I posted this early morning. Might miss few. The transfer from word made the file crooked and corrupted somehow.
The Zen was here:
38. Sato Musen Zen Diamond MC 27 68 95
Grading of phono cartridges Part 3
This is my third posting on this subject. Upgraded in December of 2019
As before I remind to all respected Audiophiles- It is my personal observation
testing and trading cartridges. I do 30-100 transactions every month and I need
these numbers handy.
I’m not putting it for public use to be involved in any discussion or answer
any questions. Currently my company produces Aidas phono cartridges- so few of
them have high rating. (feels like I'm
biased on this, but hear the Aidas sound before you judge me) I’m also not
affiliated with any other brands (even I have done some grading and testing for
few analog brands and audio dealers around the world).
I will be pleased if my observations and experience help you in any way. Also I always answer all questions related to my listings and try to fulfill requests on some rare models. I'm proudly inform all my customers that I'm involved in production o ViRa tonearms as well. Please visit my site virahighend.com for more information and some rare cartridges as well. The aidasaudio.com dedicated to Aidas phono cartridges.
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All general grading philosophy rules are copied from my previous posting.
1. The testing was done on High End set up worse around $100K
2. The results are from the last 12 years
3. Most of the cartridge evaluations were done on uni-pivot or bi-axis arms.
Only about 20% are from tangential and air tangent arms.
4. Most of the cartridges were tested on 2 or 3 arms (except really low end)
5. The ratio of used and new cartridges approximately 85% used and 15% new-
therefore some cartridges could be not working up to specs 100%
6. I have few re-build and re-tipped cartridges on the list and sometimes they
sounded better then original, sometimes they sounded worth.
7. There are many cartridges that have better sonic value, but lower position
over all. Some cartridge have great appearance, mounting and re-sale value, but
sound mediocre. If cartridges have same grading points I try to put higher on
the list cartridges with better sonic value and cheaper original sale price.
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The grading philosophy.
For the simplicity I have 10 grading categories. Each categories worth 10
points. There are 3 technical categories and 7 sonic categories. The best and
maximum score could be 100 point.
The 3 technical categories are:
1. Appearance/ Packaging
Packaging and appearance are very important for re-sale value.
2. Mounting and aligning
75% of cartridge damage occur at the mounting and aligning process. Scary but
fact. We are not talking about catastrophic damage, but also scratches, dings
etc. Therefore threaded multiple holes on square angled body would get 10point
compare to a round body or other type of mounting holes/hooks. I love Miyabi or
Mark Levinson MLC cartridges, but it's almost impossible to mount and align
these visually.
3. Resale value
35 years old $230 Grace F-9 Ruby and 5 years old $5000 Linn Arkiv have the same
"street" re-sale value.
30 points maximum for technical grading.
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The 7 sonic categories are:
1. Low frequency
2. Mid frequency
3. High frequency
4. Soundstage width and depth
5. Background or surface noise pick up
6. Dynamics
7. Overall presentation and impression
Everything is simple and clear. Cartridge overall is the first link and lost or
mis-represented information from the record would never be restored no matter
how much $$$ you will invest in the other links of your system.
To summarize all these:
The number on the left represent current ranking.
The 3 numbers on the right are technical grading (30 max), sonic grading (70 max) and overall score(100 max)BRAND MODEL TYPE TECH SONIC GRADE