Is There An "Absolute" Best Cartridge?

i hope you guys are able to do this; for the fun of it at least. and i have a suggestion as to a way to have a proper reference. i would love to be there, but Munich in May is not an option for me.

find some Lps with corresponding RTR 15ips master dubs which are the source of the Lps. then you have a reference which can reduce the degree of personal preference involved in the ranking. or, at least, have that be part of the process to sort out the 'truth' from the 'beauty'.

i've done this exercise a few times using the master tape as a reference and it causes one to have a slightly different viewpoint on the music.....as the tape has essentially no characteristic as a cartridge tends to have. we become enamored with an aspect of the cartridge 'sound' and the tape tends to expose that as 'coloration'.

my expectation would be the Lyra Olympos SL as the overall winner.....and closest to the RTR master tape.

Dertonarm,

regarding RTR; there is nothing wrong with a Studer A-820 playing thru a custom Cello solid state output electronics as a reference. or an Ampex ATR-102 playing thru the same electronics. while i agree that 70's and 80's RTR decks had marginal output electronics they had superior transports to earlier machines. mated with great output electronics they are hard to beat. again we come to 'sounds' verses music. i've heard the Cello circuit compared to tubed output electronics. the tubes were slow and thick....the Cello was alive and allowed the music to breathe.....but had a much lower noise floor and greater refinement than the stock Studer output electronics.

have you investigated newer RTR transports with improved ss output electronics?

i guess we all have our 'holy grail's' and nothing will separate us from them.

there are many great cartridges i've not been exposed to. maybe the Olympos SL can be surpassed. i've just not heard that myself.