gakerty, I love the 980LZS, too. In my case, I have the 981LZS, one NOS and one used. It is said that the 981 is a selected 980, but i doubt that makes any difference.
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Thanks, Atma, but I did mention somewhere that RIAA has that shelf between 500 and 2KHz. Which would not be properly compensated by an unadulterated ceramic. Seems some of them had compensating networks built in, or not.
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Just to avoid confusion for anyone wanting to track down one of the great B&O cartridges (they're not all great necessarily), bill K is correct, "MMC20CL". I was incorrect, "MM20CL" is wrong. The "MMC" part stands for "Moving Micro Cross", not Moving Coil. It's an MI type.
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MMC1 or MM20CL. I destroyed the OEM cantilever on my MMC1 because of the stupid built in stylus guard. Had it replaced by SS but their sapphire cantilever is solid as opposed to a hollow tube in the original and looks less delicate. I haven’t auditioned the repaired version but the original was one of the best cartridges ever. Tracked everything at 1g.
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Back to the Philips. It seems odd to first add a filter apparently built into the cartridge to make its voltage output vs frequency curve mimic that of a traditional magnetic cartridge and then connect its output to a conventional RIAA phono stage which re-corrects the frequency response. Would it not be more pure to run the uncorrected output into a simple linear preamplifier? (Yes, there is the shelf between 500Hz and 2kHz, built into the RIAA specification, but that by itself would be easier to compensate for in the preamplifier alone, or so it seems to me.) I guess that built in filter (and reduction of voltage output) was deemed necessary back in the day to encourage sales to 'philes who already owned MM stages.
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Raul, For what it’s worth I have an NOS Stanton 881S mk2, as well as an NOS Stanton 981LZS, and a used sample of 981LZS, as well. All thanks to you and your MM thread. Else I might never have appreciated the great now vintage MM and MI cartridges.
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Pindac, thanks for posting that YouTube video. Music is wonderful but has little to no bass content, so difficult to judge the overall cartridge performance. I take your word that it’s good. I was hoping there’d be some explanation of the preamplification being used, since ceramic cartridge output V is dependent upon stylus displacement not velocity. So ceramics don’t need RIAA filtering in the phono stage. What was going on when you auditioned the Philips ceramic?
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To be fair to Grado, it’s usually not the cartridge per se that hums, it’s either the TT grounding scheme, as in the case with a Rega TT, or it’s EMI radiated from the motor, if it comes too close to the cartridge. There are remedies in both cases.
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Pindac, I think the idea of a ceramic cartridge in this day and age is more akin to a screwball than to a curve ball, in baseball parlance. This is not to say it's crazy (one definition of screwball) but that it is more esoteric than a curve ball.
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Nagaoka are superb by reputation. (I’ve not heard one.) Their TOTL MP500 can be had at the low end of your price range. Personally, I have been consistently underwhelmed by Sumiko, and Clearaudio cartridges are typically made for them by someone else, which raises their cost compared to similar performers. Among the 3 brands the OP named, I’d go Grado.
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Grace Ruby. Also other more rare Grace MM cartridges, with advanced styli; I forget the nomenclature. Also vintage Acutex (MI) and B&O MMC1 and MM20CL (both also MI). These will blow away many mid priced MCs and all HOMCs I have ever heard ( includes some Sumiko, Transfig Esprit, Benz Glider 1 and 2). These are only my opinions based on listening in my two home systems.
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Grado are moving iron, not MM.
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