Chakster it's funny but the biggest blob of glue is on Technics.
This is re-tipped boron rod and this is genuine boron pipe.
The Technics original stylus is the tallest one
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:-
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.
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 dynamicsI’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.
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- 358 posts total
The way the vintage cantilever and stylus mounted together is different from almost anything new.Not sure what you are getting to on this but here are Namiki's current offerings. The retipped boron cantilever you refer to looks suspiciously close to stock. dave |
Dave, current Boron ROD and vintage Boron PIPE are completely different things. You’re right that re-tipped version is new, but original version is Boron Pipe (hollow pipe with laser mounted tip through the pipe). Boron PIPE no longer available, just like Beryllium (no longer available). Those two are common versions used for the best cartridges in the past, but not today! Read Dover's post. |
What is not generally accepted, is that the world of ’Analogue Audio’ is as much ’ArtForm’ as it is Science. The fact that so little is known about WHY we are able to hear such differences between cartridges, tonearms, turntables, drive-systems, solid state vs vacuum tube.....should make it obvious that we are in the hands of ’Artists’, ’Creators’ and sometimes even ’Geniuses’ for the advancements in ’Analogue Audio’. Apart from the ’Genius’ of Sony’s one-piece diamond cantilever/stylus....have a good look at the SHAPE of the STRUCTURE.... Why is it shaped like this...? Look at the SHAPE of the Copperhead Tonearm compared to all other tonearms 🧐 Why is it shaped like this...and unlike any other tonearm? And why is there a similarity between these two ’shapings’? Both tonearm and cartridge-cantilever....when in use.....are structurally defined as ’Propped Cantilevers’ NOT pure cantilevers....and the structural forces (Shear and Bending) within ’Propped Cantilevers’ are graphically ’mirrored’ in these ’shapings’ 🔬 I’m not claiming that these ’shapings’ are solely responsible for the fact that the Copperhead is the best tonearm I have heard and the Sony XL-88D the best cartridge...... What I am claiming, is that ’Analogue Audio’ design involves so many arts and sciences that the only way a designer becomes proficient (let alone brilliant), is not only to be highly educated in all the sciences involved.....but more importantly to be mentored by their elder masters and craftsmen who in turn have also been mentored by past masters. This is the nature of artistic endeavour and for it to advance and prosper.....a thriving, inspiring and profitable industry needs to exist to maintain the core of elder craftsmen whilst also attracting new apprentices. This state of affairs has not existed in ’Analogue Audio’ for 30 years and the elder masters and craftsmen have virtually all disappeared together with the vast data-banks they had assembled within their mega-billion $ companies. The result has been, that the recent resurgence of ’Analogue Audio’ has inevitably led to ’self-taught’, under-educated and inexperienced ’newbies’ entering the industry to fill the vacuum. Their sole contribution to the ’Art/Science’ of cartridge, tonearm and turntable design is ’technology’ 🙏 They believe that everything can be improved by the advancements in materials science, computers, lasers, 3D printing, CNC machining, chemistry etc. They are mistaken.....! And so are all the gullible, innocent followers of most of the new analogue products launched over the last 15 years.
Because I have listened to so many products from the past as well as the present, just like Chakster has 🧐 Most dissenters from this viewpoint have simply not had the same depth of listening experiences with those ’hard-to-obtain’ products. Why is technology NOT the ’silver bullet’ for ’Analogue’?
The Swiss Watch Industry (just like the Analogue Audio Industry) was virtually wiped out in the 80’s and 90’s with the revolution of ’digital’ watches. Dozens of small firms disappeared and only Rolex and Patek Philippe maintained their ownership structure. Luckily.....unlike the audio industry.....the digital revolution was shortlived and a sudden huge consumer market developed for high-horology and ’Statement’ analogue watches which is almost out of control....🤯 This allowed those artisans and elder craftsmen in the Swiss industry to be retained and to mentor a new wave of apprentices, but the new watches of High-Horology produced today, are very much created the same way as in the past with hand-finishing vastly valued over machine-finishing. Watches from the 60’s and ’70s continue to set the multi-million dollar records at auctions.
The ’Golden Age’ of the internal combustion engine is at an end and never again will the world be able to match or improve upon engines from this period. The same applies to the Golden Age of Analogue Audio 🤗 * The views expressed above are solely those of Halcro and not supported or condoned by anyone who derives a current living within the Audio Industry |
- 358 posts total