What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?

@pindac if you are ever in the Boston area (we are 45 minutes North in Southern NH) you are more than welcome to come over and have an extended listen.  😉 

@pindac, @sksos , It is odd that the cartridges Mr Matsudaira designs and builds cartridges for other companies that are so highly reviewed, the Air Tights in particular, but you hardly hear about his own cartridges. 

I have many hand made Japanese woodworking tools and the Japanese put have special pride in the tools they sign with there own names and they frequently give the tool it's own name. It is obvious to anyone that uses them that these tools are indeed special. I think this is a cultural trait.  So, I was drawn to his own cartridges and that trait was obvious just looking at it in the box. The Signature Platinum is much smaller than it appears in pictures. The logo is perfectly engraved and the finish flawless. All the angles are dead on and the stylus is the smallest I have ever seen and perfectly polished under high power. It is a little Jewel. In the Schroder CB tonearm plugged into a current mode phono stage (6dB more gain than voltage mode) the Platinum Signature is as or more dynamic than any cartridge I have ever used. It's bass is as good as the best 24/192 digital recordings and it's spatial orientation of instruments is uncanny, the spaces between dead quiet. It does everything from 45 rpm Led Zeppelin to old Decca classics with aplomb, a cartridge for all days and all ways.

The internet seems to feel that the Signature Gold is "warmer." I have trouble imagining that. Is It tilted towards the low end or the transients softer? It uses the same stylus but in a Duralumin cantilever. All other specifics except the metal used for the body are identical. The Duralumin cantilever is slightly larger in diameter so it is probably just as stiff. Is it warmer because it's Gold and the Platinum is icy silver? I bet if we put the two together there is not much at all between them. 

Until I use other low impedance cartridges I really have no basis for comparison, but that will change shortly. In the meanwhile I think either Signature would match up beautifully with the Four Point 9 or 11. The 14 might be a bit too heavy for it. I think the Kuzma M with a 4 Point 11 and a MSL Signature would make a wonderful final turntable set up. You could spend a lot more money and do substantially worse!

Mijo, does your Seti offer both current- and voltage-mode drive?  Was wondering how you can know, except by guesstimate, that you are getting "6db" more gain from current-drive vs voltage-drive.  Most companies won't list a gain spec for their current mode phono stages, I think because net gain from current output is so dependent upon how the internal impedance of the cartridge interacts with the input impedance of the stage.  However, at the output in both cases you do have a voltage, so that's where you could compare the two types of stage in terms of db output.  The difference between current- and voltage-drive would be different for every cartridge, in this case.

I have signed my tool, too.  I call it "Mr Happy". But I refuse to lacquer it.

There is a switch on the front panel of the Seta. You can go back and forth between current mode and voltage mode. On my Lynx Hilo I have both input and output metering in one dB increments with a peak hold function. 6 dB is 6 pixels to the right and I am not blind yet. Yes, the gain depends on the internal impedance of the cartridge and I will have three different low impedance cartridges with which to test that theory. 

It sounds to me that Mr Happy could use a good lacquering. 

For a certain level of Clientele, even Sake can be supplied in finest of packaging craft man produced to an ancient discipline. I'm pretty much sure the Vessel for containing the Sake, will have been produced from the Furnace of a renowned Ancient Families present day members maintaining the traditions.

It is always down to how a certain individual likes to separate themselves from a more common approach to a purchasing of a Product and how much pomp and ceremony they choose they need to attach themselves to Justify the purchase of a luxurious item.

I have seen a few descriptions offered of the MSL Signature Cart's across different forums and have only seen one that has added much rosiness and romanticism as the influencing factor of the Purchase. 

I went into my Garden Shed and have seen a Saw from a Bygone era, and thought WOW!, that's impressive Craftmanship, I want to buy a Cartridge with all this Heritage and Tradition behind it. Then ending up with Titanium, Extra Super Duralumin, Super Duralumin and Boron as the Item that is the connection to the past craftmanship. That is difficult for myself to buy into. 

I prefer, I have a few quid spare and bought this and for me it proved to be up my street and a good buy it was too, but that's me.       

