Soundsmith - Thank you to everyone.

@retipper Mr. Ledermann, i enjoyed your two RMAF lectures, very interesting. It’s nice to have industry professionals on our forum to discuss tech stuff.

Sadly Jonathan Carr does not post on here as much as he did before, but it was so great to read his opinion about some classic cartridges from the legendary designers and legendary brands.

Watching your lectures i see you’re admire MI design over MC. You’re the one who personally refurbished and re-tipped thousands of different cartridges (old and new).

I;m pretty sure there are some models that inspired you to go further in cartridge design. Watching Art Dudley’s (R.I.P.) SoundSmith factory tour i see you got vintage equipment in your collection. What about cartridges ?

I am interested mainly in classic cartridges from the golden era (70’s/80’s). Without making a free advertising for new cartridges and modern brands it would be nice to discuss some OLD GOLD from the past, discontinued models or disappeared brands.

Could you recall some of the greatest, clever design from the past (MM/MI or even MC). I’m pretty sure you learned a lot with those carts from the past. It’s good to share some knowledge about clever design that surpass the time test (if we can imagine we found NOS, UNUSED or MINT condition).

I’m curious to read your opinion.

*From Russia with Love

Thanks for your post. The problem with vintage cartridges is that unless they have been traveling at a substantial fraction of the speed of light, they have aged - and part of that depends on the environments they are/were in, and also on the specific formulations used for damping materials. I have even seen NOS EPC451 SG units (Panasonic) where the ultra thin aluminum cantilevers are mainly corroded - just by time/environment.

Damping materials are VERY tricky. I have the distinct advantage of personaly having rebuilt many, many thousands of cartridges. THAT is an education for which there is no equal, or shortcut. I have seen some damping materials in MC designs turn to cracked stone in 2 years, ones I assume worked extremely well when new. Others are 40 years old and work perfectly. I am very, very careful to use formulations in my designs that are proven to last 20-30 years or more. Are there a bit better materials that have somewhat better visco-elastic properties right out of the box? Sure. You bet. Will I use them? No. I get away with NOT using those unproven materials because when you reduce the moving mass dramatically as I have done and cannot be done in MC designs, damping becomes orders of magnitude easier and more efficient. A win-win.

So there is no telling - even if I DO tell you of some I love, how you will find good ones? It's like hooking you up with an old girlfriend who is looking for love that I have not talked to in 30 years. I have no idea what time has done to her. Its certainly done a hell of a job on me.

So forgive me my vagueness - I just don't want to misdirect. What I CAN tell you is what a wonder it is to find a well designed MM, MI or MC that HAS been traveling at 3/4 the speed of light, and after rebuilding, it plays so well........  

Peter Ledermann - (NOT aging so gracefully in certain respects)

Mind fresh as a daisy, its plain to see.

Wishing you and yours all the best Peter !!!

love the poetry and the family tree history - a line of ours similar in having been driven out of Baden Baden.