A New MC to Catch One's Attention


The Link is showing a most recent Cartridge on offer from Audio Technica.

From what I see in the sales spiel, there are a good line up of what would be Ticked Boxes to get the model noticed.

There seems to be plenty on offer to get one's attention.

 

 

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I think it would be very foolish to pay $18,000 for a cart from Nagra.  They have never made one previously, so what do they know.  AT have been making carts for ?70 years or longer.  Same with Ortofon but probably longer.  Nearly the same with vdHul.

I love my ART1000 and all the Ortofons I have.  And vdHuls

I'll wager that the Nagar Cartridge has not been manufactured by Nagra, they have more than likely done it in conjunction with a specialist cartridge maker like Ortofon, EMT or one of the Japanese manufacturers.

When looking at the Spiel for the Nagra Cart'.

It has a difficult to Grasp Position as a Sale Item, it is offered a Product from a Line to Celebrate 70 Years of being Incorporated but is also a First Product of the type for the Company.

A First Time Product with an asking Price that is far beyond the asking price of very established and experienced Companies that specialise in the Production of the same product. This is a little difficult to comprehend, it is looking likely that a reliance on a Customers Loyalty to the Companies Philosophies behind their products is going to win the sales.

I really can't see the Cart' being ordered as a Blind Purchase by somebody with a Worldly Experience of Hi End Uber Priced Cart's.

When learning about the Body, it is unique as a Material, which is a Plus, especially as the Material has properties which are recognised for the Damping that can be produced.

My query would be how separated in the attractive properties is the Nagra's EXIUM AM to Titanium or Duralumin. It seems Cart's are available with these materials in use for quite a lesser sum of monies.

It is also made known certain Parts that belong to a particular Mechanical Function and also as an Interface are made from Titanium and Coated in a Material referred to as DLC (Diamond Like Carbon). It is suspected by me, that this type of treatment is a concealed IP from other Manufacturers and the Nagra is presenting their usage of a Coating as another USP.

It is not New to see a Ultra Hard Coating applied to parts, Corundum Coatings are not a Stranger to HiFi and the Audio Technica Technihard Coating is this material.

I suggest that AT are not limiting the use of Technihard Coatings to the products it is advertised as being on. I would take a punt and suggest it is also used on other components that they use that are looking best served with a little extra resonance control in place through the use of the coating, the IP for such design might be a guarded info'.

The use of a Ruby Armature and FG Styli is very Scandinavian and not something to new, but the Ruby usage is one that is still maintained by certain renowned Brands.

The Damping Methodology is seeming new to me, but I am not sure if it is unique enough to be a cutting-edge design.

The Coils are Silver and Ultra-Pure, no nines purity to show how unique or how pure, Ultra will have to do. You either want Silver in a Cart' or you don't, for many Silver Coils are a Deal Breaker.

In my system at present the Silver in the Cart' is the only proportion of the signal path that has Silver. 

As this is looking likely to be used with the Nagra Set Up, even though the Specification is looking able to be worked with in a commonly seen Set Up, it is difficult to foresee how it will interface within another system.

I can't but help imagine it would be a Fleet Footed/Lean Presentation, without any traits that could be referred to as a noticeable Richness.    

Ideally the discussion of this cartridge can revolve around how it actually sounds, rather than its cost, once there are a few end users out there to report on it. Kvetching about cost is neither here nor there.