@pindac, it seems you missed the point probably because I did not word it well. 

The beauty of a fine, hand forged Japanese handsaw is that it will be perfectly tensioned and follow a line perfectly on both sides of the wood. It won't wander off the cut. With commercial saws it is hit or miss. It is entirely about performance. Getting a saw to to cut perfectly straight takes time and skill. The masters that are business savvy will have their personal line then a commercial line that uses their name but is not made or signed by the master.

With cartridges it is all about performance which requires extreme precision with very small parts. It is not that Yoshio Matsudaira builds second rate cartridges for other companies, it is obvious that he does not. but I do think he puts that much more into his own. This is all about performance. Aesthetics are secondary.   

I'm still very curious if anyone has had the pleasure of listening to the MSL Gold Sig vs. Platnium Sig in the same system and can tell me the differences. 

Thanks in advance

I am fully on board with the Japanese Craftmanship in their Traditional Tool Making. I would love to spend time with a Skill that is replicating woodworking traditions that extend back a Thousand Years that have evolved into various established Traditions, that have been strictly followed for many hundreds of years, with the Tools required and Skills needed to produce this work being passed on through generations of families.

The Smithing Traditions and Skills required to produce the Steel and Tools is sharing a history that shares very similar culture as the Products produced with the Tools.

The Layered Steel required to produce the Tools, comes from Ancient Tradition, the Traditions of the Swordsmith will always come to the forefront in most discussions.  These are one area of Smithing, there are disciplines for working with Steel that are highly sought, such as producing Tamahagane Steel, families are Three to Four Generations Old carrying out this discipline and there are Apprentices from these families' forges having produced these Steels as an apprentice and Smith for more than 60 years, a life's work to preserve a tradition.

I get it and I get the ritualistic disciplines to remain faithful to the preservation of the disciplines.

Where I am not getting it, is how Japanese National who has a recognised Skill for producing a product that belongs to a very modern world, who is marrying a selection of Modern Materials to assemble a very modern world product, is selected as an individual to be offering the Heritage of the Smith and Carpenter. 

Ikea is a Designer of Carpentry and very modern. Ortofon is a Designer of Cartridges and share a very modern history almost the same as Ikea, but a little longer as an established Brand Name.

My Take on it, is that all Cartridges that are of Interest to the user of a Vinyl LP as a Source Material, are a Modernistic Design and dependant on modern technologies to perform to the standards that are expected. It might be an attractive idea, to bring a Tradition to the Design when considering an Aesthetic or USP, but this tradition when added certainly is not a requirement for a Cartridge to Function.

If I were to follow the Instructions in a Cabinet Makers Text Book and apply a Heritage Coating such as a Shellac Finish on to an Item of Ikea Designed and Produced furniture. I fail to see how this can not acceptably present itself as a comparison to any modern product, that coated with a Heritage Coating.

Urushi on a Cart' Body, Shellac on Ikea.

Realisation both are precision produced with a design that is attractive to many, but neither are Born from Generations of Handed Down Heritage.

If a modern product is supplied in Presentation / Storage / Transportation Box, that has very attractive features and is possibly even hand produced by a Craftsman with Heritage Skills, this does not transfer to the Modern Product contained within, the Product in the Box, only has a Heritage back to the time it appeared as marketable product.

A Cart' is a Sacrificial Part to be used, it comes with various design options and a wide range in pricing to acquire such a part. If one chooses to extend their purchasing to the upper end of the pricing scale, that is fine, as said I have interest in a Cart' from this Pricing end and want to encounter one for the experience.

I certainly won't be creating fantastical reasons as to the reason it should be acquired. It is either an attractive item in use and as a result of the impression made, become a worthwhile consideration as a Purchase, or it is not.  

**** If I were to follow the Instructions in a Cabinet Makers Text Book and apply a Heritage Coating such as a Shellac Finish on to an Item of Ikea Designed and Produced furniture. I fail to see how this can not acceptably present itself as a comparison to any modern product, that coated with a Heritage Coating. ****

Wow!  No offense intended, but really?  It’s been maybe five years since I have bought a piece designed/produced by IKEA, so I suppose it’s possible that unbeknownst to me the quality of materials used and care in assembly has experienced a major uptick.  But, I don’t see it.  Those are just two things that a great craftsman can bring to the table (no pun) that completely elude most mass producers.  

