Magic Diamond vs Airtight PC1?

Absolute nonsense.
.

Krc, I will "ditto" Slipknot1's comments on the Magic Diamond cartridge and also reference an answer I posted to another thread on the Magic Diamond a few nights ago and another from about a year ago, fwiw. These earlier comments continue to hold true for me. One additional consideration is arm synergy, as Piedpiper mentions. Both Slipknot1 and I use the Magic Diamond on the Walker Audio turntable with it's linear air bearing arm. You *may* find a similar synergy on the linear air bearing Eminent Technology arm.

The only person I know who may have listened to both the Magic Diamond and the Airtight PC1 in the same system is Lloyd Walker. I know he had an Airtight PC1, but I don't know if he ever mounted it for an evaluation. Lloyd's very approachable and he'll tell you exactly what he hears, bad or good. I encourage you to call him for a chat.

Good luck in your search, and let us know what you do!
.

I made the mistake of listening to Mr Andreoli's "Silver Spirit" cartridge at Lloyd Walker's house. (It's the the "big brother" to his Magic Diamond cartridge.) I'm ruined. As much as I like my Magic Diamond, the Silver Spirit is even better. Too bad I can't afford it at U.S. retail prices. Such is life in this crazy hobby of ours... :-)

.

I think slipknot must have a typo in his description. The Magic Diamond is a medium output cartridge and, as I recall from speaking with Lloyd, the output voltage is about 0.36mV.
.

Slipknot, the 0.6mV typo Ebalog mentions is in your System description under Magic Diamond. And the correct output figure might be 0.38mV -- it's certainly somewhere in that range. I'll check this evening to see if the output figure is printed on the packaging materials anywhere.

I pulled the Magic Diamond spec sheet that came with mine, which is identified as serial number "MD-B 10003" (there may be some minor variations among these since they are all hand made in very small production runs). The specs listed are:

Tracking Force; 2.2 - 2.5 grams
Source impedance: 42 ohms
Load impedance: 40 - 250 ohms
Compliance: 6 cu

Output voltage is not listed.
.

Give the Magic Diamond about 50 hours of playing time before assessing it. Then be sure to re-do your finetuning for VTF and VTA to account for the suspension loosening up. The bass perfomance does improve with breakin, just be sure to readjust. As a starting point in setting VTA, try angled down very slightly to the rear at first. The best turntable finetuning process I know of is the iterative process described by Lloyd Walker at his web site: www.walkeraudio.com. Also, keep in mind that the Magic Diamond is a very neutral cartridge. It won't be exaggerating any part of the frequency range.
.

Ejayncrrcom, keep in mind that you are aligning the cantilever and stylus to the record groove, not the cartridge body. It is possible for any cartidge to have it's body and its cartridge assembly out of alignment with each other due to some variability in assembly; that in itself will not affect playback performance. Just focus on setting your asimuth based on the cantilever/sylus assembly relative to the record groove, and use some careful listening to optimize.
.

Krc, I can't comment on the PC1, but I believe you will find the mid-range of the Magic Diamond to match your requirements very well -- neutral but not analytical, timbre is spot on, rendering of harmonic overtone shadings is excellent, resolution is among of the best I've heard -- for me it's an ideal transducer for vocals and for acoustic instruments because it reproduces the nuances so well. The Magic Diamond won't "prettify" anything, so it won't make a vocalist's voice more beautiful than real -- it simply delivers everything straight up without editorializing.

Raul has heard both (but not in the same system, as I understand), so perhaps he will be able to elaborate on any contrasts he observes.
.

Interesting amount of hyperbole and hand wringing going on in this thread since I last looked at it. (Sorry, just haven't had the time recently.) As an owner of the Magic Diamond, and a big fan of what it delivers, my view is the same as Raul's. This is a superb cartridge, easily one of the top several currently available. I added it in my system after hearing it many times in Lloyd Walker's system. Raul has listened to this cartridge in Slipknot's system, as have I. Dave Robinson, Positive Feedback Online, keeps it in his reference system. If it is a modified 103, it performs at an entirely different level and it continues to be one of the most timrally accurate and most resolving cartridges I've listened to. If you can match what this cartridge does in some other way at a lower cost, my best wishes are with you.

Cheers,

Gadfly, in which case you will be enjoying a cartridge superior to many of the best cartridges on the market. This will be a remarkable accomplishment well worth the effort. Good luck.
.