AN Kondo IO-m cartridge - Tonearms to cons

Dear nandric: Certainly the Japanese are not deaf but their audio priorities can/could be a little different. Overall when a cartridge has a top quality performance it does not matters who speaks on it because always will be rated high, the differences on our each one audio priorities can't mean that a good cartridge for one of us can be a totally wrong for other person ( everything the same. ).

Btw, on that PT compliance: 8.0 ×10-6 cm / dyne ( 100 Hz ).

Hatari, if I was you I will try the Audio Note tonearm with your AN cartridge, this tonearm is something to " hear " it.

Normaly the AN cartridge is a " friendly " one about tonearms in the mid-high effective mass range, so maybe the choice is more about your own preferences and tonearm support/warranty by the manufacturer/dealer.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Dear Raul.I am also a 'holistic guy' but where everything
depends on everything else it is impossible to make a choice. Bisides the Japanese carts are obviously in the 'lead' in comparision with the rest of the world. So I
dont believe that Japanese hearing is different nor that they are supposed to have different 'priorities'.
BTW you already presuppose that we,say,in the West also have different 'priorities' or preferences so your arguments get paradoxical implications. But all of this is not a hinder for you to give an explicite advice to Hatari. I,on the other side,as you are used to sey,give only an suggestion based on my own experience.
Regards,

Raul

The cartridge Hatari speaks of is the Kondo IO-M not the AN line from the UK.

Hitari,

I too am considering the Kondo IO-m or IO-j cartridge. I am going to use it with my Shroeder Refence (tonearms for which I am a dealer). Whether or not you purchase a Shroeder, my strongest recommendation is that you get a tonearm that has fully repeatable adjustments for azimuth, zenith, VTF and SRA/VTA. Most tonearms do, but amazingly, many do not. In particular, many struggle with repeatable, easy to adjust on the fly, SRA/VTA. You will find that in order to get the most out of your cartridge/tonearm setup, you need to be able to adjust (with repeatability and accuracy) all the parameters above.

Thanks, Pat

Listening to it right now on a Graham... I am blown away. Is it the Kondo step up or the cartridge, I have no idea. But the presentation/soundstage is huge, involving and nothing seems to be missing or misrepresented. Great bass, great timbre and tone. Don't know enough other Audiophile terms, but it is outstanding...