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Magic Diamond vs Airtight PC1?

In my quest for a new cartridge I seem to be narrowing my choice down to a Magic Diamond vs Airtight PC1. I have not been able to hear either of these so I am looking for any insight anyone can provide. I will be using the cartridge on a VPI TNT IV with an Eminent Technology 2.4 tone arm with the high pressure manifold. I am running dual mono with two Krell KPA Phono preamps. Thank you for any input.
krc

Showing 3 responses by hdm

hdm
1,075 posts
 
I completely missed this thread as $2500 cartridges are not my thing but just read up on this cartridge over at the vinyl asylum.

Has anyone here compared the Zu 103 at $399 to the Magic Diamond? Seems to me that would be a very interesting comparison as they appear to me to be pretty much the same thing. Or you can slot your 103 or 103R into a custom wood body by Uwe and quite probably save yourself about $2K that way as well.

Seriously, anyone considering this cartridge should take a look at some of the photos of nuded 103's and 103R's at the vinyl asylum before buying one of these.
hdm
1,075 posts
 
Yikes! I thought when I originally posted the MD cost $2,500! Looks like I was out by 3K! My apologies.
hdm
1,075 posts
 
Not only do they look the same, they essentially spec the same except for the slightly lower recommended range of tracking force (2.2 to 2.8 grams for the 103).

On top of that, the manufacturer was apparently a huge fan of the 103 many years before marketing this cartridge, extolling its virtues and ridiculing other moving coils as being inferior in design and overpriced!

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/vinyl/messages/73/736555.html

This one really does look like a duck and walk like a duck.
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