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The sound of SPU

Friends, I have never heard an SPU but have heard a lot about it. It has an amazing following. The general impression I get from reading various opinions is, SPU has a big, bold sound which is somewhat rolled off on the top and is not too detailed. It is musical in the traditional analogue way but not very transparent or extended.

Recently a friend of mine lent me an old (1970) Ortofon SL15 ELL cartridge which was suppose to have been built on the SPU engine of that time, but is naked and with some modifications to sound more open. Nevertheless it was still aimed at the SPU listeners. Since my tonearm cannot take a regular SPU it was a good way of getting a taste of SPU sound. It is a very low output cartride (0.125 mv) and comes with its own SUT. I have been listening to this cartridge for the last 7 days or so. To my surprise I find it to be a very open, detailed, fast and neutral cartridge. It doesnt have the dynamics of my ZYX but it has a warmer midrange which makes it sound more humane. It is also not as detailed as the ZYX but there is still a lot of it. This is coming from a 40 year old MC cart which was not a top end cart even at that time, has been borrowed from SPU, has only a "normal" aluminium cantilever. The SUT is very good but still not all that great so I am sure it is eating some resolution, still the cartridge makes for such a fulfilling experience, better than most cartridge costing $1k today and many costing much more.

The question is, what is the sound of an SPU ? Is it really fast, detailed and extended compared to other cartridges of its price point or is this SL15 experience is kind of exception ? Moreover today we have much more advanced SPUs like the Meister Silver and SPU90, what can be expected from them ?
pani
aberyclark
1,355 posts
 

So what current  "non spu" cartridge would get you close to that sound? Denon 103?

billwojo
397 posts
 

Not familiar with the SPU cartridges sound but from the descriptions of it I think the DL-103 would be fairly close to it. I'm a big DL-103 fan but would love to try one of those SPU carts. My Audio Technica ATP-12T has an effective weight of 21 grams so it would be a great arm to try one on.

 

BillWojo

edgewear
543 posts
 

It’s true that SPU’s as a ‘species’ have a certain ‘gestalt’ that can be easily recognised. But that doesn’t mean all SPU’s are created equal, far from it.

So this question depends on what SPU you are referring to. The SPU Classic with spherical stylus is loved for the musical rendition of the midrange, but the top and the bottom of the frequency range are missing in action. This could also be said of Denon DL 103, so there is some resemblance as both are ancient designs and that’s exactly how they sound.

Thankfully Ortofon has retained the basic design elements and their sonic strengths for more modern versions that do not suffer from the limitations of the original. I haven’t heard them all, but the ones I do know very well - SPU Gold Reference and the A85, A90 and A95 Anniversary models - occupy a very different sonic (and financial) universe. There are significant differences between them, but each in their own way manages to amalgamate the musicality of the original with the full frequency extension and transparency of more modern designs, so as to ‘have your cake and eat it’. 

The only similarity between these more modern SPU’s and Denon DL103 is that they both require a heavy gun as a tonearm. There are people who seem to think that the 103 is all they need and are fairly loud in attempting to convince others as well. Obviously they’re free to believe whatever they like, just don’t take their word for it and listen for yourself. The used market is absolutely riddled with 103’s (just check hifi shark) so you can try one without any financial risk. If you don’t like it you can resell it just as quickly. I know I did!

yeti42's avatar
yeti42
287 posts
 

A couple of years ago my Transfiguration Proteus was starting to give a but more sibilance than I was used to. While I looked for someone to rebuild it I bought an SPU Royal N as a stopgap. My arm is a Schröder Reference so I can add 5g to the effective mass by changing the cartridge plate from certal to brass, this puts the effective mass up to 18g, which seems to be enough by the time the 15.7g weight of the cartridge and spacer is added and the Ortofon screws are a couple of grams.

It’s been a rather steep learning curve but I’m finding the Royal N more satisfying than the Proteus was but it’s very fussy about setup, on the Schröder arm at least. Get VTA and VTF a little out and it will plod, get them right and it will swing. Also, and this may be specific the the Schröder, it’s very easy to over tighten the screws securing the cartridge mount to the arm and the counterweight locking screw and though it still excels at classical it won’t rock, get them right, which is only just enough to hold them in place, and it’s air guitar time.

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