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
Can’t have too much Stravinsky. Fantastic composer with a VERY personal musical language.

A strong hint of the differences between the cartridges can be heard even before the music starts. The tonal character and apparent speed of the record’s surface noise is obviously different with each cartridge. With the Palladian it is sharper, more incisive and faster. With the Grace it sounds a little thicker; rounder and covered with less high frequency content and not as incisive. The differences are subtle, but they are there.

The effect on the music is the same. With the Grace there is less high frequency detail so the timbre of different instruments is homogenized. One hears less of each instrument’s distinctive timbre; less natural tonal color. Partly as a result of this the timbre of instruments seem to have more body with the Grace, but it is mostly the absence of high frequency detail that highlights the midrange and lows. Compared to the Palladian the Grace sounds a little too thick through the lower midrange and bass ranges.

With the Palladian not only does the flute in the openimg sound slightly more appropriately metallic, but the player’s phrasing sounds a little more energetic. When the cellos and basses enter with the repeated downbeats at 0:25, with the Grace those downbeats sound thicker and borderline muddy by comparison to the Palladian. Likewise, in the wonderful waltz at 2:08 the bass clarinet downbeats sound too warm and thick with less pitch definition than with the Palladian. Overall, with the Grace there is a subtle sense of the music being played just slightly slower and less energetically. There is also less sense of air and hf extension.

All very subtle differences, but the Palladian simply sounds closer to the sound of the real thing; particularly in the areas of timbre realism.
The Grace sounds great, but the Palladian is pretty special to my ears.

Thanks, Halcro.


Strangely enough.....in the reality of my listening room....the "unabashed ear-candy" of Julio Iglesias immediately revealed the differences between the two cartridges.
And not in a subtle way......
The Palladian doubled the 'air envelope' within my room pushing the sound higher, wider and deeper whilst at the same time, separating the vocals and digitally manipulated instrumentals into some semblance of three-dimensionality.
The background noise-floor was also lowered.
A pity none of this is perceivable on the video...

The Stravinsky on the other hand, was far more subtle and difficult for me to distinguish the differences.
That's why we need YOU Frogman....😜

Thanks again.
Thank you Frogman, we really appreciate your input. Do you have your own samples of Palladian and DLR and what is your turntable ?
Hi Harold, no I do not have my own samples of either. My comments are strictly in reference to what I hear from the comparisons here. I am well aware of the limitations inherent in doing so this way, but interesting to me nonetheless. My turntable is a VPI TNT6 with Super Platter (string drive), double motor flywheel, SDS controller, ET2 (high pressure manifold) tonearm. Regards.
Your comparisons are interesting to us as well. That TT/TA combo is a great tool for evaluating these two super cartridges, I´d assume that you may try them some day soon... unless you have better already.
So yes I would be interested to hear what is the best cartridge that you have listened in your system so far ?