Glanz moving magnet cartridges

Happy New Year!

One Glanz MFG-31L (line contact) is on ebay now, i can let it go since i have mysterious 61 model to keep for myself. I hope it’s ok to post it here for those who searchin’ for trully amazing Glanz cartridges and couldn’t find them (it’s not that easy, i know).

@nandric 
If would be nice if you can email me the copy of glanz 61 manual.
I own Glanz 61 cartridge (one of my favorite), but without manual.
If your copy of the manual still available please sent to
chakster45 on gmail 

thanks

@nandric   
compliance figure you're quoting here is STATIC and that's why it is so high. 

Dynamic Compliance @ 100Hz is:

12cu for Glanz 71L / 71E
10cu for Glanz 51L / 31E
9cu for Glanz 31L /31E

P.S. Do you have copy of the manual for Glanz 61 btw?

@dgob
i’ve noticed there is also an "M" series of headshell integrated Glanz MF cartridges such as M3, M5, M7.

I know you have posted here about the "G" series: G5, G7 as their top of the line headshell integrated.

But do you know anything about Glanz M7 or M5/M3 (and their specs)? They're looks exactly like G series btw. 

@nandric 
no, the Glanz M series carts are not MC as it's clearly stated MF = "moving flux", not moving coil design. Those M series are not listed in dadabase or elsewhere, unfortunately. But the stylus replacement for G-7 cart. is M-7 

specs for G-7 below:

■ Price \ 42,800 yen
■ power generation method MF type
■ output voltage 3mV (5cm / sec 1kHz)
■ needle pressure 1.5g ± 0.25g
■ Play frequency band 10-50,000Hz
■ Channel separation 25dB / 1kHz
■ Channel balance
■ compliance 12 × 10-6cm / dyne
■ DC resistance
■ load resistance
■ Impedance 2kΩ / 1kHz
■ needle tip line contact needle
■ own weight 19g
■ exchange needle M-7 (\ 20,000)
■ Release 1977
■ discontinued 1984-85 circa
■ Remarks price those of 1977

@nandric well, it's static compliance of Glanz 61 you have posted from your manual then? Do you know dynamic compliance of MFG 61? Thanks! 

I took some nice pictures of my Glanz MFG-31L and MFG-71L before they went to happy customers. I decided to keep Glanz 61 as this is clearly the best Glanz i have owned (beats everything else).

When i put micro lens on my iphone i’m happy with this kind of pictures i can take, never expected this effect (no filters) under the sun (from my window). It’s like a Space Odyssey of the Glanz.

BTW Axel did a great job repaired suspension on NOS Glanz 71L. When i tried the original the suspension was dead (but the diamond was NOS), after Axel's treatment it's like new again. 

As promised in another thread @harold-not-the-barrel @lewm @halcro @travbrow ... i will make my revision on Glanz/Astatic/Jamo/Azzurra manufactured in Japan by Mitachi Corporation. Now with exclussive pictures of my MFG-61 (i hope you will check all of them below, click on the links).

3 years ago i’ve sold all my Glanz cartridges to keep just one.

It’s time to spread the light on some of the very best Moving Flux cartridge made by Mitachi Corporation in Japan. This cartridge is the Glanz MFG-61 with Boron Cantilever and special design "PH" stylus tip.

This is not a typical vintage MM/MI or MC, the patent for unique Moving Flux technology belog to Mr Tsugikuma Minamizono (Japan). Mitachi Corporation made some very nice MF cartridges in the 70s/80s for US/Canadian brand Astatic, for Danish Jamo and for Italian Azzurra.

But ONLY for domestic Japanese brand, technical engineers of Mitachi Corporation designed the ultimate Moving Flux model in 1982. The Glanz MFG-61 is stand alone cartridge!

From the original manual: "MFG-61, as the most prestige model among Glanz MF cartridges, employs BORON cantilever in order to achieve maximum efficiency at the electro-magnetic mechanism, where characterized most advanced feature of MF cartridge, when the energy is converted from mechanical vibration system to electric vibration system. BORON is considered as an ideal material of cantilever in its character that transmits sound to fast as 7 times than Aluminum, due to its large young rate and small specific gravity. With use of Boron cantilever, the signal picked up from disc to specially designed PH stylus tip is faithfully transfered to the conversion system, and hi-fidelity sound reproduced."

The rest of the MF cartridges made by Mitachi Corporation for other brands does not have such cantilever and diamond. This fact makes the Glanz MFG-61 highly collectible and much better sounding.

