Thanks to all, and I was especially hoping Doug would respond. First of all, I cannot be right or wrong, because I was making no assertion; I was merely asking the question. Second, Doug is correct; I may have been thinking of the dual names given to the 4D and the Atmos.
But since SORAsound is the exclusive marketer of the UNIs in the US, it remains possible that the same cartridge is marketed in Japan (and Australia?) under a different name. If so, I wonder what that name may be. There is a ZYX cartridge for sale on eBay (from a Japan seller) that by looks and description certainly seems to be UNIverse-like. I will be visiting my son in Tokyo soon, and I was hoping to pick up the UNIverse equivalent. I think I want one, but I cannot pay the US price for the UNI2.
Albert, Could it be the Galaxy, or was that a 58 Ford?
Ldvalve, Do you know the alternative name for the UNI in Oz? |
HEREThis is what I meant, the R1000AIRY3G sure looks like a UNIverse, but then again, there is a family resemblance among all ZYX cartridges. |
Thanks, Doug. I searched for info on the 4D/Atmos and found your and Paul's review of same. You apparently hit the nail on the head, because all other reviews cited the same virtues and deficiencies, pretty much, for the 4D vs the UNI. I would consider the 4D, if it would give me some near equivalent of the UNI performance, to save money. But as you say, it's good but "different".
No one seems to have offered up the alternative name of the UNIverse as sold in Japan, assuming there is such.
I have regularly read that the 0.24mV SB copper wire version of the UNI is to be preferred. Any thoughts on the gold wire version? I had a Colibri with gold wiring; it did not knock my socks off. |
What about the Omega? When I first saw it years ago, I thought the purple ball out front was the height of gimmickry. ("Lapus lazuli", indeed.) Since then I've heard the UNIverse and gained high respect for ZYX as a result.
I want to add a top flight LOMC to my cartridge repertoire, and I think I want it to be a ZYX, but after hearing so many superb and inexpensive vintage MM and MI cartrides in my system in recent years, I am the more reluctant to pay the ca $5K freight for a new UNI, or a "reconditioned" one from Sorasound. |
Thanks, In-shore. I did not mean to imply that buying a UNIverse would be a "mistake"; it's just that I have been getting so much bang for the buck with these other cartridges that I have become a bit impecunious (love that word). Indeed, I have never ever paid more than around $2200 for a cartridge (that was for a used Colibri). Got my Urushi in Tokyo for less. So, you could fairly say that I have always been an audio cheapskate. And I now do see that up until I found these excellent vintage MM and MI cartridges, and except for three MCs that I now own or have recently owned and that I do or did enjoy (Urushi, Colibri, Ortofon MC7500), I was cheating myself of a lot of pleasure because of my close-mindedness about cost. |
Ldvalve, Thanks for the tip. The Ayame seems to be a nude UNIverse made for sale in Australia. Have you heard it? It must be a real featherweight, given that the fully enclosed (or at least partially enclosed) UNI is already very lightweight unless you add the optional SB, which is recommended by most. |
Yeah, but the difference in mass between silver and copper is rather negligible, AND conductivity of silver is better by about the same amount, SO IF conductivity has any bearing on it, then one could wind a silver wire coil with correspondingly fewer turns of wire than a copper one with similar output. Ergo, the two parameters (density and conductivity) would cancel each other in terms of mass. But this gets back to my not knowing whether conductivity has a linear effect on the system. And my being too lazy to find out.
I am not gifted with Paul's hypersenses, but I do hear a very slight sonic character to MI cartridges that I do not hear with MM or MC. It does not make me wince, and I never roll my eyes; it hurts. However, there are distinguishing characteristics between MM and MC, as well. The very best MI cartridges I have heard... are very very good. I just search for what I like regardless of the technology. It's endless fun of a masochistic kind. But maybe a ZYX UNI will be my Holy Grail or Nirvana or just get me through the night (Frank Sinatra credit). |
Dear Doug, Thank you for your advice. I note that you couldn't resist taking a shot at the Koetsu, any Koetsu. It's OK. I forgive you. I haven't listened to my Urushi in so long I've forgotten whether to defend it or not. Are you sure you were away skiing, or were you just lost in the snow in CT?
I don't necessarily buy your explanation of WHY the 0.24mV copper version of the UNI sounds best, but I do take the point that it does sound best. |
Syntax, Thanks for helping me out on the Koetsu.
Doug, I would have written much of what Don wrote, to justify my doubts about cause and effect, but I did not want to get into it. Also, altho the fact that the difference in conductivity of silver vs copper and the difference in density between them would effectively cancel each other out, if both were equally important in winding the coil of an MC cartridge, I am not at all sure that conductivity makes that much difference; I think the amplitude of the signal generated depends only upon the number of turns of wire, the strength of the magnetic field, and the distance between them. Yet it's not hard to fathom that conductivity may also play a role. But if lowest moving mass was a central factor in "goodness", then moving iron cartridges would hold sway. (But maybe they do.) |
Dear Swampwalker, Thanks for the compliment, but I really don't deserve any such. Who could deny your central thesis: "less mass and thus lower inertia"? And it is very appealing to use Newton's Laws thusly to explain Doug's hands-on experience of the performance of the two different forms of the UNI. All I am saying is that this is only a correlation. We do not really know cause and effect. Moreover, I was also saying that I am not at all sure that a silver coil in an MC with 0.24mV output would indeed have any more mass than a copper coil in an MC with 0.24mV output, because the superior conductivity of silver might ameliorate the slightly higher density of silver, vs copper. And then I pointed out that IM cartridges have the lowest moving mass of all, so if moving mass is the major player in detail retrieval, shouldn't we all agree that IM cartridges are best for that? Needless to say, we don't.
Don't yet know what Peter Pritchard said, but he was the designer of the ADC XLM series, IIRC. |
Now I understand the genesis of your moniker. Anyone who uses a... music server... as a primary source is indeed lost in the audio swamp. (Kidding; I've heard good ones sound excellent.) |
Are you ripping LPs to hi-rez digital? I've never done it, but those who do say that the "flavor" of vinyl (and the quality of the cartridge/tonearm) can be appreciated after such a conversion. |
Jwm, Can you describe the components of your system? Thx. |
You will not catch me ripping LPs to digital. Syntax notwithstanding. I would never spend the time, in the first place. Nor do I see the point unless storage space for LPs is in very short supply. CDs, yes. CDs should be ripped.
Jwm. Not familiar with your speakers, but the rest of your system is obviously of very high quality. |
