Direct Drive vs. Idler Drive vs. Belt drive

Nandric you hoping for enlightenment in this industry is interesting.  You have more self appointed experts who can not agree on anything.  The basic hasty generalization is also king.  So I guess the questions are:

1. Rigid or flexible
2. Light vs heavy
3. Drain or reflect
4. Damped vs undamped
5. Resistance vs No resistance
6. Silver vs copper
7. Wood vs metals vs carbon fiber vs etc..
8. Arm pods vs direct connection
9. Motor pods vs direct connection
10. Sand vs rubber vs springs vs air vs etc.
11.  Straight vs curved
12.  Over hang vs under hung
13.  Antiskate vs no antiskate
14.  Vta adjustment vs no vta adjustment
15.  Azimuth vs no azimuth adjustment
16. Etc...................

Anyone that is good with numbers realizes how many possibilities there are just with the above variables.  Throw into the mix how many of the judges have any musical background and we're any good to start with.  Do you think the reviewers where hired because they could hear or write.  Magazines survived because of ad revenue or educational awards.  

I will leave you with a question.  If Miles Davis was alive would he be interested in the tone and feel of the instrument or the detail and air???

Enjoy the ride
Tom

According to chakster the micro ridge stylus is ’’essential’’
while our eloquent member from Australia was so impressed
with his Sony XL 88 D that he declared the precious to be the
best ever (in his) collection. He ascribed this ’’quality’’ to the
(diamond) cantilever but the case is that this cart has elliptical
stylus. Aluminum cantilevers? Are you joking ? Never heard about
beryllium or ,at least, boron or ruby cantilevers ? But the same
person ’’confessed’’ that among his darlings belong FR-7 fz as
well Takeda’s Miyabi. Both with aluminum cantilevers.
Such, according to modern logic inconsistent statements, can be
found in nearly each thread. That is the ’’connection’’.

Very interesting, indeed @nandric

One of the simplest stylus (Elliptical on one of the most exotic cantilever (Diamond, gemstone cantilever) - this is SONY

On the other side is pretty simple Aluminum cantilever with advanced stylus tip such as Refined Contact (on FR-7fz) and PH Semi Line Contact tip (on Miyabi MCA).

What we have here is an extreme on both ends:

1) better cantilever, but simplest diamond
2) better diamonds, but simplest cantilever

But both cartridges as LOMC, so we have something in common here. But at the same time we’re comparing apples to oranges, because those cartridges are different and designed by different people with different concept in mind.

I think people who love to "upgrade" their LOMC with help of some re-tippers could change cantilever on FR or Miyabi, they could also change stylus tip on SONY.

What i can do with my MM cartridges like my favorite Grace LEVEL II or f14 is to swap all kind of original styli designed with different cantilevers and diamons by Grace in the 80’s

I can compare simples and advanced design on the same cartridge body as LEVEL II LC-OFC , i could add nearly all combinations in existence such as Aluminum/Elliptical, Aluminum/LineContact, Aluminum/MicroRidge or Ruby/Elliptical, Sapphire/Elliptical or BoronPipe/MicroRidge .... also some great styli with Beryllium and even with Ceramic cantilevers with stylus tip i can’t describe accurately, because i’m not sure. But all these coming from one manufacturer for one particular MM cartridge model (Grace LEVEL II). This is wonderful for our own research and testing at home, isn’t it ?

P.S. sorry guys for off-topic, it was just the answer

Dear Tom, How get people  this conviction about 'essential'',
''original'' and other ''properties'' of objects? The most are not
familiar with Greek believes which are ''transfered''   by education
to the next  generations. Think of Greek ''metal analogy'' by 
describing  persons; ''iron strong'', ''honest as gold'', etc. In 
social science  one was looking for the ''original 
meaning of words''. to explain their ''real meaning'' . Your
 examples testify of the  ''opposite meanings'' of ''terms''. Hegel
 was master in the ''opposites''. Each  term has its opposite
 while opposites have  their own opposites.
He constructed an labyrinth of words and was not able to find
the way out. So he ''solved'' the problem by invention of
''unity of opposites'' like the unity of the contradictory. But, alas,
words are not linguistic entities which can be true or false. Those
are statements, sentences or propositions (choose your own).
Kant and Hegel never grasped that they are talking about language
not about reality. That is why they were obsessed  with ''meanings''
thinking that those ''explain reality''. But what kind of things are
meanings? The so called ''theory of meaning'' has lost the battle
with ''Theory of reference'' . Reference , uh, refer to external
objects in the reality. That is the connection with language. 
Japan was so successful because they improved the ''original 
products'' from the West . Why are Americans so obsessed 
with ''original parts''? 
Why so many in our forum think that there are ''essential '' and
other ''not essential parts'' by each composed thing from parts ?
This is because of Aristoteles influence in the Western education.
His ''authority'' ruled for 2000 years in Europe. Some social
scientist  still search for ''essential things''. They are also talking
about the meaning  of terms.

Thuchan, I do take your point re complexity. I admire industrial art for art’s sake. For that we also have cars and cameras, along with vintage turntables, vacuum tubes, and oddball speakers like my Beveridges. Just no compressor in my audio system. I had to draw the line somewhere.

but the case is that this cart has elliptical stylus.

Well, VinylEngine describes it as HYPER-ELLIPTICAL.....
But we can't always trust VinylEngine...🤗
They also use the same description for the 'ordinary' SONY XL-88....
It appears a bit more advanced to me....?