1) From the printed Glanz MF-61 manual:

-Output Voltage: 3.5 mV
-Output Channel Balance: 1.0 or less
-Inductance: 120
-Tracking force 1.5 (+/- 0.25)
-Stylus tip: SPECIAL DESIGN "PH" TIP
-Cantilever: BORON

I’m wondering why the frequency response specified as 20-20000 only, in fact this cartridge has extended frequency response that easily compete with my ex Technics 205c mk4 with 5-100000 range specified in the manual. So i think the frequency response measurement on paper is pretty concervative at Mitachi. I have the same spects for my Garrott P77.

Some other Mitachi cartridges that does not come even close to the sound of this rare MFG-61 is Glanz MFG-31L, Astatic MF-200, Glanz MFG-71L, Astatic MF-100 and Azzurra Esoter. In the next posts i will add more pictures, so anyone could compare cantilevers of them all.

In my opinion US/Canada Astatic loose the contest, because their MF-2500 has Aluminum cantilever and LineContact stylus. As we can see the rest of the models does not have even Nude Diamonds, they are all bonded on Astatic cartridges. Being an old brand the Astatic has never designed MF cartridges, they bought them from Mitachi to sell under Astatic brand, the US patent for MF cartridges belong to Mitachi. Even the paper printed in Japan.

2) From the printed Astatic MF-2500 manual:

-Output Voltage: 3 mV
-Output Channel Balance: 1.0 or less
-Inductance: 120
-Tracking force 1.25 (+/- 0.25)
-Stylus tip: Solid Diamond LineContact
-Weight 5g

Astatic really did nothing about the design of the generator or stylus/cantilever, what they did is their own distribution/sales in US and Canada. BTW Astatic own MM cartridges are crap, and probably low price even for MF carts they got from Mitachi was much more important for them than to ask for some exotic cantilevers.

While the Glanz was a Japanese brand and goes deeper to utilize superior (and much more expensive) cantilever and stylus for their top of the line model made by Mitachi. Technology came from Japan and domestic brand received them faster.

The manufacturer clearly said the Glanz MFG-61 is most prestige model among Moving Flux cartridges . The date on in the Bruel & Kjaer individual test is 1982.07.04

Who is Glanz you ask? Nowadays the Glanz is back in business with High-End tonearms. Glanz tonearms are manufactured by Hamada Electric in Shizuoka, Japan and exported by Sibatech Inc.

Mitachi Acoustics for whom Mr. Hamada developed various analog products was founded in 1951 under the brand name Glanz and closed in 2003. In 1980 Hamada-San established Hamada Electric and secured the Glanz brand license from the Mitachi family in 2008. To quote from the advertising literature: "Beyond time Glanz’s legend has been revived. Many long-established audio manufacturers have vanished since analog audio entered its glacial epoch with the advent of digital. Against this tide Glanz issued products such as tone arms and phono cartridges favored by audiophiles to survive with its ingenious technology. The birth of an ultimate tone arm—the Glanz—proves the real advantage of analog audio and talks of its regeneration."

P.S. Special thanks to Elli who emailed me the original printed manual for Astatic MF-2500 and Glanz MFG-61 that i have compiled with my own pictures of the cartridge/cantilever and my ZYX LIVE-18 headshell.

More to follow ....

The largest high-end distributor in Italy (Giancarlo Bonetti) teamed up with Japanese Mitachi Corporation in the 80’s to release a dedicated custom made phono cartridge called Azzurra Esoter. In 1983 Italian yacht Azzurra from Sardinia won Louis Vuitton Cup held in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The City of Newport is located approximately 119 km south of Boston. Azzurra, skippered by Mauro Pelaschier (Yacht Club Costa Smeralda), came 3rd in that competition. The original Azzurra team was very popular in Italy at that time, they got even their own phono cartridge which is a nice souvenir!

A friend of mine is djing with this pair of Azzurra Esoter and they are quite nice (and very cheap) for this purpose with 0.5mm bonded Conical tip just like the 0.5mm Astatic MF-2502 (they are all have bonded conical tips).

For audiophiles there are much better cartridges from the same Japanese manufacturer (Mitachi Corporation). Here is my ex Glanz MFG-31L with nude LineContact stylus on Aluminum cantilever.

And the ultimate Glanz MFG-61 with special "PH" type stylus on the most expensive Boron cantilever. I’m not surpriced that Glanz/Mitachi engineers preferred BORON for their top of the line model of Moving Flux cartridge. That was the pinnacle of MF design reached in the early 80’s as you can read in the manual. Few more pictures of the Glanz 61 in my system about 3-4 years ago on different arms/turntables: on Reed 3p / SP10mkII and on upgraded SL1210mkII

I’M GONNA TELL YOU THE SHOCKING NEWS:

GLANZ = MITACHI

Glanz is a family brand owned by Mitachi Cotrporation.

