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ZEN cartridge ?
I have a "ZEN" (that''s the name in the front with gold letters) cartridge and can't find any information about it. In the back has a numbe rthat looks like is the serial: EQ41 or E041 in white letters that seems to be writen aat hand. Has black body, gold stylus cover and is gold and varnished wood top. Would like to find some info about it.... can you help me?
thanks in advance
thanks in advance
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Like Takeda San when he was OEM for Levinson, Cello, Krell, MoFi and 47Labs before setting up his own Miyabi brand. 47Labs was last destination of Takeda-San, he retired then. Miyabi was before 47Labs, luckily I managed to get Standard and MCA models. JVC Victor may have been a large corporation at the time, but it was not particularly known for phono cartridges. I think they made millions of MM cartridges (maybe less MC) and Shibata stylus was their patent. Here is a list of Victor products. Construction of the MC1 printed coil is here. Construction of MC-L10 coil is here. And BTW what Audio-Technica made in 21st century ( ART-1000 ) is just Victor MC-L1000 principle. "New" is not always new :)) |
@chakster, thanks for pointing this out. The owner’s manual and specs are all in Japanese and I just assumed the cantilever would be aluminum. But upon closer inspection it looks to be a solid rod of a brighter metal. So you could be correct that the MC-L1000 is also beryllium. @best-groove, I agree that both cartridges may have been OEM from another manufacturer (or an artisan one man operation, as the case might be). JVC Victor may have been a large corporation at the time, but it was not particularly known for phono cartridges. I don’t have much information on the designer apart from his name, but Kanno San currently does the design work for Phasemation. Perhaps he had and still has his own workshop? Like Takeda San when he was OEM for Levinson, Cello, Krell, MoFi and 47Labs before setting up his own Miyabi brand. Or Matsudaira San as OEM for Air Tight, TechDas, Accuphase, etc. next to his own MSL brand. |
Maybe Victor was an OEM for Zen?... or maybe both are OEM from another manufacturer? the construction of the coils is as the L1000 (not etched) yes it is exactly as you claim, the coils are of wire and are applied in a plastic support. A realization "similar" to this one for example. https://i.postimg.cc/Px2FpnKc/IMG-0502bb-thumb-jpg-91550aeacfcb7271ba5b16a60e18ed7b.jpg in any case I read the story of Sato Musen many years ago, unfortunately a long time has passed and I don't remember well; I should look in some old Japanese magazine. |
Funny how the Zenn cartridge keeps creeping into this discussion 😉 As for the Sato Musen Zen, my guess is that this was indeed built by Victor, similar or even identical to Kanno’s original design. While the body looks more like the MC-L10, the construction of the coils is as the L1000 (not etched) and the specs are also identical. I don’t know the facts on the Sato Musen brand, but most likely it was a small Japanese operation specialized in audio related products. Apparently they were in the position to request from Victor/Kanno-San a special version with a diamond cantilever, which was never available from Victor. I have both the MC-L1000 and Sato Musen Zen Diamond and they share the same sonic profile. Both are capable of producing huge dynamic swings that make the soundstage balloon in all directions, seemingly without any limitations. The Zen with diamond cantilever is if anything even more explosive than MC-L1000 with aluminum cantilever. But it also sounds slightly warmer in the midrange, perhaps due to the different body material. The only other cartridge I know that can manage this sort of dynamics is the original Ikeda 9. This cantileverless design also has the coils directly above the stylus. Reports from other users suggest that the Decca and the Neumann DST, also variations on this ’direct couple’ theme, have the same characteristics. Obviously no coincidence! |
There are always auction battle for those good vintage cartridges. Regarding Victor I can say that MC-L10 is cheaper than MC-L1000. Anyway, whatever. It’s interesting that Zen cartridge body is just like Victor MC1 and L10. I have no idea how anyone could make a cartridge body look like Victor without Victor's permission. Maybe Victor was an OEM for Zen? Direct Coupled is JVC Victor’s patent. Who is Sato Musen then? |
Victor Direct Couple MC-1 cartride was introduced in 1977, then the MC-2E, MC-L10 (on my image) and finally MC-L1000 appeared on the market in Japan. The coil of the MC-1 is printed micro-coil made by IC lithography process, and sitting near the stylus! They are all quite nice sounding cartridges in my opinion. From my conversation with J.Carr (designer of Lyra carts) I’ve learned that while the MC-L1000 was certainly the most extreme of the range, that is not necessarily the same thing as musical enjoyment, many listeners would probably consider the MC-L10 to be better balanced, less merciless, and more musically enjoyable. |
I own a Zenn mcz/2 and it is a wonderful cart. I also own both Victor MC-1 and MC-5E. it is quite remarkable how similar the ZENN and the MC-1 sound. Easily two of my favorite cartridges ever-so far... unfortunately the MC-1 I acquired was NOS from the estate of Bill Johnson of Audio Research I just noticed the substrate the coil is printed on is delaminating. it still sounds great but not for long..... |
