Allnic Verito Z:Owners and those familiar

Please forgive me.It is very difficult to encompass the large number of cartridges available.It is also difficult when members' impressions are at the polar-opposites.
My previous experience has left me wary of the possible consequences of buying a cartridge,thus I feel that I cannot go down the used route.
If I were to look strictly at the manufacturers and their reputation,I would invest in a Benz.I have heard these several times and the manufacturer will support them.It is not my cup-of-tea,so I am ssearching else-where.Some other products/persons cannot say the same.
I have had a strong relationship with music and several manufacturers.I have worked in a recording studio and been asked to consult on several designs.I considered it a privalege to be involved.I have never felt that my opinion was any more valid than anothers-it is subject to ones' interpretation.What pleases one,may not please another.But I do feel that there is "a theme of truthful variation".

Would anyone be willing to look at their system/equipment and offer or surmise why the intrepretaion of this cartridge is so varied.There seems to be a consensus as to the qualities of the PC-1 and possibly the XV-1.
I should have stated my budget up front,but had hoped that my string of cartridge threads might have been followed-MY BAD.My apologies to all,but I am frustrated and down with the flu.

Tpsonic, frustrating indeed - and sometimes that is how I feel about my whole audio system. I have just acquired a brilliant piece of gear - the Accuphase C17 head amp. I don't need a head amp for gain, but the incremental improvement this unit adds to the signal chain is beyond denial. Of course I discovered that as soon as I put it in the chain, ground impedances changed and it took some time to discover the right interconnect and grounding configuration!

When I connect the Verity Z via the C17, the improvement is modest, when I put a UNIverse or Sony XL-55 thru it, the benefit is greater. Also, the best sound comes from using a really old decrepit looking low capacitance phono cable from SAEC with plastic phono plugs no less from the Dynavector 507 Mk2.

The Verity Z is dark, solid, deep, and musical. It is uninspiring if it is not loaded properly at the right impedance. It sounds better when loaded through transformers - probably because that balances the dark and slightly recessed top end. It does seem to require time to warm up and a cold room does not help. Also, it seems to sound best in medium to high mass arms.

In conclusion Tpsonic, imho it is a very good cartridge for the money, but there are no guarantees it will perform at the highest level unless you are willing to experiment with various setups. With that comment in mind, I would recommend you buy a cartridge that is known to work in a defined or your configuration of arm, cable, and phono amp.

Hope that helps, but it probably doesn't!!

Steve

Thank you Steve,and also Hammertone for placing their advertisement.I would be using this in an OL Encounter III.Would the piece of ebony be better than a direct connection? Thanks in advance.

I rarely contribute here, but I thought I would because I have been living with the Verito Z for about a year. I have not heard a large variety of cartirdges in my system; however, I have had the opportunity to hear many of the very best in Dave Beetle's system. Dave is a friend, but I have no interest in his business. And I do not buy audio gear based on a sense of obligation to its sellers - much to their chagrin sometimes, I am sure!

I can second a number of comments by the other Verito owners here. The Verito does take about a 100 hours to "loosen" up (every year it is taking me longer, too). At first, though it has incredible detail and speed, it sounds constrained at both frequency extremes and rather thin. The change over time is dramatic, and it takes on the character Radicalsteve describes. An aluminum headshell will be a disaster. My experience indicates that such a combination will destroy the Verito's transparency, with resonances muddying the sound, blurring images and making for a quite unsatisfying hard, grating and sibilant performance. But a single performance is not the last word about the performer.

I used the Verito in a number of headshells, all aluminum, on a Dynavector 505 and I just could not understand why I could not make it perform as I had heard it at Dave Beetle's; I was getting frustrated by a smearing of image and a real hardness in the top end. Of course, I also was distracted by and played with cables to compensate for what I did not know were headshell issues. On Dave's suggestion, and that of a friend in Toronto also using the Verito, I tried a Shun Mook ebony headshell. That did it - a truly remarkable transition. I have been more than happy since, until recently. I recently changed tonearms to one with a handcrafted ebony wand, but it has a small aluminum plate that is used to attach the cartridge to the integrated headshell. While not as severe as before, the sibilance and top end hardness returned. After hearing from Dave B. the story in his ad, I slipped one of the ebony shims that come with the Shun Mook headshell between the top of the Verito and the aluminum mounting plate. Magic. Warmth, solidity of instrument and voice images, speed, tonal correctness, great ambient recording space detail, depth and width of soundstage - and great bass all have returned.

I just heard the Verito at Dave's on both a Dynavector 505 and a 12 inch SAEC - with the ebony shim - and compared to a London Decca on a 12 inch EMT arm. The London is wonderful - all the qualities above, but to a lesser degree than the Verito. In particular, somewhat less detail and a restricted and more forward soundstage, in comparison in Dave's system.

Synergy is a word with which we are all familiar. In light of that concept's application to this hobby, I always try to temper my natural, I think, desire to make statements about absolute value, especially when popping a new component into a system that is maximized for the one it's replacing (at least temporarily). I appreciated Mr. Dlanselm's comment that he was unsure about the role that the SME arm, with its aluminum headshell, might have played in his system. However, he did not say how many hours he put on the Verito. Unfortunately, Mr. Rauliruegas provided no information at all on such matters, on the time he spent, or how he spent his time, with the Verito. I really appreciate commentary where such significant detail is provided, rather than generalized comparative statements; but not everyone has the time. I know I usually do not. I am not prepared to spend the money on some of the cartridges that people have mentioned here. Fortunately, I have not had to because I have a friend who has had and played them all in a wide variety of set ups (I call David's big closet the "tonearm museum" - I think he really needs a big old bank vault given the total value of what he has available at home to try). By the way, David and I do not necessarily agree on the kind of sound we like - I have characterized our slight differences as "Drama vs Dharma", but the Verito is something I do agree with him on completely, given the right conditions of its use and the patience to listen and work with it. I also believe that we can get to a point where we will hear a system that "does it" for both of us. In fact, I think we're getting pretty close to being there.

For what it's worth, that's my story. Good luck with your purchase, Tpsonic, whatever you decide.

Dear Gersimon: The cartrridge was not mine but of a friend and with more than 100 hours on it. I test it in two different tonearms with different headshells. It performs better in some than in others but the whole cartridge performance is ( like I posted ) nothing especial even for its price.

Now, IMHO how is that a cartridge designer ( with all respect ) build a cartridge with almost no voicing ( I have to assume this because of those troubles with the aluminum and the kind. ) where he detect the " wrong side " of the item?

Now, if I pay 2.8K for a cartridge that does not sound even decent till you find the ebony shims or the like then I have to pass.
Now, I will take every single effort in a cartridge that at the end can show its " marvelous " and great quality performance but IMHO this is not the case with this cartridge.

The music sound reproduction for me is something critical and serious as is for all of you and we all are customers and we have to ask for better and easy audio items.

Dear friend, do you want something like this: great and easy? that outperform any single cartridge named here? well there are some and one of that cartridge IMHO is this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bang-Olufsen-B-O-MMC1-MMC-1-Cartridge-RARE_W0QQitemZ120482629912QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0d530918#ht_500wt_1182

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.