Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

[sqrl]

Grace F-8F Discrete 4

This was the 'top of the line' in the original F-8 series, which was followed by a revamped series, rebadged as 'Level-II' in 1982.

Output: 3.5mV
VTF: 1-2.5g (optimal 1.5g)
Frequency response: 10-50,000Hz
Channel separation: 30dB/1kHz, 20dB/30kHz
Channel balance: 0.5dB/1kHz
Compliance: 25×10⁻⁶ cm /dyne
Load resistance: 50-100kΩ
Impedance: 1.7kΩ/1kHz
Weight: 6.5g
Stylus/cantilever: Shibata on light-weight aluminium alloy
Dates: 1972-79



L 737 Ohm 386 mH
R 794 Ohm 363 mH


Results with standard loading and no adjustments to VTA.



Better channel separation with 4° headshell shim.



2H distortion is about 5 dB (~ -29 dB v ~ -34 dB at 5 kHz) worse at inner sweep.



The shibata (RS-8F) and 0.2x0.8 mil hyperelliptical (RS-8E) styli for the F-8 are both on the same type of lower mass aluminium alloy cantilever, but the shibata measures better for the inner sweeps than the hyperelliptical, which had a ~10 dB outer-inner difference link.

 

[richjoh]

My Clear Audio TRS-1007 vinyl appears to be off at the 20kHz measurement. There is channel imbalance and the roll-off is sharp. I've compared plot using the JVC TRS-1005 and CBS STR-100 test records. I've tried inner and outer grooves of the TRS-1007. The TRS-1005 and STR-120 are in close agreement compared to the Clear Audio TRS-1007. I've also used 2 other cartridge for comparison and same result.

This Clear Audio copy was purchased new from Germany seller. Not all pressing turn out good.

 

[sqrl]

My Clear Audio TRS-1007 vinyl appears to be off at the 20kHz measurement. There is channel imbalance and the roll-off is sharp. I've compared plot using the JVC TRS-1005 and CBS STR-100 test records. I've tried inner and outer grooves of the TRS-1007. The TRS-1005 and STR-120 are in close agreement compared to the Clear Audio TRS-1007. I've also used 2 other cartridge for comparison and same result.

This Clear Audio copy was purchased new from Germany seller. Not all pressing turn out good.

View attachment 550529
View attachment 550530
View attachment 550532

I don't think you have a problem with your pressing at all.

Your x-axis is limited to 20 kHz and Y-axis to -40 dB on the TRS-1007, so they are compressed versus 50 kHz and -60 to -70 dB on the STR-120 and TRS-1005 and the roll-off looks steeper. They all show a peak of +2 to +4 dB at ~18 kHz and a roll off to -4 to -6 dB at 20 kHz.

If you want a visual comparison, click the Advanced tab in SJPlot and limit the end frequency to 20,000 Hz. Then you can compare the redone plots. See above.

The low capacitance for the Schitt Mani is 47 pF, the Technics tonearm wiring adds 20 pF, so you would need a phono cable with 10 pF capacitance to get down to a total of 77 pF, see also above.

You do have a problem with high distortion, like your last set of measurements.

 

[mackat]

Ortofon MC 20 Super

Bought this used not long ago. Supposedly inspected as good, but distortion looks pretty high.

The strange thing is that I compared CBS-100 measurements from when I had a brand new MC 20 Super SE a couple years ago, and it's extremely similar.

CA-TRS-1007:

JVC TRS-1007:

CBS STR-100:

Old measurement of MC 20 Super SE CBS STR-100:

 

[stormobile]

Nagaoka MP-500.

This is my first attempt at taking measurements. New Nagaoka mp-500 with 8 hours on it. New ca-trs-1007. This is literally the first playback of tracks 1&2 side A.

Tonearm Origin Live Silver mk4 with original cables (dont know capacitance) to Waxwing. Default mm waxwing loading, no magic.

How bad does it look? Where to take this next?

 

[mackat]

Nagaoka MP-500.

Aside from the channel imbalance in the high frequencies, it looks very good.

Lower 2nd harmonic distortion than most MP-500 measurements show, though it's known to vary from measurement to measurement.

Make sure to record in 96 kHz so the 2nd harmonic distortion doesn't drop off early.

 

[stormobile]

Aside from the channel imbalance in the high frequencies, it looks very good.


Make sure to record in 96 kHz so the 2nd harmonic distortion doesn't drop off early.

Any ideas where to move with imbalance? I was measuring levels at 1k with ultimate test record and much like these measurements balance at 1k was ok.

As for 96khz I made sure that there is no resampling across waxwing out and my spdif converter input so it’s 96k

 

[mackat]

Any ideas where to move with imbalance? I was measuring levels at 1k with ultimate test record and much like these measurements balance at 1k was ok.

As for 96khz I made sure that there is no resampling across waxwing out and my spdif converter input so it’s 96k

I would recommend checking that everything is 96k - system audio settings (MIDI Setup on Mac), Audacity settings, etc. It looks like something is set to 44.1k.

After that, I'd say take a few more measurements using both sides of the record. Nagaoka's seem to exhibit more inconsistencies between measurements than the average cartridge.

 

[sqrl]

Nagaoka MP-500.

This is my first attempt at taking measurements. New Nagaoka mp-500 with 8 hours on it. New ca-trs-1007. This is literally the first playback of tracks 1&2 side A.

Tonearm Origin Live Silver mk4 with original cables (dont know capacitance) to Waxwing. Default mm waxwing loading, no magic.

How bad does it look? Where to take this next?View attachment 551146

Hi and nice job. The standard OL wiring+cables are 130 pF, Waxwing is 60 pF, so 190 pF total. Unless you can hear above 15 kHz, you've got a nice flat frequency response and the lo-cut filter on. A 1 dB imbalance is below the interaural detection threshold, but you can check your alignment again because of the possibility for uneven wear.

