Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

[JP]

Is this one frame or a stacking?

Stacked 60 images. Bit tedious manually rolling the microscope stage. Worked better than I thought it would.

 

[aaaakkkk]

Stacked 60 images. Bit tedious manually rolling the microphone stage. Worked better than I thought it would.

I'm shocked by the number 60. Do you know the lens parameters?

 

[USER]

Bang & Olufsen (B&O) SP-12
Click to increase size

Notes

• NOS, nude elliptical stylus
  • They advertised this as a "Micro-Cross mount"
• High compliance cartridge
• I always wanted one of these because of the design
  • It looks its best with the Beogram decks it was designed for
• I wonder if the resonance would be better kept in check on the appropriate tonearm
  • Still, it was pushed up so as to not affect audible range
• I will be revisiting this cartridge with an increased tracking force and adjusted damping
  • Simply to double check given age and for sound comparison sample

 

[morillon]

Bang & Olufsen (B&O) SP-12
Click to increase size
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Notes

• NOS, nude elliptical stylus
  • They advertised this as a "Micro-Cross mount"
• High compliance cartridge
• I always wanted one of these because of the design
  • It looks its best with the Beogram decks it was designed for
• I wonder if the resonance would be better kept in check on the appropriate tonearm
  • Still, it was pushed up so as to not affect audible range
• I will be revisiting this cartridge with an increased tracking force and adjusted damping
  • Simply to double check given age and for sound comparison sample

it was given up to 1.5gr...so in fact it could be really interesting to pass the 1.2-1.4gr for example..

 

[DSJR]

I love my SP12 and have the one new stylus in the half-inch mount body (very microphonic in my Dual carrier) and with the plug-in body for my 1972 Beogram 3000. Excellent tracking at 1g here and quite a sweet tone. I also have an SP14 conical (2g tracking) and it's bloomin' awful - dull...

I need to get my MMC20CL back out, but it's temperature sensitive and sounds dull at this time of year.

 

[Balle Clorin]

temperature sensitive and sounds dull at this time of year.

Playing outdoors?

 

[JP]

I'm shocked by the number 60. Do you know the lens parameters?

There's no micrometer adjustment for Z so it's a guess. First try was 20 images of just the interesting bit of the stylus, and that didn't turn out great. This was the second attempt. Objective is 10x/0.25 with a 10-20x zoom eyepiece. I turned an adapter to fit a cheap USB scope/camera in front of the eyepiece to capture images.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Which program do you use for focus stacking, ?(I got virus warning with Picolay,, and removed it)

 

[JP]

Helicon Focus.

 

[DSJR]

Playing outdoors?

Not especially - this generation needed 72F which they got in the large format parallel tracking models with internal power supplies and lids down. Lower than that and the hf drops. I can't speak for the MMC1 - 5 models, but the previous larger MMC's were all affected to a degree.

 

[morillon]

Bang & Olufsen (B&O) SP-12
Click to increase size
View attachment 329518View attachment 329519
View attachment 329515View attachment 329514
View attachment 329516View attachment 329517View attachment 329520
View attachment 329521View attachment 329522View attachment 329523
Notes

• NOS, nude elliptical stylus
  • They advertised this as a "Micro-Cross mount"
• High compliance cartridge
• I always wanted one of these because of the design
  • It looks its best with the Beogram decks it was designed for
• I wonder if the resonance would be better kept in check on the appropriate tonearm
  • Still, it was pushed up so as to not affect audible range
• I will be revisiting this cartridge with an increased tracking force and adjusted damping
  • Simply to double check given age and for sound comparison sample

;-)

 

[dlaloum]

Ortofon MC-3 Turbo broken cantilever restored.

View attachment 329186View attachment 329187View attachment 329188

View attachment 329189View attachment 329190View attachment 329191View attachment 329192View attachment 329193

It is a High Output moving coil design, its inductance would be negligible compared to your typical MM, as a result the LCR EQ is also negligible -what you get is the raw performance of the cantilever/needle.

The rise and peak around 15 to 16kHz is the cantilever resonance - and provides an indication of effective tip mass. (I have the necessary formulae somewhere to calculate tip mass from the resonance frequency.... but would need to dig it up...)

