Sumiko Pearwood Celebration II


I've been looking around for a cartridge upgrade for a little while.  I've decided to go with this one.  I see some mentions of it around the forums, but didn't see a real discussion.  If I'm duplicating, apologies. 

I'm upgrading from an A-T OC9ML/II, so it ought to be a nice step up. It'll be mounted on the TecnoArm (modified Rega 303, iirc) on my trusty Michell GyroDec SE.  Should be no problems there.  Phono stage will be an E.A.T. E-Glo Petit.

Looking forward to getting it mounted (if my eyes are still good enough and my hands are still steady enough) and hearing what it can do.  It's a plain rectangular body, so should be reasonably easy to get set up right.

Anybody have experience with this cart to share?  Tips?  Gotchas?

trentmemphis

That is a pretty big step. I suspect you will be thrilled after dialing it in.I see that it has been discontinued, which is no problem. But you should get it at a good discounted  price. Enjoy

 

Okay, here's what I'm seeing in my manual.  They recommend starting the VTA adjustment process with the tonearm slightly low, and working your way up to the correct level.  This is because they've found it's very difficult to find the right VTA by starting with the arm high and trying to work down.

I haven't owned many carts, but this is easily the most informative manual I've seen.  They bring lots of practical experience into play.  It's not just, "Here's what's geometrically correct in a line drawing.  Do this."  It's more, "We've found almost nobody can do xyz correctly, so we recommend abc."

The manual noted that the cartridge is designed so the back of the tonearm should be slightly lower than the front to achieve the optimum tracking angle.

Dont know why anyone would design a cartridge like that because if a tonearm has been designed to be in neutral balance when level, the arm's performance could be compromised, particularly when tracking warped records.

Interesting.  That's a new one to me.  I'll have to watch for that in the manual.  Thanks!

A very nice cartridge. I had the prior version. The manual noted that the cartridge is designed so the back of the tonearm should be slightly lower than the front to achieve the optimum tracking angle.

I don’t know if this is true for your version, but worth a look.