Glanz moving magnet cartridges

Excellent

Hi Nandric,

Fortunately, the extended family and available professions means a cost free (well at least as far as labour costs are concerned) project here - except the cost of patience! It's great fun and I'm becoming increasingly aware of the constraints under which TT design and (more specifically) plinth design staggers. We'll get there soon enough but are looking at a couple of design challenges for which the known prior approaches seem inadequate.

Thinking caps are truly on.

As always...

There’s no denying the tenacity of Nikola….
Here we have an esoteric cartridge Thread begun by Dgob (no slouch in the perseverance stakes himself) which may well have died from lack of contributors were it not for the surprising intervention of Nandric?
Surprising…in that he himself had no experience with the topic at hand….nor was he to gain any for almost the entire duration of the Thread?

Floundering initially in the vacuum he found himself…….Dgob kept plugging away, enticing us with tales of myth and promise and begging for responses…information….contributions.
Anyone?….anyone?…..
And then came Nikola….into the fray at first like some tentative Dutchman…….but gently and increasingly displaying his Slavic origins by somehow managing to contribute readable posts without offering the qualifications one normally requires of a ‘mentor’?

Sucked in by this audacity…..others….. also suitably unqualified enough to speak….found their tongues and so the Thread survived.
Still prodded back to life by Dgob however, whenever it seemed to collapse under its own lack of substance…..until out of the gloom (and without fanfare of any kind) dropped a post by Vetterone who, like Dgob, actually had heard and owned some Glanz cartridges.
To Nikola…this was just what he needed. Validation from an expert practitioner in the field of analogue……
And so the quest began in earnest for Nandric to acquire these ‘unicorn’ cartridges for himself. And in this he was successful to the tune of four different models….

And why, you may ask…..do I summarise all this for the patient, baffled readers still wondering why they continue to read about cartridges they have never seen nor heard and are unlikely ever to do?
Because dear readers……I now have all four of those Glanz cartridges belonging to Nandric.
Look well dear readers at these cartridges, for you are unlikely ever to see so many Glanzs (Glanzae? Glanzi?) in the one place at the one time?
Nandric wanted me to hear these mythical beasts and give my opinions.
So…for what it’s worth, here it is…….

The G5 (M5 stylus) with its sexy chromed integral headshell was initially mounted in one of my Fidelity Research FR-66s 12” tonearms on the Raven AC-2 turntable whilst the MFG-31L, MFG-51L and MFG-71L were all mounted in wood headshells on the SAEC-8000/ST tonearm on the nude Victor TT-101 DD turntable.
After suitable run-in times for all cartridges…..listening began.
At first it was almost impossible to distinguish between the 31L, 51L and 71L….so alike were their sounds.
This is unsurprising when one studies the specifications of each cartridge to discover that they are to all intents and purposes identical?

Dgob began this Thread by focusing on the G5 integral headshell model and continued with his enthusiasm….eventually including the G7, also an integral headshell design.
I found the G5 to be a pleasant but unremarkable cartridge….very dependent on tonearm matching (it sounded fine in the FR-66s tonearm but in the Micro Seiki MA-505s the sound became recessed and boring with a loss of bass slam and an overall lethargy to the music).

The ‘normal’ Glanzs were rather more convincing in their overall presentation with a better refined frequency extension.
The bottom depth does not compete with the ‘hard-hitters’ in my collection…..but I can certainly live with the smooth, unfussed beauty they provide.
I was able to pick up some slight differences in the three models with my preference going to the MFG-51L over the MFG-31L.
The MFG-71L strangely enough…..was my least favourite….although I stress again the differences were subtle in the extreme.

Had I heard these cartridges a year or so ago……I would have ranked them quite highly but recently I have acquired some samples (all MMs)…..which have raised the bar and revealed a presentation and information extraction that has shocked and delighted me…..

Nevertheless…..I kept the Glanz MFG-51L and sent Nandric a pristine example of an AT-155Lc cartridge complete with its original square shank, nude mounted line contact stylus on its beryllium cantilever for transplanting into his Signet TK-7LCa.
It will be interesting to hear his views on that compared to the Glanz G5?

Halcro,

"Dgob began this Thread by focusing on the G5 integral headshell model and continued with his enthusiasm….eventually including the G7, also an integral headshell design.
I found the G5 to be a pleasant but unremarkable cartridge….very dependent on tonearm matching."

Thanks for your feedback and impressions. I would (as I have) recommend that you try the G5 or G7 in an Audiocraft AC3300 LB. My delight arose from that setting and - obviously - my experience is very different to the one you seem to have endured. I have recently had the opportunity to compare my Glanz to a new Audio Technica AT150 ANV (which I picked up for an obscenely low price) and my assessment of the former remains undoubtedly positive: so my 'enthusiasm' goes on unabated. Maybe I am looking for a degree of fidelity that differs to your target or our systems reveal different virtues.

Large world/many views, so it's great to hear that you are still enjoying your DIY Signet and some other samples. I hope they continue to bring you happiness.

As always...

Halcro,

Sorry, I have very little time these days and so did not correctly read all of your latest post:

"I was able to pick up some slight differences in the three models with my preference going to the MFG-51L over the MFG-31L. The MFG-71L strangely enough…..was my least favourite….although I stress again the differences were subtle in the extreme."

I am not certain about the state of the cartridges that you tested or the overall synergy that you managed to obtain with your system. However, honestly, this is as far away from the experience with the two cartridges that you note me referencing (the G5 and G7), as to be unr3ecognisable. In fact, these cartridges are so distinct in performance and (obviously) design that they could easily give the impression that they were designed by two distinct companies. If your G5 is in complete working order, I can only suggest you persevere until you have managed to get the best out of it. I have no financial or personal gain in this but I am certain that your referenced "big hitters" will have a high class neighbour once you move it into the correct environment. As for bass control on the G5 - compare it to the AT150 ANV or the magnificent Technics 100Mk4 and let me know what you think!

If you can, persevere

As always...