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  3. 151721-486

Who needs a Diamond Cantilever...? 💍

So suddenly, there seems to be a trend for Uber-LOMC cartridges released with Diamond Cantilevers...😱
As if the High-End MC cartridges were not already overpriced....?!
Orofon have released the MC-ANNA-DIAMOND after previously releasing the Limited Edition MC-CENTURY...also with Diamond Cantilever.
Then there’s the KOETSU BLOODSTONE PLATINUM and DYNAVECTOR KARAT 17D2 and ZYX ULTIMATE DIAMOND and probably several more.

But way back in 1980....Sony released a Diamond-Cantilevered version of its fine XL-88 LOMC Cartridge.
Imaginatively....they named this model the XL-88D and, because it was the most expensive phono cartridge in the world (costing 7500DM which was more expensive than a Volkswagen at the time)....Sony, cleverly disguised this rare beast to look EXACTLY like its ’cheap’ brother with its complex hybrid cantilever of "special light metal held by a carbon-fibre pipe both being held again by a rigid aluminium pipe".
The DIAMOND CANTILEVER on the 88D however......was a thing of BEAUTY and technological achievement, being formed from ONE PIECE OF DIAMOND including the stylus 🤯🙏🏽

I’ve owned the XL-88 for many years and recently discovered that it was my best (and favourite) cartridge when mounted in the heavy Fidelity Research S-3 Headshell on the SAEC WE-8000/ST 12" Tonearm around my VICTOR TT-101 TURNTABLE.
Without knowing this in advance.....I would not have been prepared to bid the extraordinary prices (at a Japanese Auction Site) that these rare cartridges keep commanding.
To find one in such STUNNING CONDITION with virtually no visible wear was beyond my expectations 😃

So how does it sound.....?
Is there a difference to the standard XL-88?
Is the Diamond Cantilever worth the huge price differential?
Is the Pope a Catholic....?

This cartridge simply ’blows my mind’...which is hard to do when I’ve had over 80 cartridges on 10 different arms mounted on two different turntables 🤯
As Syntax said on another Thread:-
When you have 2 identical carts, one regular cantilever and the other one with diamond cantilever (Koetsu Stones for example), the one with diamond cantilever shows more details, is a bit sharper in focus and the soundstage is a bit deeper and wider. They can sound a bit more detailed overall with improved dynamics
I’ll leave it at that for the time being. I will soon upload to YouTube, the sound comparisons between the two Sony versions on my HEAR MY CARTRIDGES THREAD.

But now I’ve bought myself a nightmarish scenario.......
There is no replacement stylus for this cartridge!
There is no replacement cantilever for this cartridge!
Each time I play records with it, I am ’killing’ it a bit more 🥴😥
If I knew how long I had left to live......I could program my ’listening sessions’ 🤪
But failing this.....I can’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable listening to this amazing machine.
128x128halcro
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edgewear
543 posts
 
Still no XL-88D Custom on the horizon, but I did manage to pick up an XL-55Pro II. This occupies a totally different sonic universe that the standard XL-55 which I also owned. The output is about the same at 0,2 mV, but internal impedance is much lower at 10 ohms. Stylus profile seems different as well. Perhaps it incorporates some of the design cues from the XL-88 series?

The sonic improvement is so enormous that a mark II model change doesn’t seem to do it justice. Perhaps this is why it’s a bit of a sleeper. At least it didn’t cost me more than the market value of the standard XL-55. 😀

Hearing what this cartridge can do, my curiosity for the XL-88D (Custom) has reached boiling point. Does anyone know more about the history of this Pro II model and how it compares to the XL-88 series?

bukanona
174 posts
 
It's written that it's bobinless XL55 Pro II, so Sony as far as remember used something like plastic hollow football ball in XL55 Pro for aircore. So it was removed and they have used  more real aircore in Pro II :)  
As it goes with less ohms and the output it is the same so better cartridge compared with older XL55 Pro.
Although XL88D for me seems advanced version of XL55 Pro not Pro II. 

edgewear
543 posts
 
The elusive Sony XL88D Custom is now offered on Yahoo for the princely ’buy it now’ sum of $3500. This is the one cartridge I would still very much like to add to my collection, but I don’t have the balls to lay out this kind of money for a 40 years old cartridge from an unknown seller without prior inspection.

So it’s too big a gamble, but perhaps some of you are braver than me.....
lewm
13,021 posts
 
Suppose that you or I could inspect that cartridge prior to purchase. What could we learn by inspecting it? Apart from the fact that we could see if it had a cantilever and a stylus mounted on the cantilever, I don’t think we could learn much else. You would need to play it on your own system, in order to have any confidence that you are getting what you would pay for.Of course, that is unlikely to be possible. So, if I were you, I would keep my powder dry.
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