Second Cartridge With Transfiguration Phoenix

I have been living with a Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum with diamond cantilever, for six months now. Wonderful.

I was a little apprehensive after hearing and reading that the diamond cantilever "destroyed the Koetsu magic", so I was primed to hear excess brightness. Well, if you don't hear excess brightness on Bach's violin concertos, or Barber's adagio for strings, you won't hear it elsewhere. Especially when electrostatic speakers are your reference.

What the diamond does is eliminate a source of resonance, because the cantilever and stylus are ground from one piece of solid diamond. The sound is uniquely clear and transparent. In my opinion.

Dear Number95: I have first hand experiences ( in my system. ) with almost all the cartridges you named here and named by the other gentlemans but the Universe 2 ( I herad other Universe and ZYX models. ), Azule Platinum and the Terry9 Koetsu ( mine is Platinum too but I think has not the diamond cantilever. ).

I think that all cartridges named here are in many ways top performers, no one of those cartridges is perfect all has trade-offs and in all cases its quality performance depends mainly on the other links that surround it in the system chain especially tonearm and phonolinepreamp.

I own the Phoenix and in the past I owned two Temper's and I heard the Orpheus ( I forgot, I never heard the Proteus. ) and I understand what you mean on what you like:

++++ " My listening preferences are neutral, organic sound with a deep and wide soundstage, I do not prefer a specific bandwith dominating the test, I like details without sacrificing musicality ... " +++++

well, neutral ( between other things ) means that has a well balanced tone and that the musicality or not as that wide soundstage ( that depends of system/room interactions. ) and that " organic " sound depends not of the neutral cartridge but what is in the recording and how accurate is that neutral cartridge.

The Phoenix is very good performer and maybe better that what you experienced in non-unipivots tonearms. I'm not saying that in an unipivot tonearm it performs wrong ( because not ) but that in other tonearm type performs a little better.

The Ortofon PW is really good and with very good tracking abilities that almost all the other names here has not and this sole characteristics makes a difference for the better ( lower distortions elsewhere and more music information. ) especially in an unipivot tonearm design. Lower compliance cartridges put to high demands at the pivot where " all " is concentrated at one point and tend to vibrate in excess against non-unipivot tonearms that tame in better way those low compliance cartridge ridding effects and its feedback that degrade the cartridge signal.

Graham is a very good tonearm and the cartridge you will select for will performs good but IMHO the subject could be: which will perform best in the Phantom II because seems to me that you already decided? ( btw, did you think in a diffrent tonearm option just to mix.? ). My advise is that everything the same try to look for the cartridge with better tracking abilities, you can ask your dealer or trough the cartridges site.

Example: http://www.ortofon.com/products/cartridges/moving-coil/mc-windfeld/mc-windfeld-technical-specifications-

here you can read that 100um figure on traking ability, this is what you need to look for. Believe me that parameter makes a difference for the better or worse.

At the end this is only an opinion but what really matters is your opinion because you will be the person that must leave with the cartridge you decided for.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Altanpsx, why do you think that ZYX Universe II is better than Proteus?
Thx

Hi Raul,

Thank you for your detailed feedback. I have followed you and your answers in Audiogon Forums for a long time, which means I have a big respect for your knowledge and experiences. So I am pleased to get your feedback here.

I may think of some other tonearms but decided to have the same tonearms in order to compares cartridges better (same t/t same tonearm less parameters on cartridge comparisons), also I am very used to Graham, its settings. I also considered if a 12 inch might be the second tonearm but then decided to go with 9 inch. I have read in those forums that Graham is best with 9 inch. I may be wrong on that. A second consideration is IC-70 phono cable as Graham suggests that one and I have it with my current Phantom. I never tried another phono cable, rest of my audio chain (with exception of power cords) is all Transparent XL (mm2) so I wonder if Transparent XL phono vs IC-70 makes a greater synergy with rest of cablings.

I listened to Ortofon PW in an Audio Show in London years ago, I used to like what I heard. I will consider that suggestion as well. That being said, have you tried or listened Anna vs PW? I presume they use same stylus (Nude Ortofon Replicant 100 polished) so I guess their trackings should be similar (which I checked now and interestingly PW having 100 vs Anna's 80).

Regarding Phoenix, I found it more musical over Orpheus (I also have Orpheus and spent 4-5 years with that). After I realigned Graham/Phoenix with Feikhert Universal Protractor (PtS distance was harder for exact measurement due to Phantom's spherical top over pivot anyway that is another story), there has been a remarkable improvement (more relaxed but tonally correct and better upper frequency details etc). So my idea to add another tonearm/cartridge is not due to I am not pleased with Phoenix.

Thank you for your feedback for the issues above.

Dear Number95: You are right, with less different audio items/devices cartridge comparisons are not only more easy but reliable.

The Anna has lower compliance and different design but you can get the A-90 that is really good and in the tracking ability regards shares same 100um.

Right now I'm testing listening to my Lyra Kleos that fater some " hard days " finally " settle down " and what I'm listening is nothing less than first rate quality performance.

I own or owned and listened all the Lyra cartridges ( Akiva included that was made by Lyra for Linn. Truly great. ) since the Envolve 99 ( I think? ) but the Delos and Atlas.

Now, that I'm really enjoying the Kleos, I can tell you that is a better performer even than the Titan i or the Olympos.
The Kleos is not a simple upgraded design but I understand a new cartridge design and I can attest why.

This humble price cartridge can compete and even outperform some of those " big cats " named here. Even that's not the best tracker out there the Kleos design is so good that through the listening session you almost forget that. I only can or I have to say " can't " imagine how the Kleos could performs with better tracking abilities.

The Kleos is a winner and if I were you I put my eyes and ears with. Yes, I like it.

I know that you want to have a mix on your cartridges " kind " of performsnce and maybe you can think too in the MM alternative and especially the Audio technica AT150ANV ( you can get from Lpgear.com . No, I don't have any relationship with. ), this mis the today top of the line and a very special design that when you hear it you can't say if it's a MM or LOMC performer and you can buy it for less than 1k.

Yes, you can think that a so low price cartridge can't perform s at the same level of a 5K-8K cartridge but I can tell you it can. Even you could have as a spare cartridge.

Not all but the very top MM/MI cartridges ( vintage or today ) are a competitive alternative. I remember that a gentleman whom owns the Atlas he owns too the vintage MM Technics EPC100CMK4 and posted that in many ways he prefered to the Atlas. Of course that this comment is not on anyway detriment for the Atlas but a compliment for the MM cartridge alternative.

Well, the ball is in your hands you just need to play with. Good luck.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.