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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
harold-not-the-barrel
895 posts
 
Frogman, many years ago I had the AT-ANV150 and it truly was excellent, very very balanced sound, the high register in particular, one of the very finest I have experienced. But it lacked something in the mid range, detail and nuances. I never went excited with so after a hundred hour play I decided to sell it, for a good price.

But it was better than my AT-ML180 in the high register. I started to wonder why that AT´s flagship w/ a very special stylus tip and ceramic top lacks finesse in high frequency area... maybe there was something wrong with my set-up. Finally I thought that ML180 may benefit from extra damping and it did, as seen here:

https://ucarecdn.audiogon.com/e830b57c-0609-4c78-bca4-d41b9402cbda/-/autorotate/yes/

Now its high register is the same league as ANV150´s. Still, however it lacks the magic I have heard with certain others.

My buddy in Norway has covered the whole body of his DECCA Jubilee with that damping material, he says that makes a huge difference : )
Image a dark gray blanket on the Jubilee, looks so funny but not for everyone´s taste : )
So both AT-ML180 and the Jubilee benefit from extra damping in certain systems. And it´s a well known fact that the DECCA carts need well damped arms.

The AT-ANV150 will fit your system just fine, I believe. Also Audio-Technica´s latest technology VM760 is worth to try:
https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/cartridges/6637a2f0787470c3/index.html
schubert
7,386 posts
 
I have always disliked AT carts, including Signet even when I could get them for free .
A good friend of mine whose ear I trust told me the ATVM540ML was coherent top to bottom , better than VM750 .I went over with demo LP’s in hand to school him about his $250 cartridge .

He took me to school , 540 is all of that, by far best AT I ever heard .His TT is a Rega 8 which is formidable .
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Interesting Schubert....
Maybe it's System Synergy as Frogman says.....?
Do you have Tube or SS amplification?
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
But it lacked something in the mid range, detail and nuances.

I agree Harold.....
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Halcro, I have both tube and SS amps and pre-amps . Speakers often like one combo or the other , no doubt impedance matching of entire system IMO . I agree 1000% with frogman on the Synergy . Both the fun and PITA
of the audio hobby aka addiction .

The 450 was mounted on a friends Rega P8 , the fabulous 880 arm on that jewel no doubt had something to do with it . He is also a master of TT set-up as well .In any event it did what needed to be done quite well for $250 .Natch, there is always something better .
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