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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
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rauliruegas
13,066 posts
 
Dear @bydlo  : That cartridge needs a very well damped tonearm and that the cartridge will mates with the cartridge the range of frequency resonance and that the phono stage has high overload margin.

You are playing with load resistance but you need to play too with load capacitance and you can't do it.

""   I do not dare to touch VTA as I think I’m in the sweet spot and I don’t use VTA for tonal adjustments. ""

Why do you think are in the sweet spot? if you have the " rigth " damped tonearm and phono stage high overload margins and is reallya good phono stage: why all those troubles?

Certainly is not an easy set-up cartridge but seems to me that you are testing at random with out have well defined your targets according your system limitations, nothing is perfect.

Maybe the change on VTF that noromance posted helps him but is not a very good advise to set the VTF lower than the manufacturer specs especially with cantilever-less cartridges that could makes more gharm to the LPs than good.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.
dover
2,247 posts
 
VTA Adjustment

Without getting in the weeds too much most folk use high frequency and base response to adjust VTA., effectively using  it as a tone control for their particular system This is wrong.

Correct VTA is when the stylus aligns with the cutting angle, this gives maximum groove contact for the stylus profile the designer came up with and the maximum amount of information recovered from the groove.

Because of system deviations, or distortions as Raul would put it, the only correct way to adjust VTA is by listening for maximum information recovery, maximum soundstage size and maximum preservation of the harmonic structure of instruments.




noromance's avatar
noromance
9,782 posts
 
Maybe the change on VTF that noromance posted helps him but is not a very good advise to set the VTF lower than the manufacturer specs
JW, the builder of London cartridges in the UK specs a VTF of 1.8g +/- 0.2g. Therefore 1.6g is perfectly fine. Thank you.
bydlo
142 posts
 
By the same token, estimado Raul, the tonearm I use is the one used by the cartridge designer himself - FR64S. Not to get into random walking yourself, it's good to first make sure you know what you are writing about.
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
I have been busy of late with other interests.....watches, cars, architecture.Have still found time to listen to music every day.....but not reading Forums 🥱Last week I plugged in a NOS Signet MR 5.0 lc Vintage MM Cartridge which has a Line Contact Nude Stylus on Beryllium Cantilever (for which I have a NOS replacement).After playing around with VTF(1.5Gm) and VTA.....I also adjusted Loading to 40 Ohms and Capacitance to 250uF.I was really impressed with the sound and have spent days debating whether I should risk the heartless Golden-Eared Critics and Adjudicators on this Site 🥴 with a ’comparison’....?
VINTAGE SONY XL-88 LOMC CARTRIDGE
VINTAGE SIGNET MR 5.0 LC MM CARTRIDGE
VINTAGE SIGNET MR 5.0 LC MM CARTRIDGE
VINTAGE SONY XL-88D LOMC CARTRIDGE
Don’t hold back......🙉
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