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Hear my Cartridges....🎶

Many Forums have a 'Show your Turntables' Thread or 'Show your Cartridges' Thread but that's just 'eye-candy'.... These days, it's possible to see and HEAR your turntables/arms and cartridges via YouTube videos.
Peter Breuninger does it on his AV Showrooms Site and Michael Fremer does it with high-res digital files made from his analogue front ends.
Now Fremer claims that the 'sound' on his high-res digital files captures the complex, ephemeral nuances and differences that he hears directly from the analogue equipment in his room.
That may well be....when he plays it through the rest of his high-end setup 😎
But when I play his files through my humble iMac speakers or even worse.....my iPad speakers.....they sound no more convincing than the YouTube videos produced by Breuninger.
Of course YouTube videos struggle to capture 'soundstage' (side to side and front to back) and obviously can't reproduce the effects of the lowest octaves out of subwoofers.....but.....they can sometimes give a reasonably accurate IMPRESSION of the overall sound of a system.

With that in mind.....see if any of you can distinguish the differences between some of my vintage (and modern) cartridges.
VICTOR X1
This cartridge is the pinnacle of the Victor MM designs and has a Shibata stylus on a beryllium cantilever. Almost impossible to find these days with its original Victor stylus assembly but if you are lucky enough to do so.....be prepared to pay over US$1000.....🤪
VICTOR 4MD-X1
This cartridge is down the ladder from the X1 but still has a Shibata stylus (don't know if the cantilever is beryllium?)
This cartridge was designed for 4-Channel reproduction and so has a wide frequency response 10Hz-60KHz.
Easier to find than the X1 but a lot cheaper (I got this one for US$130).
AUDIO TECHNICA AT ML180 OCC
Top of the line MM cartridge from Audio Technica with Microline Stylus on Gold-Plated Boron Tube cantilever.
Expensive if you can find one....think US$1000.

I will be interested if people can hear any differences in these three vintage MM cartridges....
Then I might post some vintage MMs against vintage and MODERN LOMC cartridges.....🤗
128x128halcro
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
And yet the price differential between the ’cheapest’ Onyx and dearest Blue Lace is $5000!!!!!
Isn't it an outrage Edgewear....🤬
At least Koetsu have a neat formula for launching new and evermore expensive models......change the stone-type 🤗
But what about all the other manufacturers....?
Having managed to ramp-up the prices for second-rate MC cartridges...how do you justify even higher prices for the new MODELS?
Those well-heeled audiophiles who have bought their $15,000 Uber cartridges believing them to be the 'best', are not about to 'downsize' to a $10,000 cartridge next year.
They believe that higher performance comes with higher prices...
So to justify even higher prices and tempt this hapless group of willing audiophiles, the manufacturers are desperately adding diamond cantilevers (Ortofon Century and Anna Diamond) and other 'gimmicks' whilst being unable to develop any real progressive intellectual design solutions.
You can fool some of the people.......
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,732 posts
 
I agree....but how much of that we can attribute to the DD Victor over the Belt-Drive Raven, I don't know?
Possibly more than you'd think. That's why I'd love to hear the LDR on the JVC. I listened to a Raven for hours at AXPONA and the system had a warm beguiling sound but not what I would call clear or incisive. Was it the big tube amps or the table? I must look it up and see what gear was being used.
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Having seen how the heavy FR-S3 headshell transforms the double knife-edged SAEC WE-8000/ST tonearm....at least with LOMC cartridges....I wondered if the same would hold true for MMs 🤔

One of my long-term favourite cartridges has been the vintage SIGNET TK-LCa MM Cartridge.
It didn't however seem to do well in the 'Shootouts' against other cartridges whether mounted in the COPPERHEAD TONEARM or the DYNAVECTOR DV-507/II.
Let's hear it again with the lightweight YAMAMOTO HS-4S CARBON-FIBER HEADSHELL against the heavy FIDELITY RESEARCH FR-S3 HEADSHELL.

SIGNET TK-7LCa + CARBON-FIBER HEADSHELL

SIGNET TK-7LCa + FR-S3 HEADSHELL

SIGNET TK-7LCa + CARBON-FIBRE HEADSHELL

SIGNET TK-7LCa + FR-S3 HEADSHELL 


halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
If anyone heard any differences with the Signet in the carbon-fiber headshell over the heavy FR-S3 headshell.....you've got better ears than I have 👂
Both in my listening room and over multiple listens to the video....the cartridge sounds identical to me in both shells 🙌
This was a little surprising after hearing the clear improvements with all the LOMC Cartridges that I tried.
The Sony XL55, Sony XL88, Sony XL88D, JMAS MIT-1 all sounded clearly superior with the heavy S3 headshell in the WE-8000/ST tonearm, so just why this did not occur with the MM is a mystery...🤔
Of course we can always postulate 'theories' such as 'higher compliance' but why this should affect the result is pure speculation.

I think this demonstrates how little we really know of the 'science' behind our hobby.
The only maxim we can apply is....try everything and LISTEN 🤗
To attempt to predict the 'sound' of anything based purely on specifications or 'accepted wisdom' is foolhardy.
That's why I have only one tonearm with a 'fixed' headshell and will never buy another......
The differences that come with changing headshells is mind-blowing 🤯 and is just as important to maximising the performance of any cartridge as VTF, VTA, Azimuth and Antiskate.
Those audiophiles who demand tonearms with non-detachable headshells are merely depriving themselves of one of the easiest paths to Audio Nirvana 😎
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,732 posts
 
I did some quick listening to both with the Strauss on the LCa. The FRS3 sounded slightly cleaner and more detailed if not a little thinner and edgier. Is it bakelite or hard plastic? The CF had better bass and control but lacked sparkle.
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