Moving coil with a bit less leading edge

Al: I'm not a technically oriented person, but your point of
possible loading mismatch is well taken. Internally, the EAR
88PB has two different settings via a switch: 4 and 40. With
the transformer's input, 4 is applicable for cartridges
indicating up to 100 ohms; 40 for those up to 1000 ohms.
Indeed, I have encountered situations where one or the other
loading is clearly desirable for a particular cartridge.
Yes, at times, there can certainly be a mismatch.

Wrm57: Thanks very much for your kind comments. I had
previously used a Benz Micro LP. A wonderful sounding
cartridge until I accidentally (or stupidly) blew out one of
its channels. Wanted to get it fixed, but Benz discontinued
its policy of repairing at an inexpensive cost. I have been
quite interested in trying one of the Miyajimas, and might
eventually do so.

Actually sometimes very simple things when analyzed too deep seem really complex. Hifi is littered with equipments which do detail for the sake of detail, transparency at the expense of presence, soundstage at the expense of body etc etc...obviously there is market for such products. One may say, after all this is what hifi brings to the table compared to lo-fi. The point is even the cartridge world such examples are in plenty..why is it so difficult to accept that ? Why do we need to get into deep analysis of live music ? Just to defend such cartridges ? Thats not really important to someone who doesnt want to get into the hyper-detailed hifi world. Why has no one spoken about Miyabi 47 till now in this thread ?

Some really excellent and insightful comments above. But, no one is trying to defend unrealistically bright and aggressive cartridges. Lew, they certainly do exist; way too many of them. I think that the point that Doug, Pete, myself and others are making is that contrary to what appears to be the OP's goal (based on the original post), adding a cartridge that, by design, blunts the leading edge and tames the high frequencies is usually a recipe for failure. Better to think about the system as a whole and go for as much realism as possible every step of the way, particulary in those components closest to the source.

I get the gist of what you're saying, Lino. Personal tastes notwithstanding, when it comes to reproduced music you make good sense, and so do Doug and Pete. What I took issue with previously were Doug's comments about having so sit in better seats or better halls to avoid hearing sound as rounded. Perhaps there was some confusion or misreading centering around the term rounded. Based on my elaboration above, I hope I have corrected that.

If the brain is rejecting something, there must be something artificial about it that one is too sensitive to. No amount of live music listening at any chair can fix that IMO.