Phono Cartridges

Trying out a Linn LP-12 with a Syrinx PU3 tonearm. Any suggestions for an appropriate cartridge?

 

I have had good results with the soundsmith carts. I tried the smmc3 and liked it, then bought the Zephyr which is great. Just picked up the Hana which still needs to be put through it's paces but on initial spin, doing a lot right. Vocal accuracy in particular is spot on, textures and timbers etc.

 

I have an MCR Reference, made by Scan-Tech \ Lyra for Spectral in '88 or '89. Back then this cart was supposed to be hot shit but even then it seems the AQ carts were preferred. They're the ones still around, after all.

Just ordered the Hana SL MkII which has a street date of Sept 23 but apparently you can order it online now.

 

Curious of your thoughts on the Linn. I don't know that arm but basic specs are similar to mine. I also have the AQ/Scan Tech cart - nude on boron, also excellent, need to resist it again.

 

Anyone interested in a wood cantilever?



They had me at 'Japanese' and 'wood.'

https://www.jico-stylus.com/morita/

 

Yeah I auditioned the Spectral gear (cartridge, pre/power amps) at the time of making my “end game rig” purchase. I just never cottoned to the Spectral “house sound”, which for me, when driving Apogees (my chosen speaker) sounded ever so “brittle” and overly “incisive”

The AQ to the Classe/Classe chain and thence to Apogees was just too synergistic. Still have that synergy today, with the Hana SL. It is exquisites on classic Jazz LP’s from the 50’s and 60’s; just exquisite.

 

I know this should go to the used deals thread but this is a likely audience.

I own this cart and it is exceptional = great price because it is used : $300

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650109804-soundsmith-zephyr-mk-ii-cartridge-high-output/

 

A complete rebuild can be had for $299 from Soundsmith. $600 total for essentially new performance at less than 50% of MSRP for the MK3. Great deal.

 

Anyone else here have/use/have heard the Nagaoka MP-500? It's my end game cart. Moving Iron, has the resolution/definition/openness of MC and the muscular presentation of MM, plus no need for step ups and replaceable stylus.

 

I heard it at @bobboxbody on a Basis table with Origin Live tonearm but not at length so hopefully he can provide more of his experience. It sounded great/no deficits I can recall. I have the MP200 and it’s very solid in every respect. I’m pretty sure I could be content with that cart for the duration, and the Audio Note IQ3 I recently acquired is not a significant improvement in my system. I would have no reservations acquiring the MP500 if I was in the market for an endgame MM.

 

Can second the MP200, been using it for about a month and very enjoyable. Not as "clean" as my soundsmith zephyr which is also moving iron. I would expect the MP500 to be closer to the Zephyr given the boron cantilever etc.

 

I haven't heard the Zephyr, but the MP-500 is very clean, and the most neutral of the Nagaoka cartridges. I haven't tried the 200 but I'm told it's great for rock.

 

The MP-500 was a great cart, and had a neutral presentation, but I went back to an MC. I enjoy a bit of euphonic coloration. I recently picked up a modified body DL103 with boron cantilever/microridge stylus and built a lundahl sut to go with it. Compared to the MP500, from memory only, there is a more distinctly layered soundstage, more solid bass, and a mid frequency emphasis. It works better in my system until I address the weak spots in my speaker crossovers, which tend to suck out some mids. I was perfectly happy with the MP500 as a cartridge, but synergy is key.

 

Just read through this entire thread and learned a lot. I thought you could just toss on any cartridge that fits, adjust and there you go. But there is tons more nuance.

I picked up a Dual 721 with the stock Shure V15-iii cart and stylus. I was thinking of grabbing another headshell and getting a complimentary cart cart to the shure but it seems the biggest hurdle is finding what compliance is right. The dual 721 had 2 tone arm options with one being a ULM, mine is the regular non-ULM. But no one seems to know or agree on the tonearm effective mass. Someone measured himself and did a bunch of math and came up with 16g, another did his own math and got 12g, anither said publications used to day as low as 10g. That is a hell of a spread and doesnt leave a lot of overlap for cart choice.

 

While you are learning and making your own choices, allow me to suggest a little contrarian reading that might change your mind. The Korf Audio Blog is an interesting measurement based exploration of "accepted" knowledge about tonearms as Alex was planning on building his own tonearms. Those are very well reviewed tonearms, by the way.

The Korf Blog has lots of stuff to read but I would suggest

Tonearm and Cartridge Matching, Part 1 plus Part 2 of course

and

Compliance/Effective Mass Calculator

Given the range of "estimates" of effective mass of your tonearm, you can run the highest and lowest estimates and decide for yourself if it matters.

If it were me I would stab that V15 into the the Dual and enjoy some music while I was reading.

 

The Korf stuff is interesting, but when using his calculator, make sure to use compliance figures that were specified at the appropriate frequency.

As stated earlier in this thread, many Japanese manufacturers give compliances at 100 Hz rather than the 10 Hz typically used by European and American manufacturers, and the 100 Hz figures will typically be higher at 10 Hz (by 1.5-2x is the usual claim).

So the example on the calculator page of the high acceleration shown by the Denon DL-103 on a light tonearm is overstated compared to the other examples, because the Denon's compliance should be closer to 10 um/mN than to the 5 used in the calculation.

Although Korf's work on this led him to conclude that resonance isn't really a problem with modern cartridges, if you're worried that your particular arm-cart combo might be giving you resonance too far outside from the recommended (still, by most cartridge manufacturers, despite the foregoing) 7~12 Hz window, you can determine it directly from a test record rather than by relying on theory. But as @lehmanhill says above, try listening to it first.

 

Im not trying to worry too too much about it now. As @lehmanhill said its best digested while enjoying what I have now.

I have a nice Dual 721 i am going to spend some time today cleaning. I got a good price on a PS Audio stellar phono thanks to USD/CAD conversion, and a new amp hopefully within the month. Ill have plenty to play with but i always enjoy reading, planning and understanding what i am fiddling with.

 

Biodegraded is right. I pointed you to Korf not because he is necessarily right but because he shows you another way of looking at it. The problem you face is that there are different ways of measuring (as Biodegraded points out) and different views on how to analyze this phenomenon. Keep an open mind. In my opinion, nobody has it completely figured out. And good luck finding good compliance data.

Opps. I was writing as Souldriver was posting. Oh well.
Congrats on picking up the PS Audio.

 

Has anyone tried the Korf ceramic headshell ? Would anyone expect a big performance upgrade over whatever you use now?

https://korfaudio.com/blog63

https://korfaudio.com/hs-a03

 

i use it, but i installed it at the same time as when i got my new cart and didnt want to keep re-setting the whole thing up because of needing to do height as well so i have no clue if it helps or doesnt unfortunately

i should just take my turntable to a place which demos the same cart and see, but then you also add TT differences into the loop