@edgewear yes you are right, I meant to indicate that it has the cantilever in diamonds to distinguish it from cantilever in aluminum or beryllium or other materials, The Sony 88D belongs to this category like the old Dyna 17D. The stylus is embedded it is not a single stylus / cantilever body like the 88D |
@best-groove, I agree with you that the Sato Musen Zen Diamond is an absolutely wonderful cartridge. To my ears sonically competitive with current top mc cartridges. For the record it needs to be said that the diamond cantilever is NOT like the Sony XL-88D. This cartridge utilized a one piece diamond cantilever/stylus assembly, which to my knowledge is unique and exclusive to Sony. The diamond cantilever of the Sato Musen looks very similar to the one used on Dynavector’s Karat Nova 13D. The way the stylus is attached to the cantilever seems to indicate they were both sourced from Namiki. |
This is my Sato Musen Zen Diamond which I have owned for many years, is very very rare and I use it sparingly; this is an excellent cartridge, it has the diamond cantilever (like Sony XL 88D) At the time it sounded much better than the Koetsu Onix. https://i.postimg.cc/VsFwVwP9/AA.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/43tkbk19/H.jpg. |
More or less accidentally I stumbled on this old thread about 'zen' cartridges and the resulting confusion as there are in fact two kinds: the Zenn brand designed by Hiroaki Hibino and identical to the Klipsch MCZ series (Z presumably for Zen?) and the Zen model released by Sato Musen. The name of the designer of this cartridge is unknown to me, but the construction has more than a passing resemblance to the direct couple design as seen in the Victor MC- L1000. The Sato Musen is incredibly rare and hard to find, but even the Diamond (cantilever) version is less costly than the Victor, which has become something of a cult item. This started a few years ago, when Audio Technica released their 'revolutionary' AT-ART1000 Direct Power MC cartridge at $5k+, which is clearly based on Victor's Direct Couple design. The Zenn (or Klipsch) comes around slightly more often - except the diamond cantilever version, which I've never seen - and are usually offered at very reasonable prices. Both these 'zen(n)' cartridges dating from the 1980's (!) are absolutely wonderful performers, so anyone interested in 'vintage' MC cartridges should keep an eye out for these two. Both can be found on the right side of $1000 and they easily compete with most cartridges on the market today. |
According to the user manual provided by my MCZ-2 (aluminium cantilever) the specs are nearly identical. The only difference is compliance depending from the cantilever but not worth mentioning. The specs as provided by comrade Mofimadness need some corrections: Fr. range : 20Hz-45 KHz Impedance : 2 Ohms VTF : 1,8 +/- 0,3 g Weight : 5,1 g |
wow !!! what a great job people, I really appreciate all information and "detective work" . I didn't try it yet, I have it for more than a year but never use it. Will see how it works in the near future. Looks like it is a rare finding. If someone have more info please add it here, will be a good source for future fellow 'gners interested in this same cart. |
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Prof. Hiroaki Hibino, a long time user of Klipsch speakers, was not satisfy with the dynamic performance of the regular carts and designed his own. He demonstrated his cart to Paul Klipsch who was so impressed that he ordered 4 (?)models with different cantilevers to satisfy different subjective preferences. Those are known(?) as 'Klipsch MCZ -' carts. Later on Hibino produced 'the same' cart under his own brand name 'Zenn MCZ'. If I remember well the cantilevers were: aluminium, boron, sapphire and diamond. I own the Klipsch MCZ-2 with aluminium cantilever. |
Here are the translated specs: Price \ 59,000 ■ power generation method MC type ■ output voltage 0.2 mV (5 cm / sec 1 kHz) ■ needle pressure 1.7 g ~ 2.2 g ■ reproduction frequency band 20-20,000Hz ■ Channel separation 27 dB (1 kHz) ■ channel balance ■ compliance 8 × 10 -6 cm / dyne ■ load resistance 30 ohms ■ load capacity ■ internal impedance 30 ohms ■ needlepoint 0.6 mil ■ own weight 10g ■ exchange needle actual item exchange (\ 39,500) ■ released 1981 ■ discontinued 1988-89 circa ■ remarks price 1981 those of circa sapphire cantilever adoption. |
Jorsan...I found this link. You need to scroll down the page a little to see the ZEN cartridge picture. It is indeed a Sato Musen! Great detective work. |
What shows in front is ZEN. this is the link for the photos: http://s44.photobucket.com/user/jorsanchez/library/ZEN? sort=3&page=1 Maybe Zen is the model; in the vinylengine's cartridge database there is a Sato Musen brand that has a Zen model, but there is no photo so can't tell for sure if this is the one or not. I ask this same question here in the past but couldn't find the information that I was looking for. thanks |
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There is a ZENN cartridge. Not sure if that's it or not. Could you post a pic or two of it? You can't post pics on here, but maybe on Photobucket or something like that and give us the link. |