This is one of the reason why the very best Moving Flux cartridge was made ONLY under the Glanz name, because they own Galnz and they own Moving Flux patent.

The best MF cartridge was made in Japan by Japanese engineers for Japan, and distributed overseas too.

Astatic (US/Canada) is just like Azzurra (Italy) did absolutely nothing, except the sales of the japanese cartridges in different cosmetic design such as different color and different logo on it. They did not engineered those carts, they got them from Mitachi (Japan). And the manufacturer just made them slightly different (Shibata instead of LineContact on the same cheap alumimum cantilevers for example). Astatic is not better than Glanz. That’s it, face it.  

more to follow soon ...

@nandric 

Dear chakster, Thanks for all your efforts to inform your co-members
about MM carts in general and Glanz in particular. But I want to
first explain difference with Astatic kind. Both Glanz and Astatic
ordered their samples with specific requirements. Astatic ordered
output of 4.2 mV and Shibata styli 

My friend, you're a bit wrong:
 Astatic MF-2500 (claimed by the Mexican to be the best of Astatic) has 3mV Ouput and Line Contact Stylus on aluminum cantilever, just look the the manual.

while Glanz output is 3.5 mV and either line contact or elliptical styli.  

You're right about Glanz output, but you're wrong about styli, because Glanz 61 has Special PH stylus, look at the manual.  Both Glanz and Astatic have some cheap models with Nude and Bonded Elliptical and even with Conical styli too. You're right that Shibata profile available only with Astatic. But Glanz has PH stylus on top model. 

The difference between PH Stylus and LineContact stylus is here. 

Specification for ALL Glanz (except 61) is on page-1 and page-2 

This is PH Stylus on Boron (61) and this is LineContact Stylus on Aluminum (31L). 

When we look at your pictures of Glanz 61, 31 and 71 we can clearly see the aluminum tube behind the cantilever.

Yes, Glanz 61 has aluminum collar (joint pipe) around the Boron Rod cantilever, just like the most expensive Nagaoka MP-500 btw. I have better cartridges than Glanz 61, but they are from different manufacturers and much more expensive. 

Even with a joint pipe hebing the Boron Rod cantilever the Glanz 61 is clearly the best model made by Mitachi. This is all i'm trying to say (and explaining why).  

To put this otherwise there is no such thing as ''pure boron'' or other ''exotic cantilever'' because the aluminum tube behind them is part of the moving parts. 

Well, not on all vintage MM, my Grace LEVEL II and F14 does not have a joint pipe behing the Boron cantilevers. They are all have pure Boron, Ruby, Sapphire, Beryllium, Ceramic cantilevers (depends on the model). 

To my knowledge retip of one MM cart is done by cutting the existent cantilever and gluing the new cantilever IN or OVER the restant of the old cantilever. That is why I never retiped any MM cart.

I don't retip MM cartridges, i don't buy refurbished MM cartridges, only originals and always looking for NOS genuine styli for them. 




 

@nandric

You also mentioned to never ’’retip’’ MM carts but you deed
not explained why.

For practical reason i prefer to buy another original/working cartridge or just original stylus, i think it’s much better investment.

Because we both try to inform our co-members as good as we can this information is pretty important. As you also know Raul posted a bunch of his MM carts for ’’refurbishing’’ to different ’’retip services’’ in advance. That is without checking their function first. But if nobody is able to fix suspensions problems by MM kinds this should be mentioned to our members.

I got my Glanz 71L in NOS condition, comparing it to my 61 and 31L i realized that my NOS 71L is a lowrider. I’ve shipped it to Axel for suspension repair and he did it, slowly, but he did it. When my german friend asking for a cartridge in a certain price range i've offered him the Glanz 71L with Axel phone number on the sticker and Axel’s warranty for his suspension repair job. German friend was happy that someone in his country can service his cartridge (if needed). He called Axel over the phone to double check everything, Axel confirmed that my 71L was repaired by him and still under his warranty, so we made a deal, i think it was in 2014-2015. Axel retired then as you said. But what i’m tying to say is that Glanz can be refurbished if suspension failed.

That was the last time i have ever refurbished MM (MF) cartridge.
Being a perfectionists i hate reburbishing!

