Glanz moving magnet cartridges

Hi All,

I recently asked a technician who is a friend in Japan for any information on my Glanz cartridges. His initial and fairly brief response was as follows:

"Glanz is very good cartridge and performance is excellent... Phono cartridge for this brand come from Mitachi Onkyo Seisakusho factory. Mr Kazuhiro Ikeda some time provide design input and make patent for induced magnet cartridge design plus Mr Tsugikuma Minamizono provide design input and make patent for moving flux cartridge design."

This points to the above discussed links with and distinction from the mighty Astatic MF100. I deeply respect both his knowledge and judgement and I will probe him further once his travel demands have calmed down a bit.

Dgob,
I just noticed this thread. Indeed the Glanz (pronounced "glants") cartridges were a brand of Mitachi Onkyo Seisakusho, which also made tonearms. They were an OEM brand for a number of companies in Japan. I have seen a picture of a line of ladies checking built tonearms as they roll by on a conveyor belt.

Mitachi in particular made stylus assemblies for other mfrs. In particular, I remember reading on a Japanese forum a comment by a guy who did some work on carts (the guy worked with Shibata of Shibata stylus fame). He said that Victor entrusted its stylus work to Mitachi because they were so good at it (and did not entrust it to another famous maker because they had too many stylii which came out bad). My understanding is that the Z-1 was made there.

The company did other stuff too but went under a bunch of years ago. It was recently re-established under some other name, I think by a guy who used to do design work there. I think it is a hobby more than anything else and there are no carts involved. I seem to remember a ridiculously over-priced tonearm.

T_bone,

Many thanks for your kind imput. I'm now feeling slightly more informed about the Glanz and their history. I just need to play them in other conditions in order to have a definitive view on their performance but, at the moment, the G5 sounds a superior cartridge to its G7 sibling.

All information will be gratefully received. Speaking of which, if anyone could find the official performance specifications for the G5 and G7 (other than the information on the cartridge database or Vinyl Engine, which are not as helpful here as I would wish) I would really appreciate the related information.

Thanks again

Dgob,

What do you think of the Glanz MFG71E?

Hi Ddriveman,

I've not actually heard the MFG71E or L. However, the specifications are not as good as those for the G5 and G7: although specifications don't always tell the full tale.

Why, have you seen one on your horizon?