What is it in MM that can give me goose-bumps? 🤔


Neither the best resolution CD or MC will give me goose-bumps.
Changing to e.g. my AT 440ML will do, will emotionaly move me, has emotional *impact* with every note played. 
CD and even MC seems to resonate with my intellect, my MMs with my emotions. 
It seems somehow contradictory, but so it is. 
Anyone else has these experiences?
Michélle 🇿🇦 
128x128justmetoo

Showing 1 response by bdp24

Ya know, @noromance is right.

In asking about MM's, I take it the op is thinking of such cartridges in terms of their high output voltage compared to that of MC's, correct? Well, the Decca and London cartridges are MI's (Moving Iron), and have extremely high output---5mV!

If it's goosebumps you're looking for, nothing beats a Decca or London. No cantilever (in his early-mid 70's Stereophile reviews of various Decca's, J. Gordon Holt used the term "cantilever haze" to describe the sound of non-Decca cartridges), no rubber suspension. Their sound is extremely dynamic, explosive, immediate, alive, and robust. Yes, lots of "textural density" ;-) . It's sound in relation to other designs is like the sound of direct-to-disk LP's in relation to those pressed from tape sources.

However, Deccas and Londons are not for everyone. Their design presents a serious challenge to the tonearm they are mounted on. They produce a lot of mechanical energy (none of it lost in the cantilever and rubber suspension as in "normal" cartridges), and the arm had better have a very stiff & non-resonant arm tube and rattle-free bearings to deal with that energy. Of course, ALL cartridges benefit from such an arm, just not to the same degree.