2. analog
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Hear my Cartridges....🎶

Many Forums have a 'Show your Turntables' Thread or 'Show your Cartridges' Thread but that's just 'eye-candy'.... These days, it's possible to see and HEAR your turntables/arms and cartridges via YouTube videos.
Peter Breuninger does it on his AV Showrooms Site and Michael Fremer does it with high-res digital files made from his analogue front ends.
Now Fremer claims that the 'sound' on his high-res digital files captures the complex, ephemeral nuances and differences that he hears directly from the analogue equipment in his room.
That may well be....when he plays it through the rest of his high-end setup 😎
But when I play his files through my humble iMac speakers or even worse.....my iPad speakers.....they sound no more convincing than the YouTube videos produced by Breuninger.
Of course YouTube videos struggle to capture 'soundstage' (side to side and front to back) and obviously can't reproduce the effects of the lowest octaves out of subwoofers.....but.....they can sometimes give a reasonably accurate IMPRESSION of the overall sound of a system.

With that in mind.....see if any of you can distinguish the differences between some of my vintage (and modern) cartridges.
VICTOR X1
This cartridge is the pinnacle of the Victor MM designs and has a Shibata stylus on a beryllium cantilever. Almost impossible to find these days with its original Victor stylus assembly but if you are lucky enough to do so.....be prepared to pay over US$1000.....🤪
VICTOR 4MD-X1
This cartridge is down the ladder from the X1 but still has a Shibata stylus (don't know if the cantilever is beryllium?)
This cartridge was designed for 4-Channel reproduction and so has a wide frequency response 10Hz-60KHz.
Easier to find than the X1 but a lot cheaper (I got this one for US$130).
AUDIO TECHNICA AT ML180 OCC
Top of the line MM cartridge from Audio Technica with Microline Stylus on Gold-Plated Boron Tube cantilever.
Expensive if you can find one....think US$1000.

I will be interested if people can hear any differences in these three vintage MM cartridges....
Then I might post some vintage MMs against vintage and MODERN LOMC cartridges.....🤗
halcro

Showing 10 responses by schubert

schubert
7,386 posts
 
Your ears can be just as good as frogman’s, our walking encyclopedia on all thinks musical .

First step is to listen to live acoustic music for about 60, 000 hours , maybe 50,000 if you do the playing and either way take Music Theory 101-102 at a
university School of Music at the same time .You can read the 4-500
musical history books at home in your spare time .
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Halcro, I have both tube and SS amps and pre-amps . Speakers often like one combo or the other , no doubt impedance matching of entire system IMO . I agree 1000% with frogman on the Synergy . Both the fun and PITA
of the audio hobby aka addiction .

The 450 was mounted on a friends Rega P8 , the fabulous 880 arm on that jewel no doubt had something to do with it . He is also a master of TT set-up as well .In any event it did what needed to be done quite well for $250 .Natch, there is always something better .
schubert
7,386 posts
 
I have always disliked AT carts, including Signet even when I could get them for free .
A good friend of mine whose ear I trust told me the ATVM540ML was coherent top to bottom , better than VM750 .I went over with demo LP’s in hand to school him about his $250 cartridge .

He took me to school , 540 is all of that, by far best AT I ever heard .His TT is a Rega 8 which is formidable .
schubert
7,386 posts
 
What other outcome would there be from a bunch of old rockers ?
schubert
7,386 posts
 
EVERY Acutex cart sounded good , even the ones who cost 10 bucks a pop if dealer bought a hundred at a time in the 70’s !
frogman loves words as much(almost?) as music , not unusual in artists but his expression skill is .Often an intelligent person like him who is not a native speaker of English has studied the language to a much higher level than those of us who just picked it up at moms knee .
There is a cliff you fall over , a door that opens, after you hear X time of LIVE acoustic music where all the pieces just
fall together like it does to a puzzle freak with 50 years at the card table under their belt .

schubert
7,386 posts
 
Frogman , I wonder if you ever played under JoAnn Falletta ?
Performance Today out of St. Paul plays her all the time , her tight control
over the Buffalo Phil  and what she had done  there is amazing to me !
schubert
7,386 posts
 
frog , what do you think is the result of hearing more music in the orchestra
than in middle hall ?

schubert
7,386 posts
 
frogman because a good DD has the drive needed for Brahms 1 or Mahler 8, better to be ahead on leading edge than behind . We’re talking micro here , but you know how important that is .

The best cart I have found lately is anything Soundsmith sells .Their 400$  Otello is clear and resolved,  good on low levels . Re-tip ones are $299 on Music Direct .

schubert
7,386 posts
 
You need a good DD table-LOL
schubert
7,386 posts
 
I used a 420 for several years WAY back in the day because it did what needing doing with classical music .I worked part time for a guy that was turning 20 million $ in audio in the 70’s , about 100 million $ today .
We sold every brand of MM, save Grado, and a few MC’s , notably Dynavector , there was and I tried them all .Only thing I liked better was the Empire ED R9(?) in any event the best Empire made .Used either big Sansui integrated or Dynaco 400 with AR- LST or AR-9 .(and about 10 other speakers ) .
We bought Acutex by the hundreds , I got couple 420’s from their rep for free.As I recall , we paid 25-30 bucks for them but don’t quote me .I like MM better. Listening to , say, a Brahms symphony I’ve found can you feel the drive and energy coiling up in your mind and muscles from an MM if everything in your system is in synergy .As as we all know that is very difficult and very expensive .

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