MC-MM-MI CARTRIDGES . DO YOU KNOW WHICH HAS BETTER QUALITY PERFORMANCE? REALLY?


Dear friends:The main subject of this thread is start a dialogue to find out the way we almost all think or be sure about the thread question :  " true " answer.

 

Many years ago I started the long Agon MM thread where several audiophiles/Agoners and from other audio net forums participated to confirm or to discover the MM/MI/IM/MF/HOMC world and many of us, me including, was and still are" surprised for what we found out in that " new " cartridge world that as today is dominated by the LOMC cartridges.

 

Through that long thread I posted several times the superiority of the MM/types of cartridges over the LOMC ones even that I owned top LOMC cartridge samples to compare with and I remember very clearly that I posted that the MM and the like cartridges had lower distortion levels and better frequency range quality performance than the LOMC cartridges.

 

In those times j.carr ( Lyra designer ) was very active in Agon and in that thread  I remember that he was truly emphatic  posting that my MM conclusion was not  true due that things on distortion cartridge levels in reality is the other way around: LOMC has lower distortion levels.

 

Well, he is not only a LOMC cartridge designer but an expert audiophile/MUSIC lover with a long long and diverse first hand experiences listening cartridges in top TT, top tonearms and top phono stages and listening not only LOMC cartridges but almost any kind of cartridges in his and other top room/systems.

 

I never touched again that subject in that thread and years or months latter the MM thread I started again to listening LOMC cartridges where my room/system overall was up-graded/dated to way superior quality performance levels than in the past and I posted somewhere that j.carr was just rigth: LOMC design were and are superior to the other MM type cartridges been vintage or today models.

 

I'm a MUSIC lover and I'm not " married " with any kind of audio items or audio technologies I'm married just with MUSIC and what can gives me the maximum enjoyment of that ( every kind )  MUSIC, even I'm not married with any of my opinions/ideas/specific way of thinking. Yes, I try hard to stay " always " UNBIASED other than MUSIC.

 

So, till today I followed listening to almost every kind of cartridges ( including field coil design. ) with almost every kind of tonearms and TTs and in the last 2 years my room/system quality performance levels were and is improved by several " stages " that permits me better MUSIC audio items judgements and different enjoyment levels in my system and other audio systems. Yes, I still usemy test audio items full comparison proccess using almost the same LP tracks every time and as always my true sound reference is Live MUSIC not other sound system reproduction.

 

I know that the main thread subject is way complicated and complex to achieve an unanimous conclusions due that exist a lot of inherent differences/advantages/unadvantages in cartridges even coming from the same manufacturer.

 

We all know that when we talk of a cartridge we are in reality talking of its cantilever buil material, stylus shape, tonearm used/TT, compliance, phono stage and the like and my " desire " is that we could concentrate in the cartridges  as an " isolated " audio item and that  any of our opinions when be posible  stay in the premise: " everything the same ".

 

My take here is to learn from all of you and that all of us try to learn in between each to other and not who is the winner but at the " end " every one of us will be a winner.

 

So, your posts are all truly appreciated and is a thread where any one can participates even if today is not any more his analog alternative or is a newcomer or heavily experienced gentleman. Be my guest and thank's in advance.

 

Regards and ENJOY THE MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

Ag insider logo xs@2xrauliruegas

Re Deccas: @lewm , I suppose it could be, but I don’t hear it as such. Whenever I hear mistracking from a cartridge I hear it as an obvious distortion. Sometimes subtle, sometimes obviously grating. When I hear other cartridges mistracking I don’t hear an increase in immediacy or rhythmic thrust, but rather, tonal/textural distortion. Additionally, “immediacy” is not experienced only when there are loud transients or complex passages in the music which are common causes of mistracking. Instead, immediacy is experienced as a general sense of aliveness in the music at every loudness level, even very soft levels; like a coiled spring ready to jump at any moment.

I agree it’s not audible as “mistracking” necessarily. That was my point.

@lewm   :  ​​​​I agree with @frogman , it's not " immediacy "  where this characterisitc exist even in mistracking.

It's like in horn speakers where we have that immediacy kind of sound that does not changes during cartridge mistracking.

My first hand multiple experiences with my cantileverless Ikeda cartridges tell me that those kind of cartridges could not pick-up all the grooves information as medium/high cartridge compliance due that its grooves ridding is not do it with " aplomb "..

R.

Dear @mijostyn   You posted 25 posts in this thread and knowing you and your experience levels is truly weird that in no one of your posts mentioned the characterisitcs of the sound you listen in your system that permits that you can have and overall evaluation and comparison in between any audio item that in this case/thread is about cartridge kind of motor design quality valuations in between. You only said that your Lambda SL is your champ because you say so and that's all even that some gentlemans posted the next statements that  permits more or less to have an idea what to take in count to give each one of us answers to the thread subject:

 

" Startling attack, immediacy, presence, full-bodied tonality, dynamics, and imaging. "

" MUSIC and MUSIC quality levels belongs to Transient Response in a home audio system or live MUSIC.

That Transient Response is what gives us first than all immediacy followed by dynamics. "

" without rhythmic integrity music is pretty meaningless. "

"  “fast transient speed” is closely tied to how well the rhythmic elements of the music are expressed  "

 

Yes, I would like to know what do you think on those statements and if you can add something else to enhance the dialogue for all of us. Thank's in advance.

 

R.