Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

[richjoh]

That's a bit clearer now. You can see the channel imbalance is about the same on both test records. It is <1.5 dB, which is the Nagaoka specification. If you haven't adjusted azimuth another way, you might be able to rotate the headshell slightly anti-clockwise in the collet at the end of the arm - there's usually a little give in the slot. You can experiment with very small rotations until you bring the right and left crosstalk traces closer together in the bass and midrange.

You can add 20 pF to the capacitance for the Technics tonearm wiring. You can look up the capacitance for your RCA cables and add that to find your total capacitance. Even with 3ft of low capacitance cable, you would probably be adding 45 pF. If you add 65+ pF, you can see your total is going to be 250+ pF, which is a bit above the specification of 150-200 pF.

You can also do the charts with the "Style 3 - Stacked Plots" option under "Plot Style". That makes it easier to compare the distortion traces. It's good if you can keep 2nd harmonic distortion below -30 dB at 5 kHz and below -20 dB at high frequency. You probably get distortion lower than it is and also crosstalk lower than it is, if you use a headshell shim. The VTA for the Nagaoka - and most other modern cartridges - is higher than the cutting angle at which the record was cut. If you can bring down the VTA by tilting the back of the cartridge down with a shim, this tends to improve distortion and crosstalk. You can use a shim of 2.5-3° for the Nagaoka body without the back of the cartridge starting to touch your records - 2.5° may be safer for warped ones. This allows you to change VTA whilst keeping the headshell and tonearm parallel to the record.

I just realized I'm unable to adjust the VTA on either Technics mk3, the setting is stuck at 0mm. All test are from mk3s. My older 1200 mk2s VTA are not stuck, its setting is 6mm VTA. (No cartridge testing as yet on mk2s). This youtuber use white lithium grease, I wonder if that is the best choice for an VTA fix. After a few years white lithium grease will dry out. I totally forgot about the turntable setting until you mentioned VTA.

My 1200 mk2 are worn, due to more play in the center screw down of the arm from years of DJing.

The CBS STR-120 has the 500Hz to 50kHz on the outer track. There is no second inner/outer 500-50kHz track. See the STR-120 label attached.

 

[sqrl]

I just realized I'm unable to adjust the VTA on either Technics mk3, the setting is stuck at 0mm. All test are from mk3s. My older 1200 mk2s VTA are not stuck, its setting is 6mm VTA. (No cartridge testing as yet on mk2s). This youtuber use white lithium grease, I wonder if that is the best choice for an VTA fix. After a few years white lithium grease will dry out. I totally forgot about the turntable setting until you mentioned VTA.

My 1200 mk2 are worn, due to more play in the center screw down of the arm from years of DJing.

The CBS STR-120 has the 500Hz to 50kHz on the outer track. There is no second inner/outer 500-50kHz track. See the STR-120 label attached.

Group 2 (Middle) Bands A5-6
Group 3 (Inner) Band A9-10 ..."similar to Group 1"

The main thing with the VTA setting is to keep the tonearm parallel to the record. In terms of tonal balance,
using the Phono Cartridge Response Script, for every 2mm drop in height of the tonearm base, I got only a 0.1 dB increase in high frequency amplitude, which is trivial.

 

[JP]

I got a 0.1 dB increase in high frequency amplitude.

Careful with that. It's common to see changes even larger than that from repetitive plays (elastomers do warm-up), temp and humidity, etc.

 

[sqrl]

Careful with that. It's common to see changes even larger than that from repetitive plays (elastomers do warm-up), temp and humidity, etc.

The point was that it's trivial. I'll edit it to say that explicitly.

 

[richjoh]

Group 2 (Middle) Bands A5-6
Group 3 (Inner) Band A9-10 ..."similar to Group 1"

The main thing with the VTA setting is to keep the tonearm parallel to the record. In terms of tonal balance,
using the Phono Cartridge Response Script, for every 2mm drop in height of the tonearm base, I got only a 0.1 dB increase in high frequency amplitude, which is trivial.

Well, I had no idea the FR tracks has an outer middle and inner. “similar to Group 1” on the label, never clicked in my head. Thanks for pointing that out with the other details. I’ll give middle and inner tracks a test after I fix the VTA.

 

[ModLang]

Wow, all of these measurements but not one of the Shure 97xe with a Jico SAS?

 

[mackat]

AT33PTG/II - JVC TRS-1007

 

[narud]

Wow, all of these measurements but not one of the Shure 97xe with a Jico SAS?

could have sworn i measured this when i had an sas/b for the larger shank. iirc it was pretty similar to the results of using it in a v15vxmr body but with an earlier roll off because of the higher inductance.

 

[narud]

AT33PTG/II - JVC TRS-1007

View attachment 535670
View attachment 535671

i wish there was some more consistency with the at moving coils and the jico sas assemblies. it seems like you could get something with a few db's of a rise or something relatively flat depending on sample.

 

[mackat]

i wish there was some more consistency with the at moving coils and the jico sas assemblies. it seems like you could get something with a few db's of a rise or something relatively flat depending on sample.

From what I’ve seen, the AT33PTG/II’s were fairly consistent. I had one outlier with a large high-end rise, but I don’t think I’ve seen another measurement like that.

I wish the JICO SAS were more consistent too. I think it may be difficult to attain that when manufacturing styli for many third-party cartridges by hand (and generally quite well, at that).

 

[ModLang]

could have sworn i measured this when i had an sas/b for the larger shank. iirc it was pretty similar to the results of using it in a v15vxmr body but with an earlier roll off because of the higher inductance.

That would be a fine result for the most part, but said roll-off is really what differentiates the sound signatures amongst these Shure cart and stylus combos. I’m still a bit shocked that there isn’t one posted though; this is a much discussed and deployed set-up.

 

[Balle Clorin]

AT33PTG/II - JVC TRS-1007

View attachment 535670
View attachment 535671

How does it look on Clearaudio CA TRS-1007, my PTG becomes wobbly on that record, but not on others

 

[narud]

That would be a fine result for the most part, but said roll-off is really what differentiates the sound signatures amongst these Shure cart and stylus combos. I’m still a bit shocked that there isn’t one posted though; this is a much discussed and deployed set-up.

heres an sas/s in a m97xe and v15vxmr. the rise is a little bigger than a sas/b but the same thing happens. the peak stays pretty similar between the two bodies, but the m97xe is down at 20k

Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

Shure V15 type iii with VN35E stylus Notes: Stylus is an original Shure "Super-Track 'Plus'" elliptical in NOS condition.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[mackat]

How does it look on Clearaudio CA TRS-1007, my PTG becomes wobbly on that record, but not on others

Not a perfect comparison, as it's a different turntable, tracking force, phono stage, and goes to 20 Hz, but it gives you an idea:

 

[Laush]

Shure M111E + Jico N110E Nude
+/- 30hrs on stylus

 

[Balle Clorin]

Shocking peak,how does it sound?

 

[Laush]

Ortofon OMP 30
second hand stylus (as per previouse owner 20hrs)

 

[Laush]

Shocking peak,how does it sound?

I just bought this cartridge. It's strange that the same stylus with a Shure M111E body has a higher peak than with an RXP3 body. I'll have to measure the cartridges' inductance. I use the Waxwing as a line-in DSP with a Tag McLaren PPA20, so I'll try to correct the peak on the Waxwing as a last resort. Do you think I have a capacitance problem or something else?

 

[Thomas_A]

Check files. Looks identical to previous.

 

[JP]

Ortofon OMP 30
second hand stylus (as per previouse owner 20hrs)


View attachment 536416

This plot is identical to the "B" plot above.