It's a lovely high quality rock on the end there... but, if only that cantilever was lighter!

 

[USER]

Bang & Olufsen (B&O) SP-12 with Bent Cantilever
Click to increase size

Notes

• These are old measurements offered as bonus data so that we better understand issues
  • There is nothing I won't measure, lol
• These have FR corrected to my CA TRS-1007
• Bought in "NOS" condition (I kid you not) but the images deliberately obfuscated the cantilever condition
  • How did the seller think I would not notice?!?
• Note that tracking force is high here and I don't remember why
  • Likely for tracking purposes

 

[aaaakkkk]

There's no micrometer adjustment for Z so it's a guess. First try was 20 images of just the interesting bit of the stylus, and that didn't turn out great. This was the second attempt. Objective is 10x/0.25 with a 10-20x zoom eyepiece. I turned an adapter to fit a cheap USB scope/camera in front of the eyepiece to capture images.

View attachment 329572

Thank you, can you take a few photos of what the lens looks like, what the backlight unit looks like?

 

[aaaakkkk]

It is a High Output moving coil design, its inductance would be negligible compared to your typical MM, as a result the LCR EQ is also negligible -what you get is the raw performance of the cantilever/needle.

The rise and peak around 15 to 16kHz is the cantilever resonance - and provides an indication of effective tip mass. (I have the necessary formulae somewhere to calculate tip mass from the resonance frequency.... but would need to dig it up...)

It's a lovely high quality rock on the end there... but, if only that cantilever was lighter!

I also wanted the cantilever to be shorter.

 

[Balle Clorin]

@DSJR , 72-73F is quite common room temperature that will suit many I would think. Maybe saving energy by letting temperature dropping below that indoors ? Else it should be easy to maintain stable 72F with a thermostat during winter months, and now indoor temperatures can be controlled and scheduled by a phone app ( for electric heating at least, with gas I do not know) . I saved 25 %of the energy cost by using “night saving “ temperature scheduling. Still I have 72F when I am home in the sofa listening.

 

[DSJR]

@DSJR , 72-73F is quite common room temperature that will suit many I would think. Maybe saving energy by letting temperature dropping below that indoors ? Else it should be easy to maintain stable 72F with a thermostat during winter months, and now indoor temperatures can be controlled and scheduled by a phone app ( for electric heating at least, with gas I do not know) . I saved 25 %of the energy cost by using “night saving “ temperature scheduling. Still I have 72F when I am home in the sofa listening.

Not in the pauper UK you don't unless you're seen to be wasteful with shedloads of money to burn. Mid to upper 60's here (18 - 19 Celsius) most of the day and evening and we make up for it with wearing extra layers...

 

[Balle Clorin]

Same as a guy from Hull I told me in 1990. Hard times, electricity prices has multiplied here, so we save more than before, but probably not as much as others, yet.
One kWh electricity cost 0.01 Euro to produce by our hydroelectric power stations, it is sold for 0.2 Euro per kWh today . But private consumer are subsidized and pay 0.1 Euro +0.5Euro for the connection to the grid. Before our export cables and the Ukraine war the price at the highest was 0.03-0.05 Euro per KWh,so people are very upset by high electricity bills. . In the afternoon/evening I only heat 1/3 of the flat, the living room area. Not heating the whole home was unthinkable 3 years ago.

End of side track…..

 

[JP]

Thank you, can you take a few photos of what the lens looks like, what the backlight unit looks like?

 

[USER]

Audio-Technica VM740ML
Click to increase size

Low Beats measurements

Notes

• These are from @mackat
• The second set has FR corrected to my CA TRS-1007
• Nude, microline stylus with aluminum cantilever
• The CBS STR-100 crosstalk results don't help us
• This seems like a brighter Audio-Technica cartridge
• Sutherland says that the 20/20 only adds minimal parasitic capacitance (cables have around 50pF, not sure if plugs are counted)
  • No idea if this is true --would 100pF total make more sense here?
• The Low Beats measurements seem odd with -2.5 dB (!) at the midband
  • They really do need to provide more information