The context being, the era of evolving designs such as Ikea Furniture and the Phono Cartridge Designs for the Vinyl LP at 331/3 and 45 RPM share a very similar time in history.

No matter what one does to them, in their attempts to attach the products to a desirable Heritage, there is no Heritage associated with the Design and Production of the modern world items, that spans back to the Period of History, where the Craftsmanship is revered, valued, protected and preserved.

That element of association is clever marketing, especially through a Models Naming being related to a Tradition, followed with the idea intimated of being Craftsmen Produced, or when an aesthetic is being added as a coating to a part belonging to the assembly, that is being awarded the status as a 10000-year old ancient tradition. Not one of these cleverly dropped in messages, is able to produce a Cartridge to an improved level, these are there to appeal to certain clientele and be persuasive in their content. Then there are those who actually believe the spiel. 

A person was once intercepted by a TV Team and asked on a TV interview, if they were in any way influenced by the methods used for Marketing Alcohol.

The person made it known they were absolutely not under any influence.

The person was then asked what their drink of choice was, which was made known to be Guiness.

The person was then asked why they would choose to drink Guiness, to which the reply was 'it's good for you'.     

Mijo, I hope you know that my question was not meant to upstage you. I was merely looking for the information you've kindly now provided.  I've hooked up my BMC to three different low output, low internal impedance cartridges, and I can confirm the relationship between impedances and apparent gain.  This is as theory predicts, but still it is quite interesting to me to experience it.

Ha!, the worlds best cartridge is the one I’m listening too now.  The others don’t matter. =)

N 

@normansizemore please inform us what cartridge you are listening to now.

@lewm , not at all Lew. I just got the tracking number on the MC Diamond. It will be delivered tomorrow. It is a higher impedance cartridge than the MSL, 6 ohms, so I shall see how big the drop of in gain is. I use the MSL on the lowest gain setting and there are 4 at 3 dB intervals. The signal to noise ratio won't be as good, but I can't imagine it won't be tolerable. 

What is the highest impedance cartridge you have used?

I have used the Audio Technica ART7 (0.12mV output, 12 ohms internal R), the ZYX Universe (0.24mV output, 4 ohms internal R), and the Ortofon MC2000 (.05mV output, 2 ohms internal R) into the BMC MCCI Signature ULN (phew, long name!). The gain structure with the ZYX is fine at 0db setting, with the AT, it blooms at +7db, which is too much for the ZYX. With the MC2000, the jury is out, either 0db or +7db, probably the former. Note that the MC2000, with a voltage output about half of the ART7, in theory it makes much more current than the ART7, because of lower internal R. But then too, the MCCI has a finite input impedance which also is a factor as the internal R of the cartridge approaches, equals, or is lower than the input impedance of the stage. It’s not that the cartridges don’t sound good with the excessive gain setting options; it just becomes overwhelming at some point. That system is out of commission for the moment; I have a tube problem in one of the Atma-sphere monoblocks. It has to go to my workbench for diagnosis. Which is why I cannot yet deliver a verdict on the optimal setting for the MC2000. The MCCI offers 0, +7, +11, and +14db options for gain, if memory serves. You set gain using jumpers inside the chassis, which is a bit of a pain if you’re changing cartridges all the time.

@lewm I have to say I'm amazed that you have had the continuing patience to deal with the 7241 power tubes! We don't modify any of our amplifiers to use that tube since most people don't have the patience to deal with them.

