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Audio Technica AT ML-180 Cartridge Advice

Just acquired an Audio Technica AT ML-180 cartridge with broken cantilever and was looking for advice on where to get a new cantilever rebuild and what material to choose from. My preference is a new Boron cantilever but was not sure who, apart from Soundsmith, offers this service.

Also would like to know which is the best tonearm to use for this cartridge once it's fixed. It can either go on my Audiomods Series 5 (eff. mass approx. 11g) or the arm on my Yamaha GT 2000 which has an effective mass of approx. 20g.

Thanks in advance.
ateal
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@ateal

 Can I ask what determines the frequency range, for example 5 to 40,000. Is it the cartridge body/generator or is it the cantilever/stylus?

Both! It's how they are working together.
Once i replaced styli between high and low inductance generators, the stylus from high inductance and high output Stanton does not sound good on low inductance and low output Stanton. It was a total mismatch! 
So when you swap the styli it is not that easy if the generator and stylus are not designed to work together and not tuned by the manufacturer for each other.  

ateal OP
97 posts
 
Thanks for the explanation Chakster.  Thankfully it appears there is no noticeable mismatch with the 150 on the 180 body. I'm sure I would hear it if there was. 

Can I ask what the effective mass of the Victor UA 7045 tonearm is and does it allow for damping. Reason for asking is to determine whether this cart would be better on my 10g Audiomods arm than it is on my 19g Yamaha GT2000 arm. 

Thanks 
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 

ateal, what has the effective mass of the Victor UA 7045 to do

with the question if Audiomods arm is better than Yamaha?

I owned this Victor 7045 and think that  if you own this arm you

don't need to search further.

ateal OP
97 posts
 
The question is to determine which of my arms is more compatible with the cart. I am not looking to compare with the victor arm. 
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Victor UA-7045 is superb tonearm, i like everything about this arm and i have many tonearms to compare, i think this is the most underrated tonearm ever (which is good for the buyers). It was top of the line Victor tonearm for their TT-101 turntable and X-1 / X-1II cartridges for a perfect match with Victor headshell. I use Grace HS-6 Carbon-Fiber headshell with my AT-ML180 now. I don't kno any better tonearm for the price of Victor UA-7045 (they are under $700 in perfect condition, those with bended counterweight must be avoided). There is an additional counterweight to use with heavier cartridges, but i don't use MC carts on this tonearm. I have a spare of this tonearm btw. 

The compliance of the Victor X-1II: 
*Dynamic Compliance (@100Hz): 12cu
At 10Hz this dynamic compliance would be about 20cu 

The compliance of the AT-ML150-170-180:
*Dynamic Compliance (@100Hz): 10cu
At 10Hz this dynamic compliance would be about 17-20cu.   

(*100Hz figure must be converted to 10Hz figure, the easiest way is to multiply it on 1.7 or on 2)

P.S. I know people use Audiomods Arm mostly for low compliance Denon 103 and some other MC cartridges. The Audiomods is actually a modified Rega tonearm. But since the AT-ML180 is not a high compliance cartridge i think you can use it on Audiomods. 


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