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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
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Thanks for the kind words Rob.
I'm pleased you're enjoying the Thread...😀

As to your question on styli profiles and cantilever materials.....these are hotly debated topics and some audiophiles have rather staunch and dogmatic views on both.
I'm not one of those audiophiles...🤗
There is however, some general form of agreement that 'radical' styli profiles (Line Contact, Micro-Line, Micro-Ridge, Micro-Linear, Shibata, Ogura, Van den Hul, Fritz Gyger) are all variations of the 'Line Contact' class of styli which are designed to more closely align with the profile of the actual 'cutting head' and sit much further into the groove to retrieve the maximum amount of information.
I have generally found these profiles to predominate in my favourite cartridges (although I only have a few Shibatas).
Having said all that....I have cartridges with elliptical and hyper-elliptical styli which sound extremely fine 👍

I have cartridges with cantilevers made of ruby, sapphire, boron, carbon-fibre composite, duralumin (basically aluminium), aluminium, beryllium) and can say that most of my favourite cartridges seem to have beryllium cantilevers.
This is contradicted by the fact that my FAVOURITE cartridge (AS Palladian) has a duralumin (aluminium) cantilever as have all the SPUs and FR-7f/ FR-7fz.

Strangely enough.....I can report that, despite being the default cantilever of choice amongst the high-end LOMCs....I have never fallen in love with a cartridge that has a boron cantilever 🤔

Regards
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,857 posts
 
I wish there was a Decca Reference with UP-OCC or silver wire and a beryllium "cantilever". (Although the Be might shatter!)
vair68robert
625 posts
 
Thanks again halcro

Your unbias views are very helpful ,
I am currently looking at a Grace F-9 with a re-tipped shibata stylus
( spelled correctly this time ! ) and aluminum cantilever,
a new AT150sa ( discontinued ) which has a shibata stylus
and a sapphire cantilever ,
and lastly a low hr ( ? ) Grado RM V2 .
I know these don't compare to the level of cartridges that you and many of the others here have but they do have many of the features that the expensive cartridges have .

p.s.  I use a Tavish Design Adagio phono pre and a passive pre .
    I'm playing it safe by looking for MM s with over 4mv output 
    so it will be an all tube output .
 




halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
I think you're on the right track Rob 👍
Please let us know how it goes...?

Regards
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Frogman (and I agree) has anointed the AS PALLADIAN LOMC Cartridge
as the 'benchmark' in my system (possibly a tie with the LDR for Frogman and Noromance?)....
The Palladian is a current production top-of-the-line LOMC from Acoustical Systems which costs US$10,000 😱
How close to this 'sound' can you get for approx. US$2,000....?

The current production ORTOFON SPU SILVER MEISTER II LOMC is a possibility and one that I like....😀

A 35 year old vintage FIDELITY RESEARCH FR-7f is another possibility for those owning high-mass arms with detachable headshells.
For those who are patient (and utilise HiFiShark)....you can often find a good FR-7f for less than US$2,000 or one without a stylus for US$1,200 and have it re-tipped with a Line-Contact stylus as I have done...👍

AS PALLADIAN LOMC Cartridge 

ORTOFON SPU SILVER MEISTER II LOMC Cartridge

VINTAGE FIDELITY RESEARCH FR-7f LOMC Cartridge
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