Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

[aaaakkkk]

Have not done it systematically but checking the level at 5 kHz, low distortion (< -30 dB) seems to correlate to:

- fine-line or micro-ridge stylii
- new stylii

In my (retyped Rega Ania) I replaced (cantilever + Shibata stylus from Sony XL-45) with (Boron+SAS) and the distortion became less. I also tried installing a stylus from Nagaoka MP-100 into Empire 1000 and I didn’t like the distortion graph, it looked worse than in measurements from Mackat MP-500.

 

[dlaloum]

In my (retyped Rega Ania) I replaced (cantilever + Shibata stylus from Sony XL-45) with (Boron+SAS) and the distortion became less. I also tried installing a stylus from Nagaoka MP-100 into Empire 1000 and I didn’t like the distortion graph, it looked worse than in measurements from Mackat MP-500.

Taking a stylus from one cartridge and putting it in another can be risky... the magnets/coils may not be properly aligned, if the fit is not 100%, there may be movement of the shank/magnets which would generate distortion, etc...
Not impossible (and in some cases the cartridge bodies are from the same OEM and therefore share stylus specs...) - but difficult.
some people have experienced similar issues in trying to fit Shure V15V (narrow shank) styli to V15Vx bodies (wider shank)... although sometimes blue tack can be a miracle cure

 

[aaaakkkk]

Taking a stylus from one cartridge and putting it in another can be risky... the magnets/coils may not be properly aligned, if the fit is not 100%, there may be movement of the shank/magnets which would generate distortion, etc...
Not impossible (and in some cases the cartridge bodies are from the same OEM and therefore share stylus specs...) - but difficult.
some people have experienced similar issues in trying to fit Shure V15V (narrow shank) styli to V15Vx bodies (wider shank)... although sometimes blue tack can be a miracle cure

I took many measurements and tried many combinations ~50-100 for each, it was an experiment anyway .

 

[dlaloum]

I took many measurements and tried many combinations ~50-100 for each, it was an experiment anyway .

It can be tricky locating both the coils and the magnets inside the shank for many cartridges!

 

[Balle Clorin]

Are you Brain surgeons?

 

[cerx]

Nagaoka MP500 Measurements 2 (and 3)
Click to increase size

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Notes

• These were kindly done by @djwkyoto last year
• The plan is to revisit them as we want to figure out the cause of the dip
  • My guess was test record warping or some sort of set-up issue
    • Perhaps even tonearm mismatch as was brought up
• Regardless, we still see the same flat response until 15k or so!
• The stylus has between 100-200 hours on it
• Distortion is again a bit disappointing for the price
  • But it could also be test record related
• Glad to see a linear cartridge after the great disappointment of the Ortofon Black
  • Is this it these days?

My wager is that there was a production change at some point. One of the earliest measurements on this site is of a MP500 done by @watchnerd and it was in agreement with the "professional" measurements of the time. As mentioned, the slope is consistent even though loading seems to be different.
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Based upon the static issue mentioned that others also describe, you may want to avoid it if your home runs dry in the winter.



Also if one puts some sort of fluid prior to playback to avoid this issue any sort of weight added to the cantilever will alter the frequency response.

What was the sampling rate used for Nagaoka MP500 Measurements 2 (and 3)? I am asking because I once inadvertently used CD rate 44.1 KHz and, not surprising, got a falloff like that shown.