MY SONIC LAB Cartridges

I find that the three or four of my 20 or so cartridges that I like the best tend to sound quite the same to me if I were to close my eyes. And I like to think that this is because I am drawn to their neutrality more than anything else. In other words they do everything right and the result is they are going toward a central character that I seem to prefer.Oddly enough, two of these are MC, one is an MM, and one of these is an MI cartridge. I’ve seen the MSL cartridges on sale in Tokyo. They seem exceptionally tiny but costly. If the pandemic ever permits me to get back there, perhaps I will buy one.

" it sure seems to be that way. Some people even use cactus spines"

mijostyn-
I once had a show room with Ledermann all to myself, so I got schooled on the lineup he brought with him.

The $8K cactus Sussuro was on a stock VPi HRX with his phono stage and pedestrian bookshelves. I couldn’t believe my ears! Fantastic cart.



That was a seque to the other world Straingauge again, thru shoeboxes! I can only imagine that cart on a Tech Das/giant speakers in a nice room. I wouldn’t be able to get in any saddle time on the bike!

I’ve mentioned this before, on deck was a primo copy of David Gilmour’s debut. It played so well he wanted to keep it for the rest of the show.

Another show off LP, if you don’t already have it. I have this press:
https://www.discogs.com/David-Gilmour-David-Gilmour/release/2092729

tablejockey brings up a very interesting point. Why is a multi kilobuck cartridge using a cheap aluminum cantilever? One could ask another question, what does one really get for one’s money when you buy a multi kilobuck cartridge? I don’t believe that the sum of the parts of any of the cartridges one could name will add to but a mere fraction of the price asked.
The answer probably lies in the expected number of sales, (which is in many cases to be counted on possibly one hand), the cost of distributing the cartridge and the number of ’middle men’ involved in the endeavor. We then add on the typical costs of doing business, ( rent, salaries, taxes etc) and maybe we can begin to see why some of these minimally produced high end cartridges cost what they do. ( Aluminum cantilever or whatever!)
So long as there is even a minimal market for products like this, manufacturer’s will not give a second thought to using whatever part they think will work...at a price savings to them. Which IMHO solely explains the use of a aluminum cantilever on a multi-kilobuck cartridge.

@tablejockey , great record. Class Act. I am going to audition the strain gauge next time I visit my daughter in NYC. 

@daveyf , you are probably right but until somebody makes the same cartridge with various cantilevers and no other change we won't know for sure. A tapered aluminum cantilever might be better than boron rod, or ruby or cactus spine. It is never safe to assume anything but that is what we are expected to do based on the honesty of marketing? 

Thanks to all for the great info, and also the cool info on the cartridge shootout from Jperry.... Just a short rewind, and I never once thought about Boron, Aluminum, Sapphire, or Cactus. It can't hurt to pay a bit of attention to this. It's interesting that with the EMT line, their entry level (Tsd and HSD) series use Aluminum, their JSD (5/6) series use BORON, and the Lime, Pure Black (and PB V/M) series use Sapphire. I think at one stage of this wicked game, having a bit of variety goes a long way. And I think at the moment, without being fully aware, I'm shopping for two cartridges. I can't bring myself to dive in to a $10K (+/-) reference cartridge. So my eventual landing would be to have 2 really nice $5K cartridges. Being that I have the EMT Tsd75, a heck of a $2K cart itself... I think the change in sonic flavor will be next. Then, perhaps a higher EMT, or some unknown contender, will follow for my next turn.