Luckily since that day i have NEVER bought any cartridge with bad suspension. I just don’t buy Technics anymore, this cartridge must be avoided!

Those repairs are not cheap so if they make no sense our members should be warned. If some of the MM kinds have the whole ’’exotic’’ cantilever inside than this cantilever must be damped somehow.

My advice to anyone:
Buy from audiophiles and ask them for high resolution pictures, ask them to test a cartridges, ask them for detailed explanation about condition of the suspension. Don’t buy a lowriders if it was not designed originally to be a lowrider. If you or somebody else damaged a cartridge, do yourself a favor, just buy another cartridge, do not bother about retipping or refurbishing (leave it to somebody else, sell your damaged cartridge, it's much better idea). There are always some nice cartridges on the market that we have not tried yet, they can be much better! Do not stick to one cartridge, do not think that you have "the best ever cartridge" until you will try hundreds of different cartridges. Refurbishing is only a compromise, in my opinion it’s not worth it. Always buy original stylus replacement or just buy another working cartridge. Anyone can find a decent cartridge at any price, normally from $300 to infinity (based on my buying experience). Sometimes a $300 cartridge can be better than $1000 cartridge. 

@nandric

So I inspected both styli. The stylus by 71 looks pretty
complex , more like an MC kind then usual MM kinds. The conical cantilever is pretty short with so called ’’one point suspension’’ and
tension wire which can be adjusted with an screw at the end of
the ’’stylus tube’’. The damping rubber is just behind the stylus
such that by increasing tension on the wire one can adjust the
compliance .

Please click on every link in this post.
There is NO traditional tention wire (as i can see), just look at this schematic of the construction, this illustration is for 71 (you will recognize that huge cantilever). That strange and fat alluminum cantilever is NOT SHORT, the length of the 71 cantilever is even a bit longer than Boron Cantilever of my 61. Side view on this image (61 on the left, 71 on the right). The insert is the same, but anyone can see that 71L has slightly longer cantilever than 61.

As you mentioned your sample was ’’low rider’’. This means to me that you listened to an defective Glanz. So your opinion about Glanz 71 is not very convincing. In contradistinction the 31 stylus is much more simple and without tension wire. The tube behind the cantilever looks like those by Shure. I don’t see how those can be opened in order to change the ’’rubber ring’’ assuming that there is one. Like you I think that G5 and G7 have the same stylus as 71L.

I have inspected 71L before and after suspension repair. I must say the problem was not so bad, but i decided to proceed with suspension repair anyway (cost me no more than 60 euro). The final critical test and comparison between 31L, 61 and 71L was made after my 71L has arrived from Axel (repaired, look at the sticker). The suspension was fine, but i did not noticed any improvement in sound and the cartridge was BRAND NEW (never used before, until i bought it). Actually the cartridge was burned-in with Cardas LP for a few nights. I must say my used 31L was better than NEW 71L.

Some new pictures below (from my archive):

You’re right about the stylus, the 71L has square shank stylus.
The 31L has round shank stylus.

The PH stylus on Glanz 61 is completely different comparing to all other models, the main difference is lower mass, tall diamond wich looks thinner from the front view.

I’m happy to share my pictures and information, but there is no question than none of those carts can compete with 61 model.

BTW our @halcro mentioned that his new Glanz MFG-610LX is much better than any other Glanz he has owned. The MFG-610LX and MFG-61 have more similarities than any other Glanz.

Some more nice images of the Rare Japanese Moving Flux cartridges in comparison next to each other to explain the difference in details.

What is important: the higher model number does not supposed to be a better quality cartridge. It's quite opposite, the 61 is better than 71L and everyone should know this.

Here is the Glanz MFG-61 & MFG-71L.

The main difference is cantilever and stylus tip in other words change the cantilever/tip and you will change the sound of your Moving Flux cartridge.

The sound signature of 61 an 71L is completely different.
Now look at on the different cantilevers and styli: 61 & 71L

Boron cantilever (MFG-61) holds a Nude "PH" diamond of a low mass design. This combination of Boron cantilever and low mass stylus on the Gralz 61 creates an ultra low mass system, capable of the finest reproduction from your cherished vinyl. The Glanz 61 is extremely rare and very expensive cartridge from the 80’s.

Glanz MFG-71L with much bigger tapered Aluminum Alloy cantilever represents what is found in cheaper and fairly high quality cartridges. 71L is not as good as the 61, not even close, but it has a Nude Line Contact diamond.