Your channel separation is good, azimuth good, distortion balanced and 2H below -20 dB and ≤- 30 dB at 5 Kz and below, down to bass, 3H below -30 dB.

I'm not a Waxwing expert for all the extras, but there's a whole thread for that.

Your basic setup looks good so far. You can do the inner sweeps on the TRS-1007 too. Ignore the bigger fall off in the high frequencies, as music LPs are compensated for that. You want to check the distortion again for the inner grooves, as having paid for a MR stylus, you don't want to see a big deterioration in distortion - maybe ≤5 dB worse is OK, there might be other opinions on that. If it's quite a lot worse, you should again recheck your alignment.

VTA tends to be higher than ideal on the Nagaokas. If you added a headshell shim (upto 3° is safe for that cartridge), you can get another 2 dB better channel separation and maybe a 1-2 dB reduction in distortion.

 

[dougi]

Check to see if the Hi-cut filter is on too. The default is 20kHz which indeed does roll it off a couple of dB at 20 kHz.

 

[Thomas_A]

The modulation angle varies a bit with frequency so if VTA is grossly off it may affect the last octave. I have not seen this with my JICO SAS but I think there are some other measurements here that shows this. (it could also be azimuth but need to seach that.). Try shimming it first with pieces of playing cards for any effect. I have shims if needed.

 

[Balle Clorin]

For some reason I can also often get a top end drop in one channel on the Clearaudio record, on the JVC the drop is not there…

 

[JP]

Ignore the bigger fall off in the high frequencies, as music LPs are compensated for that.

They are?

 

[stormobile]

VTA tends to be higher than ideal on the Nagaokas. If you added a headshell shim (upto 3° is safe for that cartridge), you can get another 2 dB better channel separation and maybe a 1-2 dB reduction in distortion.

I have quite a bit more range for VTA adjustment on tonearm itself. My main concern with this setup has been Antiskating - i ‘feel’ that the skating force is too high even on the lowest setting of the counterweight ball but have no idea how to check. Ultimate Acoustics testing record with distortion isn’t very conclusive by ear even in headphones

 

[sqrl]

They are?

Right, compensate is not the best wording. The point was not to try and EQ them.

 

[sqrl]

I have quite a bit more range for VTA adjustment on tonearm itself. My main concern with this setup has been Antiskating - i ‘feel’ that the skating force is too high even on the lowest setting of the counterweight ball but have no idea how to check. Ultimate Acoustics testing record with distortion isn’t very conclusive by ear even in headphones

It's best to keep the tonearm/headshell parallel and adjust VTA at the headshell with shims if needed. Also keep the loop for the falling weight AS at the height of the tonearm pivot, or else it will add another vertical force.

The falling weight AS can be adjusted using your stylus force gauge turned on its side like this and aiming for 10-12% of VTF at the outside of the platter. It rises by an additional 4-5% of VTF across the platter. It does go down to 10% or less - you can decrease the angle between the wire loop and tonearm as well as sliding the ball nearer the counterweight to lower it.

 

[AddiDub]

Audio Technica VM745xML
20 hours / 140pF / 36kOhm

Because my phono preamp requires to be opened up to set the input impedance i won't submit measurements with 47k anytime soon. Sorry for that.

I was searching for an affordable, new MM cartridge to start archieving my record collection. While i was doing my research i discoverd this thread on ASR. It helped me a lot to make my decision for the AT VM745xML. Thanks to everyone who contributed their measurements! After the first few hours of listening to my new setup i decided to try SJPlot Online. I figured that none of my test records (TACET L-210 and FloKaSon) are compatible with SJPolt. So i bought a clearaudio CA-TRS-1007 and here we are.

I have to add that my first VM745xML wasn't able to cleanly track 70um on my FloKaSon test record and the channel balance north of 10kHz was way off. So i returned it and this graph shows the new cartridge i received as replacement. It passes all kind of tests, shows an acceptable balance and distortion, tracks perfectly up to 80um and acceptable up to 90um. So in that case it was a good decision to run all kinds of tests with the first cartridge. Tolerances seem to be a real issue with cartridges.

 

[sqrl]

Grace F-14 M ML

Resistance 1,025 Ω, inductance 518 mH

Here it is at the originally specified 47 kΩ, but switched from Baerwald to Uni-DIN alignment.

 

[USER]

Grace F-14 M ML

View attachment 552979View attachment 552978View attachment 552983View attachment 552982View attachment 552980View attachment 552981


View attachment 553002

Resistance 1,025 Ω, inductance 518 mH

View attachment 552999View attachment 553000

Awesome. At some point can you post a measurement with a "normal load"? That is most important for these purposes.

Is the cantilever super delicate? I destroyed 2 F-8L styli when I started this thread and am still upset about it. Gorgeous things. Barely touched them.

Tried straightening it but only made it worse. Never seen such a soft cantilever.

 

[sqrl]

Grace F-14 M: RS-14 ML stylus, RS-14 Al stylus and RS-14 SAP MR stylus

There were multiple Grace stylus types that were interchangeable on F-9 and F-14 cartridge bodies. The RS-14 AL is a 0.2x0.8 mil hyperelliptical stylus on a tapered aluminium alloy cantilever :



The RS-14 SAP MR is a microridge stylus on a sapphire pipe cantilever :



Here are comparisons on outer and inner mono sweep tracks, done with a 6° headshell shim and UNI-DIN alignment.

JVC TRS-1007 Outer



JVC TRS-1007 Inner



STR-120 Outer



STR-120 Inner