Upper Level Vintage DD Strenghts and Weaknesses

I worked for an audio shop during my college years. Late 1980s, in Washington State. We carried the Azden YM series of cartridges. So they were available in the US too. 

So my table shipped on Thursday. If it clears customs in a timely manner I hope to have it next week. 

I worked for an audio shop during my college years. Late 1980s, in Washington State. We carried the Azden YM series of cartridges. So they were available in the US too.

Great. More about Azden/Acutex with pictures and scans of the catalog here.

The Transfiguration Proteus is a MC Cartridge I have been very curious about.
During the Xmas Break in 2020, I was a hair trigger from making a Purchase.
The seller was UK based but decided to keep it.

I am keeping up with a market scan to see if another shows at a reasonable asking price.

VAS NY Inc is showing that their service is able to keep these Cartridges in good fettle, which is good news for when buying used, and also for extending the length of time the Model can be used.

Search engines are weird, and sometimes we miss information or posts with them. I happened to find this post when using my phone and when using my computer it never comes up in a search. But there is a bit of information that is interesting. I have owned the A90 and there are certain times when listening to acoustic music on this MC200 that I hear a familial sound, and I came up with that observation on my own. So it is interesting to read this post which gives some context on why they sound similar. With that being said, there is no way I am saying this cartridge is an equivalent of an A90.

The following post was from a thread in Vinyl Engine:


"a while ago I bought a needle-less Ortofon MC-200 in order to get it re-tipped.
Unfortunately, one channel was dead. So this one was for the bin.

I decided to dismantle it in order to have a look at the interior of the generator.
What I found there in terms of magnets, pole pieces and needle suspension,
shows - construction wise - a strong resemblance with the visible part of the
the Ortofon A90’s generator.

Ortofon may have stopped the MC-100 / MC-200 line, but it’s generater lives
in the current Cadenza series. (and others, like the BACH series)"

This is the second time I have owned this cartridge, and the first time was pleasant but no wow factor. This time around the phono stage is better suited in dealing with this very low output voltage. When designed I am sure this cartridge was intended to be used with an Ortofon SUT, and perhaps in the future I will acquire one. I am not a huge fan of SUTs and to be honest I typically like the sound I get from a high performance phono stage that can handle low output MC, but the .09 mV is difficult to deal with in any respect.

At the moment its mounted on a Dynavector DV505 arm and LP Gear Zupreme head shell. Its not a high compliance design, with a compliance of 13 dyne but only a recommended tracking force of 1.5 grams. The combination of arm and cartridge works, and while I bought this to be used for casual listening I am pretty tickled that I can get such good sound out of an inexpensive cartridge. With acoustic music it is very realistic, so good that I really cannot find any significant faults, especially on piano music. With pop and rock music it can be a bit too honest, in that the sound can be a touch hard sounding. Not aggressive, or having the top end elevated, but rather very precise and these recordings sound like they could use a bit of warmth, perhaps the right term is a touch sterile. I was listening to 45 RPM club extended mixes last night, and found that to be the case with tracks from Soft Cell, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Cameo and so forth. Its like the curtain is pulled back and you hear what the mix really sounds like, and there are elements of the song that are exposed and cannot be hidden. On other albums I have the top end can be quite distant, its really recording dependent, so its not an inherent rising top end characteristic of the cartridge. For instance I have an album on from Chic this morning, and the sound is much more rounded and warm, so it really comes down to the mixes.

This is an interesting cartridge. I will use it as my casual one, and its a great one for this task. Truth is its probably better than that role, but I am lucky to be able to use one for a daily driver. I think I will do a bit of research and see which Ortofon SUT will work the best with this cartridge and give it a shot.