Alternative names for "ZYX UNIverse" cartridge

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.

Lew.
it is an awesome Cartridge. heard it on the Kuzmar 4 point arm . Dynamic is to die for .speed and explosive sound stage . great cartridge by any means .

Cheers
Peter

Lew,

I've been off skiing for a week, hope this is still helpful. The following is true for all models where we've made a comparison (Airy 3, 4D and UNIverse)...

COIL MATERIALS
X (copper coils): fastest, most macro-dynamic, most micro-dynamic, least slurring of leading/trailing edges, lowest sound floor, greatest "snap"

S (silver coils): less so (analogy: turns a ZYX into a Benz)

G (gold coils): much less so (analogy: turns a ZYX into a Koetsu)


OUTPUT
Low Output/.24mv (but ZYX uses a non-standard test record, so use .35mv for calculating phono stage gain requirements): see the characteristics ascribed to copper coils, above

Hi Output/.48mv (but ZYX uses a non-standard test record, so use .70mv for calculating phono stage gain requirements): see the characteristics ascribed to gold coils, above


WHY?
It has NOTHING to do with conductivity or other electrical properties of the coils. It's simply a function of their mass, in which:

Gold > Silver > Copper
Hi output (2X as many coils) > Low output (1X as many coils)

Reducing the moving mass of the coils on the armature reduces its inertia. Result? Faster responses, less slurring, greater amplitudes.


CONCLUSION
For any given ZYX model, the fastest, liveliest, most dynamic sound will come from the low output version with copper coils (and the SB weight). The slowest, softest, least dynamic sound would come from a high output version with gold coils (and no SB weight).

This is not theory. It's derived from comparative listening and thinking about why we heard what we heard. The differences were very easy to discern.


***

Ldvalve's description of the sound of a nuded UNIverse sounds much like our review of the UNIverse II, which is a semi-nuded UNIverse (UNIverse in 4D body).

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.