potentially only responsible for a proportion of the requirement. The Technician is certainly not an individual employed for having a recognised skill as an Artisan for producing Heritage Crafts.

By adding a Shippo Enamelling to the Product does without doubt add a coating that has a Heritage, what it does not do, is add anything other than an Aesthetic, the Cart' does not depend on the Coating to function, nor does the Coating being incorporated Elevate the Cart' to a Level of Performance that is notable. 

By adding a Shippo Enamelling the Cart' is not transported to a period of in History when Japanese Craftmanship was revered along with the Samurai. 

I don't buy into such Blurb, but each to their own. 

I do without doubt see this Cart' as being a very much appreciated model and look forward to seeing how it grows in the imagination, following user reports of its capabilities.  

What has got my attention through reading the Brochure, is that I have not been able to discover the Coil Wire used.

The AT Brand was pioneers in their adoption of OCC Wire as a Coil Wire and Tag Pins. They may be the only Mainstream Brand to have used the wire.

I was hoping AT were to adopt the use of a PC Triple C or D.U.C.C Wire in a Cart' with a New Design, as there is, in my view, a place for either of these wires used for a coil. 

These Wire Materials are not unfamiliar to AT, as they have been producing their Hi End Cables with these wires, in either singular or a combined configuration on the signal path in a Cable for quite some time.   

With the MC2022 The Art 1000 is the Base Model to some degree.

The MC2022 is only to be produced as a Limited Edition of 60 Items.

This Cart's uniqueness is possibly relating to the Coils, Body, and Enamelling, and at present the Unified Armature and Syli.  

I would assume another Model, maybe an ’ART 1000 SE’ will not be too far behind to make the most of a few of the parts produced for the 2022, as there is an Exchange Programme in place for the renewal.

I foresee the unified armature/styli to be a part used on another cart'. This will be beneficial to maintaining an Exchange programme for the MC2022.

I can easily be off the trail with this conjecture. 

I feel this subject will be quite short-lived, as there are probably only a small proportion remaining to fill the Books for the 60 Limited Edition Items.  

It is offered as a Luxurious Item.

It is also offered as a Item that is from a Selection of Limited Edition Items, offered  for a commemoration of an Anniversary of a Company's History in offering products with a similar function, as well as others.

For myself, I see it as a Model adopting ideas selected by other producers and possibly using a hook on how to utilise the technology.

This in itself, encourages a gaze toward competitors' offerings with similar technologies included. 

It would have been nice to have seen something really cutting edge, like a Carbotanium Body, to assemble the design for the signal production elements into.

 There would not be too many places to find a Carbotanium Body, not unless you had a spare $ 3 000 000 begging to be spent. 

It is difficult to see where a report might materialise from, as there are only 60 to be made available.

I have followed Cart's from other Brands that I presume have sold across the Globe in the thousands, but only a limited amount of dedicated user reviews is found, that can be seen as supplied from an experienced source that can be relied on, especially when it comes to their experiences with another selection of Cart's.

Maybe the 'Gon' could arrange a Group Buy for the MC2022 and send it off to @mikelavigne or @mulveling for an assessment. There would be very reliable description to come from these individuals' quarters.  

The Link has been used for the info' I have looked at on the EXIUM AM Material.

As stated earlier in the thread, there is an exchange programme in place.

Does this mean there are 60 Assembled Cart's in Storage or enough Parts in storage to replace 60 Cart's.

I suspect the catalogue of stored parts, or parts that will need to be readily available is limited to the Carts Visibly seen moving parts as they are the most fragile and vulnerable to incurring a premature damage or need an exchange resulting from wear and tear from usage. Other Moving Parts that are concealed will most likely have spares as these are able to be damaged at the same time another damage has occurred. 

It would be hard to believe all Parts in use are unique, there is a strong possibility there are a Part or Two, that are utilised in an earlier generation of Cart'.

The asking price might reflect that there will only ever be 60 Cart's using certain Technologies and Parts allocated to this design, so the reserve of materials to keep the Cart' in operation for a customer is reflected in the asking price and follow up refurb pricing.

Alternatively, as suggested previously, there could be a New Cart' on the Horizon using a selection of the Technologies produced as a Trickle Down to a lesser model.

This would certainly help with keeping the necessary parts to carry out a refurb in a continued production. 

Hypothetically, the MC2022 is not a One of Used Cart' it is expected to to returned for a refurb, due to its rarity and hopefully sonic capability.

Using a standardised equation, it will come in close to a $9 per Album replay Cart'.

If a Refurb' is to cost $5000???, the cost per replay will come in at approx' £7 per Album relay using $14k @ 2000hrs

Does a Person go for round Three of a Refurb' at again approx' $5K where the cost per replay is at approx' $6.30c, using $19K @ 3000hrs.

Whichever the method used to extend the usage of the Cart', there does seem to be a substantial cost per replay belonging to this Cart'.   

As stated previously, It is a Sacrificial Device, offered as a luxurious item, where 60 are available to satisfy an indulgence.

A set of wheels and Tyres for a performance Spec' Vehicle, are in their own right a sacrificial item and can easily get close to this type of price. As it is for a Car the purchase will be better accepted by the masses, and certainly not thought of as being too ludicrous to consider, as it is a Bloody Good Talking Point at the Golf Course Club House.

Try this out, I've just put a 10K set of Wheels and Boots on the Brabus Merc, vs,I've just put a 9K Cartridge on my Turntables SAT Tonearm

I've got a few nice Storage Boxes for one Tonearm and one Cart'.

It is a nice initial introduction to the purchased product, but a short-lived encounter, the Tonearm is on show, but rarely used, the Presentation / Storage Box is inserted back into the Cardboard Box Protector and forgotten about.

The Cart' is mounted on a Detachable Headshell and stored in a FR K5 Cartridge Keeper, when not being used. The Presentation/Storage Box is also inserted back into the Cardboard Box Protector and is long forgotten about.

I prefer how SME or Ortofon supply a Tonearm or Cart', where a foam protector is produced in a perfectly matching form to suit the item inside. When such a packaging is put away into storage, it does not seem to be the more sensible of an approach.

I do have Three Wooden Cases on display in relation to the HiFi, one pair being a Beautifully crafted Hard Wood Sided Casing with a Mirror Polished Top Plate which belongs to the Power Supply and Input/Out Put circuitry on my Bespoke Built Phon'.

The other is always on show, but not as attractive as the other owned cases. It is a Birch Wood Case for a tool that functions as an Off Board Strobe. This one serves as a Plinth for seating the other readily available items used for Vinyl/Cartridge Care.

Before December all Items of HiFi upstream of the Amp's, used for the Vinyl Source to perform will be buried away in storage, and in January the complete system will be in storage, the CD source is on a few individuals radar to experience and can also remain in usage for the Xmas Period.

Alexia all the way from January onwards.