@lewm 

Chakster, This thread was initiated several years ago by dgob, after he purchased a Glanz G5. Apparently that's a cartridge with an integrated headshell. Apparently also there is at least one other integrated headshell Glanz with a single-digit alphanumberic designation, the G7. How do those units fit into the scheme? Are they in the same ballpark, SQ-wise, as some of the others being discussed here, 5 years later? (Not suggesting the G5 challenges your favorite MFG61; I know nothing about any of them.)

yeah, those Headshell Integrated Glanz models are all have this HUGE tapered cantilever, just like the 71 model. Since the 71L (NOS) was the least impressive to my ears i have never tried G7 or G5. Among the cheaper models Glanz the 31L was the best to my ears, this model is equal to Astatic MF-200 (even the color of the stylus holder and cartridge body).  

@nandric

Sorry it was a broken link in my previous reply to your statement below, now the link is fixed

So I inspected both styli. The stylus by 71 looks pretty
complex , more like an MC kind then usual MM kinds. The conical cantilever is pretty short with so called ’’one point suspension’’ and
tension wire which can be adjusted with an screw at the end of
the ’’stylus tube’’. The damping rubber is just behind the stylus
such that by increasing tension on the wire one can adjust the
compliance .

So where is the tension wire on this schematic of MFG-71L ?
I can’t see a traditional tension wire that goes in line with the cantilever.
There is nothing like that on Glanz 71L

Someone will find my audiophile’s diary in the future world, not sure it will be usefull in the future, but today when Glanz cartridges available online, i believe my information will help someone to make the right choice.

This is (clockwise) Glanz MFG-61, MFG-31L, MFG-61 & 71L, MFG-61

Firs of all this is a proof that Japanese Glanz is the brand of Mitachi Corp. Here is more about MF technology invented and patended by Mitachi.

A lot of technical information in this post, all about rare Glanz Moving Flux phono cartridges (click here for the specs for MFG-51, 31, 11 and on the next page you will find MFG-71L , 71E and 51L ). As you can see the number 61 is missing in the catalog of Glanz products, because this model is completely different stand alone model.

Read about styli profiles for all types of MFG-71, 51, 31, 11
And here is a styli guide by color

This is a separate manual for the Glanz 61. I’ve owned all the best Mitachi MF cartridges, but never seen this manual for 61 until this week (thanks to a fellow collector @florence4 from Connecticut, USA).

Now please looks at the picture with all 3 types of cantilevers the MFG-61 (Boron) is in the middle, between my MFG-31L and MFG-71L. The MFG-61 is clearly the best of them all, simply amazing cartridge. All pictures taken by me here at the Shingaling studio. The rest is in the documents.

More to follow ...

@nandric 

Glanz MFG -71 l (has) much bigger tapered Aluminum alloy
cantilever ...found in cheaper and fairly high quality cartridges''.
Curious statement but I don't believe that Mitachi would make
such effort for the construction of 71 stylus (in comparison to
31 L) if there was no improvement in comparison to 31 L which
is much more simple qua construction.

I don't think the numbers is the reference to quality, if this logic could be true a 71 must be better than 61, but it's not. There is a 610LX too. 

Same logic can be applied to Astatic MF100 versus Astatic MF200, someone prefer MF100 over MF200, but 100 is a lower number. There was the MF2500 which is a higher number. 

I assume that Dgob's G-5
has the same stylus (construction) as 71 l. I never inspected the
G-5 stylus so I have no idea how it looks. My hope was that Dgob
would react to my (and Lew's) request and explain to us why he
''swears'' by those G-5, G-7 kinds?

I lost my interess to Glanz or Astatic cartridges since my farovite has been discovered. Maybe Dgob discovered much better cartridges too and lost his interess.

Sometimes the process is more interesting than result.

I've noticed that over the years i can only discover better cartridges :) 

One more shot on my macro lens with Glanz 31L cantilever/stylus under the sun in the winter. 

I think the M7 is headshell integrated version of the MF71L, some nice and cheap Glanz are on ebay now from Japan, but not the M7.

BTW I don’t want to sell my MF-61 :)


@dgob would be nice to read about your new discoveries, any interesting stuff in your cartridge arsenal?

Interesting @dgob 

I never tried Highphonic cartridges, but I've seen many of them. Do you know who designed them?  

I remain solidly in the LOMC camp but the MFG 61 and a handfull of other vintage carts still have my highest respect.

 

@xactaudio Mr. Dobbins, is that you ? I did not use my MF-61 for a long time, but 5-7 years ago it was my favorite cartridge, I bought ZYX LIVE-18 headshell for it and this combo is in my vaults ever since. Extremely rare model! It's a keeper.