Nagaoka MP500 is MI??? I always thought of Nagaoka cartridges as MM types.
I went to the Grado site to read about the Epoch3. It seems like a high premium to pay vs their slightly lesser products for cocobolo wood case, gold coils, a sapphire cantilever, and a stylus shape that they are a bit mysterious in describing but might be elliptical. For about one-third the price, you can have jarrah wood and a boron cantilever (the Statement3). However, the proof of the pudding is in the music each cartridge makes.
Hope RV does not mind us playing on his thread.
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Big Greg (and rv). Who was negative? The responses are of two types.(1) suggestions for altering the setup parameters, and (2) suggestions to allow time for further break-in, which makes a significant difference in my experience, particularly for MC cartridges that tend to be low compliance. My AT ART7 took at least 100 hours to stabilize, for example, and its compliance is actually higher than that of a typical MC.
Anyway, the OP has vowed to ignore his thread, so I expect he won’t be reading this.
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Rvpiano, do you realize that over a less than 3 day period from first listen you were first positive and then fairly negative about the Hana? Give it more time. Based on the date and time stamps on your posts, you claim to have listened for 20 hours in a span of a bit more than 30 hours. (When you went from 30 to 50 hours of listening to the Hana.) Whereupon you seem to have thrown in the towel. And if it’s not tracking orchestral music well , you might consider very slightly increasing VTF until the suspension breaks in. Say 2.1g instead of 2.0g.
Post less and listen more.
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Everyone is happy in the first 30 minutes of a new device in the audio chain, provided the new thing isn't broken. Wait a week or two. Not that I think you will ultimately be disappointed at all.
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Bill, Thanks. That's it!!! So messages are in the Dashboard segment, I guess. I found it once and then could not find it again. I guess Agon has to make this difficult in order to protect their own interests.
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Someone on this thread sent me a message about my Decca SC4E. Please send another message via the email route permitted by Audiogon. I cannot find where my internal messages are stored, even though I was there earlier today. To me, navigating the Audiogon website that governs interpersonal interactions of all kinds is a constant game. I have to figure it out all over again each time, because it is illogical. Either that, or I am not as smart as I think I am.
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mglik, I am on the opposite side of your question. I own OEM versions of B&O MMC1 and MMC20CL. I also own Acutex LPM320STRIII which I've heard both in its headshell adapter and in the Acutex Saturn adapter, which is much lower mass than any headshell. All of these are MI types and they are fantastic cartridges. The only MC type that I own that compares is the Ortofon MC2000, used with an external active gain stage into an MM phono input. I would have a hard time choosing among these options. What I wonder is how much better could a $10K+ cartridge like the Lyra Atlas SL be. I'm sure someone is going to pipe up and say that the Atlas SL is better, but I need to hear it for myself.
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I owned a Colibri and liked it, but I like other of my cartridges better. Since vdH make a myriad of versions of each of their major lines, it’s quite possible I’d love some other vdH, maybe even a different version of Colibri, better. But I don’t generally choose a cartridge based on lifespan of the stylus. Nor do I know of any data to support the notion that vdH styli outlast all others, though of course stylus shape seems to affect useful life span, or so I have read, and it makes some sense.
So you’re suggesting that vdH exclusively uses a stylus shape that renders its useful life significantly longer than any styli used by other makers(?)
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The stylus of any MC cartridge is replaceable, by a skilled professional. I just had it done by Expert Stylus for my Koetsu Urushi. What others refer to as regards the differences in repair-ability of MM vs MC is that for MM cartridges, you can buy a completely new stylus assembly, including cantilever and magnet. Then the owner can replace the unit on his own for no added cost. I am sure everyone knows this, so what is unique about vdH MC cartridges when it comes to stylus replacement?
Wolfie, Are you a professional re-tipper?
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All of the above advice is anecdotal (a story told by one person with no statistical validity). The best the op could do would be to read up on the 3 different transducers, and then listen for himself. It takes time and effort to figure out what suits you best.
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Yes, MI types have been given short shrift here. No, they are not the same as MM. Any vinyl aficionado ought to listen to a few different MI types. Unfortunately, only Grado and SoundSmith continue to build them in the modern era. MI types have lowest moving mass, can have medium to high output and high compliance. Inductance is lower than MM and higher than MC. Acutex, B&O, and a few others made excellent MI cartridges back in the day.
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edcyn, I just cannot agree with your hypothesis, based of course only on my own listening in my own system. A great cartridge is a great cartridge, regardless of its operating principle. A great cartridge will give you those things you describe. Many mid-priced LOMC cartridges cannot hold a candle to the best MM and MI types, in the very qualities you admire. Again, based on my own listening experiences. For example, you mention "tonality". In my experience many LOMC cartridges fail at conveying the tonality of a real piano (as opposed to an electric one). Many good MM cartridges do a better job, possibly because as Raul says, they tend to be high in compliance and thus can better reproduce the incredible dynamics of striking a piano key without a hint of mistracking which seems to produce a kind of distortion that makes acoustic pianos sound like electric ones. I don’t know this is the reason, but there is some logic to it.
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All qualitative generalizations on this subject are shaky. My experience only says that High Output MC cartridges don't usually compete well with MM, MI, or LOMC types. If you like the LOMC "sound", don't overlook MI types which are in the same vein and sometimes a better bang for the buck. (Notice I stuck in several general statements there while first having warned you about generalizations.)
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