I have one output tube located in the R front corner of on one monoblock that keeps failing in the red glow death mode. This has happened 3 times over the course of years. But of those 3 incidents, two have occurred in the last 6 months. Last time on the bench, I naturally checked the potentiometer that controls bias and the upstream bias voltage circuit and found no problems. Moreover, it worked for 6 months between then and now. Two nights ago, after a 90-minute listening session, I heard crackling on the R speaker and then saw that the tube in that R front position was glowing red. Plus the CCS tube for the input dual differential cascode stage was also glowing red. (Never saw that before.) If you have a genius idea how the input stage CCS could affect bias on only one of 4 output tubes (7241s), I am all ears. (My guess is these were unrelated events.) But otherwise, I have had no problems with 7241s per se. I bias them conservatively at 400mA each. As you know, my amps permit separate control of bias for each output tube, and maybe that’s why I in general do get away with using the 7241. Sound marvelous.

I apologize for the off-topic post, but Ralph is my guru, and he did ask.

@lewm , Good luck getting it straightened out. I am still waiting PATIENTLY for my MA 2s, but I did throw a monkey wrench into the works by asking for a 12 volt trigger on the amps. I think the newer amps bias automatically. I always keep a full set of tubes in reserve. Being neurotic, when one blows I'll change them all. 

Fortunately, the Seta L plus has a front panel gain switch as well as a switch to toggle back and forth between current and voltage mode. But, there is one issue that is a PITA. The flat signal has separate output jacks from the RIAA analog corrected signal. To switch back and forth requires getting at the back panel and moving the XLRs. This makes it more difficult to A/B digital and analog RIAA correction. 

If you have a genius idea how the input stage CCS could affect bias on only one of 4 output tubes (7241s), I am all ears.

@lewm It can't but I imagine you knew that.

Ralph, thanks. Your corroborating my preliminary hypothesis will save time. Getting the very heavy chassis safely down to my basement workshop is my next problem. I’m hoping that the output tube in question was not damaged. Visual inspection shows that none of the 3 cathode wires is blown. That’s encouraging. There’s a problem in the bias circuit for that one position that’s going to be hard to find, because evidently I did not find it 6 months ago when the exact same problem occurred.

Mijo, as I think you know, my amplifiers are essentially older MA2s with huge EI type power transformers that make them very heavy. I think you’ll be getting toroidal power transformers on your new MA2s. Much lighter.

Mijo, as I think you know, my amplifiers are essentially older MA2s with huge EI type power transformers that make them very heavy. I think you’ll be getting toroidal power transformers on your new MA2s. Much lighter.

@lewm To be clear this is the M-240, of which exactly 6 chassis sets were made. It used a lot of MA-2 parts. You built yours up in bits didn't you?

Going to be a little sarcastic. The best phono cartridge in the world is the one you heard years ago in an audio shop when your hearing was still sensitive. It was the first really good one you heard and it left an indelible impression on you. 

It was the first really good one you heard and it left an indelible impression on you. 

I daresay there is something in what you say - first love and all that. The eye-opening (ear-opening?) experience that reveals previously unknown possibilities. Mine came with my father-in-laws LP12 (cartridge - I never knew enough to enquire at the time - it was about the music and not the equipment!), Quad amp and B&W active speakers. I later learned that wasn't quite perfection...

So, I have continued to enjoy such revelations with appropriate investments (and yes, there were too many investments made on the basis of reviews that disappointed). I am convinced there are more such leaps of experience to be made, but now being retired I don't think I shall ever make them given the price of admission.

Oh, that other kind of first love? She's still here. The one that stops me playing jazz, blues, Supertramp, Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers when she's around. But she did support me discovering opera in my thirties and travelling across the country three times a year for my fix at the COC. The one that was in tears this morning on hearing a choral version of The Lark Ascending. She's a keeper.

The Lark Ascending - A Musical Encounter like few others, it is Transcendental in how it can touch a person.

It does me proud when listened to on the TV, let alone the HiFi System.

@dogberry , A coral version of The Lark Ascending? I did not know a human voice could go that high. Vaughn Williams is an eternal favorite. 

I am about to retire and plan on completing my ultimate system. Damn the torpedoes! 

BBC Singers at The Edinburgh Festival, with Sofi Jeannin (mezzo) and arranged by Paul Drayton. I don't have a recording, but heard it on CBC radio (we have great FM reception here, but a pity the CBC plays mostly dreck these days).