2. analog
  3. 140043-486

Hear my Cartridges....đŸŽ¶

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.....đŸ€Ș
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.....đŸ€—
128x128halcro
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,769 posts
 
FR-6SE sounds better on my half inch piezoelectric Optiplex micro PC speaker.
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,769 posts
 
Listened to them on my headphones. The 6 is in a different league. More snap, air, drums have a reverb against back wall, rim shots audible, clearer diction, more slight sibilance (not necessarily a good thing but at least you can hear it- tracking?), louder. The 5 is muddy and dull. It's not even worth go on about it any further!
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,769 posts
 
When are you going to try the London Reference on the TT-101/FR?
Post removed 
frogman
7,441 posts
 
**** Something I said Frogman? ****

Patience, patience! Two days? 😌

Actually, if anything, what kept me from prioritizing a little bit of time for the comparison and response was, in part, what you didn’t say. I haven’t read any specifics re what exactly differentiates the last two cartridges for you. Seems to me that for comments, and certainly for dialogue, to have any real relevance then there should be more than statements of disagreement or comment about NOT hearing what differentiates them for someone else. A little frustrating. No sweat if you don’t want to go there for whatever reason. 😅

Also, I’m a bit mystified by the suggestion that listening on an IPad (!) might be more revealing of differences than on Stax Lambda Pro Sigs/tube amp. No way!

Ok, on the FR’s:

I agree completely with noromance. In fact it mirrors what I was going to write exactly. With the 5 the drums sound like they have blankets stuffed in them. Overall, a but runny and too covered sounding; pretending to be “smoother/more refined”. Not enough hf extension and too much lower mid. With the 6 there is a strong sense of hearing more deeply into what is on the lp; even if that may not be particularly smooth itself. I would differ with noromance only in that I would not call that level of sibilance “slight”. I don’t know if it is setup issues, but that level would be unacceptable for me. My sense is that at least some of that excessive sibilance is on the recording (peaky vocal mic?) and the 5 is tamping it down. The 6’s far better hf response exposes it.

Thanks, as always!
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