MONO cartridges

Jonathan,

You mention that the stylus is different on the Dorian mono than the Helikon. I have noticed that my Dorian Mono does not seem to handle surface noise that well. I have experimented with VTA endlessly to no avail and have just learned to live with it. I have read review after review and comment after comment about how great the Helikon is at ignoring surface noise and imperfections on older mono lps. This has not been my expierince with the Dorian.

I was wondering if you could elaborate on this at all. Does the Dorian perform differently than the Helikon in relation to surface noise and ignoring imperfections?

Thanks
David Kramer

Hi Syntax,
can send you my Airy-3X Mono if you want to try a Mono cart on your FR64s.
Bye,
Marco

Hi Heradot,

didn't know that you have such a cartridge. Great idea. Thank you

David: I don't think that the Dorian should be much worse than the Helikon when it comes to noise or sound quality. After all, although the Dorian doesn't use the custom stylus profile of the Helikon, it still uses a Microridge, which is one of the best non-custom stylus shapes that money can buy. And although the Helikon has more mass in its mechanical structure and is made of a different alloy, the mechanical concepts are one and the same for both designs.

But in general, my cartridge designs are intended to dump the vibrational energy (created by the stylus tracking the LP groove) into the tonearm in as direct and complete a fashion as possible, so a better tonearm may pay greater dividends than with other manufacturer's cartridges.

I would suggest trying a different arm with a less resonant mechanical structure, and/or one with less bearing play(IME, less bearing play means more for sound quality than low bearing friction). A more compatible tonearm can also help address any sense of brightness or leanness with the sound. As another tweak, you could try to add some weight to the headshell. The Dorian is a few grams lighter than the Helikon, and sometimes a heavier cartridge and headshell combination works better at controlling vibrational energy.

The other obvious factor that can affect the perception of noise is the phono stage. Pops and ticks are very close to impulse signals, and you can hear a big difference in how different phono stages deal with them (and RF interferance). Normally I don't recommend loading down our cartridges so heavily, but sometimes it can be a useful tool if the phono stage has performance/stability issues at ultrasonic frequencies. I'd suggest around 300 ohms if your phono cable has low-capacitance, but be willing to move down to perhaps 150 ohms if your phono cable has higher capacitance.

hth, jonathan carr

Thanks Jonathan for the response. I am currently using a VPI 9" signature model with viscous damping applied. I have also used an RB300 as well. The cartridge does perform incredibly considering I paid $700 before the price increase. I just have not had the experience with the surface noise that I thought I was going to have. I use it with an old CJ pv6 as the phono stage and use transformers to step it up. I have tried loading through the transformers at both 150 ohms and 10 ohms via resistors. Honestly I think I prefer the 150 ohm load through the transformers but right now I am using an old pair of altec trannies, the green ones, with resistors loading down to around 10 ohms. I do not use any capacitors in my step up transformers.

I will continue to tweak. I will try the head shell tweak as well.

Thanks
David