Dimond Cantilevers And Tip Mass


Something we don’t see discussed lately is tip mass and how responsive a cartridge is. Now what about these ruby and diamond cantilevers and what the effects of these cantilevers are? The diamond is still mounted to the cantilver with an epoxy, so it is not like the Sony of yore where it was a solid cantilever/diamond piece. Yes the cantilever should be stiffer with them gemstone, but what about at the cost of tip mass and how responsive it is? Secondly how well does the material damp resonances? It seems that in some respects that boron and compsoite materials might have an advantage here.

 

Has this come up in discussion recently? And have any conclusions been drawn?

neonknight

The higher mass of the diamond cantilever relative to the stylus was one explanation, or perhaps I should say speculation, as to why the early applications by Ortofon, e.g. in the Anna, reportedly resulted in slightly reduced trackability. I have no experience with the Anna, but having owned an MC Diamond for 6 weeks I can say it tracks like champ, every bit as well as the boron-cantilevered A90 with the same Replicant stylus. It’s also the quietest in the groove of any cartridge I’ve owned, for what that’s worth in this discussion. I believe Ortofon upgraded the suspension in the MC Diamond. Perhaps that’s a nod to the ramifications of the diamond cantilever but I really don’t know.

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@viridian Thanks for the info I have not followed the latest generation of Audio Technica cartridges closely.

Yes, AT claims the stylus and cantilever are from a single lab grown diamond.  That means no squishy adhesive to mar transmission of motion down the cantilever.  I have not heard this cartridge.  I would like to hear it and compare it with the ART1000 cartridge which has the coils attached extremely close to the stylus tip.  I've heard the ART1000 and it is a terrific sounding cartridge.  At almost twice the price, the MC2022 better be pretty good.

Are you suggesting that other cartridges that cost 9K don't need to be "pretty good"?