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Hear my Cartridges....🎶

Many Forums have a 'Show your Turntables' Thread or 'Show your Cartridges' Thread but that's just 'eye-candy'.... These days, it's possible to see and HEAR your turntables/arms and cartridges via YouTube videos.
Peter Breuninger does it on his AV Showrooms Site and Michael Fremer does it with high-res digital files made from his analogue front ends.
Now Fremer claims that the 'sound' on his high-res digital files captures the complex, ephemeral nuances and differences that he hears directly from the analogue equipment in his room.
That may well be....when he plays it through the rest of his high-end setup 😎
But when I play his files through my humble iMac speakers or even worse.....my iPad speakers.....they sound no more convincing than the YouTube videos produced by Breuninger.
Of course YouTube videos struggle to capture 'soundstage' (side to side and front to back) and obviously can't reproduce the effects of the lowest octaves out of subwoofers.....but.....they can sometimes give a reasonably accurate IMPRESSION of the overall sound of a system.

With that in mind.....see if any of you can distinguish the differences between some of my vintage (and modern) cartridges.
VICTOR X1
This cartridge is the pinnacle of the Victor MM designs and has a Shibata stylus on a beryllium cantilever. Almost impossible to find these days with its original Victor stylus assembly but if you are lucky enough to do so.....be prepared to pay over US$1000.....🤪
VICTOR 4MD-X1
This cartridge is down the ladder from the X1 but still has a Shibata stylus (don't know if the cantilever is beryllium?)
This cartridge was designed for 4-Channel reproduction and so has a wide frequency response 10Hz-60KHz.
Easier to find than the X1 but a lot cheaper (I got this one for US$130).
AUDIO TECHNICA AT ML180 OCC
Top of the line MM cartridge from Audio Technica with Microline Stylus on Gold-Plated Boron Tube cantilever.
Expensive if you can find one....think US$1000.

I will be interested if people can hear any differences in these three vintage MM cartridges....
Then I might post some vintage MMs against vintage and MODERN LOMC cartridges.....🤗
128x128halcro
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Thanks @noromance 😃

Let's try something slightly different 🤗
I've readily admitted that I can't discern the differences between MCs and MMs (all things being equal)......
But I profess to hear the differences with a boron cantilever.....🤬

So we all hear differently depending on our brain/ear interfaces and genetic predispositions.

I think we've accepted that two golden-eared contributors here (Frogman and Dover) CAN discern between MCs and MMs......but they've had it too easy up to now with me REVEALING the cartridges a priori.....👐
Can they do it BLIND......? 🙈

And how many others (like Noromance, Edgewear, et al) can hear attributable sonic signatures...?

Now I thought I could be tricky by actually using two MMs or MCs, but that may be for another time...? 🤔

Apologies for the mic overloads on occasions. The human voice is powerful 🗣

Cartridge A 

Cartridge B 

Perhaps in the first instance (so that others are not swayed).....if Frogman and Dover could just say whether they find it 'easy' to tell or not.....with comments to follow in a few days?
That would be great guys.....

Anyone else....don't be shy. This could save people money 💰
frogman
7,478 posts
 
Gorgeous aria from Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra”. Nice!

Easy!……..Easy to tell that the two cartridges sound significantly different. Their provenance? That is the question.

Btw, gesundheit, Princi!  Or, perhaps it was Halcro. Now, THAT would make an interesting challenge. 😊

halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Gorgeous aria from Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra”
And so beautifully sung by Maria Chiara 😘

Btw, gesundheit, Princi!  Or, perhaps it was Halcro.
Hahaha....😂
Princi is nearly 16 years old and seems to have developed a constricted throat which he needs to 'clear' from time to time.
Sometimes it can go on for hours....😢
Now the real question for you Frogman.......
Could you tell this was 'live' sound as opposed to the 'illusion' of the 'reproduced' sound? 

Easy to tell that the two cartridges sound significantly different.
I was afraid you might say this......
But as evidenced by the lack of confidence here.....there seems to be very few audiophiles who share your gift??
Does it surprise you, that with over 30 'hearings' there seem to be only 3 audiophiles (including you) who claim to hear the differences between MCs and MMs?
Less than 10%....?!!! 🤯
I can't help but think that a goodly number of audiophiles with expensive MC cartridges are simply buying on 'reputation' rather than audibility?

I can't wait for your analysis on these two......
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,939 posts
 
Quick listen on the phone so there's that. A sounds better to me. It's probably your Sony XL88D! But knowing your penchant for MM finds, it wouldn't surprise me if A was a vintage MM.
dover
2,262 posts
 
@halcro 

How are you. We are in lockdown here now, so sanding and painting is the daily routine. Tomorrow - more sanding and painting.

Well they are quite different - if I was a gastronome I would describe "A" as a fine consumme, "B" as gruel.

If I was attending a live performance and Maria sounded like "B" then I would ask the singer if she could put her teeth back in.

"A" has far more resolution, bandwidth, is quicker and communicates the tempo much better. The voice alone is vastly more transparent.Ditto with the orchestra.
"B" is bandwidth limited, the top end of Marias vocal has gone awol, leading edges of notes notes are lost. Both the orchestra and vocals are  homogeinised into a thick gruel. 

I would assume A is the moving coil - now you can tell me if you got me !

If A is the moving coil - I might hazard a guess its the Acoustical Sounds Palladian, its a little ragged at times.

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