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Hear my Cartridges....🎶

Many Forums have a 'Show your Turntables' Thread or 'Show your Cartridges' Thread but that's just 'eye-candy'.... These days, it's possible to see and HEAR your turntables/arms and cartridges via YouTube videos.
Peter Breuninger does it on his AV Showrooms Site and Michael Fremer does it with high-res digital files made from his analogue front ends.
Now Fremer claims that the 'sound' on his high-res digital files captures the complex, ephemeral nuances and differences that he hears directly from the analogue equipment in his room.
That may well be....when he plays it through the rest of his high-end setup 😎
But when I play his files through my humble iMac speakers or even worse.....my iPad speakers.....they sound no more convincing than the YouTube videos produced by Breuninger.
Of course YouTube videos struggle to capture 'soundstage' (side to side and front to back) and obviously can't reproduce the effects of the lowest octaves out of subwoofers.....but.....they can sometimes give a reasonably accurate IMPRESSION of the overall sound of a system.

With that in mind.....see if any of you can distinguish the differences between some of my vintage (and modern) cartridges.
VICTOR X1
This cartridge is the pinnacle of the Victor MM designs and has a Shibata stylus on a beryllium cantilever. Almost impossible to find these days with its original Victor stylus assembly but if you are lucky enough to do so.....be prepared to pay over US$1000.....🤪
VICTOR 4MD-X1
This cartridge is down the ladder from the X1 but still has a Shibata stylus (don't know if the cantilever is beryllium?)
This cartridge was designed for 4-Channel reproduction and so has a wide frequency response 10Hz-60KHz.
Easier to find than the X1 but a lot cheaper (I got this one for US$130).
AUDIO TECHNICA AT ML180 OCC
Top of the line MM cartridge from Audio Technica with Microline Stylus on Gold-Plated Boron Tube cantilever.
Expensive if you can find one....think US$1000.

I will be interested if people can hear any differences in these three vintage MM cartridges....
Then I might post some vintage MMs against vintage and MODERN LOMC cartridges.....🤗
128x128halcro
dover
2,182 posts
 
@frogman 
@halcro 

The Glanz moving flux system is patented 
https://patents.justia.com/patent/4072823
as are their stylus profiles.

From my understanding it has a unique construction that provides a very linear flux density field as the cantilever moves.

It also has very low inductance ( approx 120mH ) compared to most typical MM's at 400-800mH.

As a consequence of the low inductance it is very sensitive to resistive loading, less sensitive to capacitive loading.

My MFG61 has at times blown away my Koetsu Black Goldline, at other times it has sounded as dead as a doornail. It's a very sensitive beast to tonearms/loading/cabling.
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Thanks for all that info @dover
This Glanz is a strange beast.....Haven’t experienced a cartridge quite like it before 🧐
It can change its sound whilst I’m sitting listening to it!!!??
As a consequence of the low inductance it is very sensitive to resistive loading, less sensitive to capacitive loading.
VERY sensitive is almost an understatement 🤪Also VERY sensitive to the smallest changes to VTF and VTA

I hope all this sensitivity and changeability settles down...?

halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Finally the Glanz seems to have run-in so that I can settle on the VTF and Loading.....
I just hope Maria has put her teeth back in.....😬

GLANZ MFG 610LX (with teeth)

GLANZ MFG 610LX Toothless 
dover
2,182 posts
 
@halcro 
cc @frogman 

Glanz with teeth - 

Much better now.
Marias voice is more articulated, leading edges of words are clearer, you can hear her chest cavity, more power, dynamic contrasts, tonal colours vastly better - she soars.
With regards to the orchestral presentation - much more urgency, instrumental tonal colours much much better to my ears. Woodwinds and strings to me sound much more realistic.
For me there is much less compression of sound.

Whats your view of the cartridge now ??
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
I like the  Glanz 610LX a lot.....

I've been thinking for a while now......🤔
You guys can detect the smallest differences between cartridges.
You can hear:-
  • Whether a MM or MC
  • Differences in Loading
  • Differences between Headshells
  • Differences between Arms
I have little doubt that if I recorded the same track with various changes to VTF and VTA....you'd be able to hear them 🤗
This is really mind-blowing stuff when you think about it...🤯
You're able to detect these differences via the limitations of the YouTube Video!!

But can you hear the differences between TURNTABLES??!!!
Of course you can....🤪
Many lovers of Belt-Drive claim they can't stand the sound of Direct-Drive 🙉
Good grief.....the entire world of High-End Audio (particularly in Great Britain in the '70s and '80s) began with the 'revolutionary' CLAIM that the 'Turntable' was the most important element of the Audio System!!!
Linn, Rega, STD, Pink Triangle, Avid, SME all swamped the turntable market and drove the 'lowly' Japanese-made Direct-Drive industry into a DJ and low-consumer-only product.
I bought my first serious Hi-Fi System in 1978 before reading any journals or doing any research.
So I bought a Technics SL-1700 with Kenwood Integrated Amp, Tuner, Tape-Deck.
As soon as I heard the sound, I was 'hooked' and delved into the world of 'AUDIO'.
In Australia at that time, there was no Stereophile or TAS (I learned later that these were 'Underground Magazines'...not available at Newsagents) but we had the British 'Hi-Fi Answers' and 'What Hi-Fi' which were very entertaining and convincing.....
After two years of reading 'only' about Linn, Rega and other Belt-Drives...I saw a Rega Planar 3 with Hadcock Arm in the Classifieds (John Russin-"Exotic Stuff Cheap") 🙏
I sold my SL-1700 to a friend at work and set up my new deck....
I was about to experience the 'High-End'....👏
As I worked my way through my modest record collection....I couldn't for the life of me, hear added detail, information or PRAT over the Technics!!!?
Was I the victim of a 'scam'....? 🤥🧐

The previous 'blind' cartridge comparison here was great fun......
Why not try it with two turntables?

TURNTABLE 1 - Belt-Drive or Direct-Drive? 
                           And WHY?
TURNTABLE 2 - Belt-Drive or Direct-Drive?
                           And WHY?
TURNTABLE 3 - Belt-Drive or Direct-Drive?
                           And WHY?
TURNTABLE 4 - Belt-Drive or Direct-Drive? 
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