Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

[JP]

Looks about a dB off from what mine measured.

 

[USER]

At what capacitance? I find it strange that Sutherland doesn't give any real info. mackat had to ask. (It wouldn't shock me if it was loaded at something like150pF in the end.) RIAA may be off too. Your final measurements would help.

The Shibata VM750SH is coming up next. Like other AT shibata cartridges I've seen, it is a little less bright than the microline counterpart.

 

[JP]

55pF.

 

[melloncolliecat]

Thanks @mackat and @USER for the 740 measurement! I always thought that Low Beats plot seemed weird. Should the metal body result in a midband drop vs the 540? Seems unlikely... (On that note though, it would be interesting to measure what, if anything, an updated cart body [such as the RigB or the various Denon 103 transformations] does to the sound...)

 

[JP]

I picked up a used 540 cheap to measured stock vs. RigB. I can't say that I'll bother to follow through, though.

 

[narud]

Audio Technica 150mlx vs 150mlx stylus on 150ea body

-150 mlx stylus at 1.5 grams on a 150mlx body that isnt low inductance. every 150mlx body ive had has been in the 400mh range rather than the spec'd 360mh. the 150ea body is low inductance.
-artdjpre modded to 0/100pf. switch is at 0pf. cables measure 120pf.
-technics sl-q2
-no idea why i have the brightest mlx ever. this is the same setup i measured the at95ml cart on which had expected results.

 

[narud]

Shure V15VX with Jico SAS/B stylus (pmount 110he version)

-Shure V15Vx body with sas stylus meant for a pmount 110he at 1.2 grams
-artdjpre modded to 0/100pf. switch is at 0pf. cables measure 120pf.
-technics sl-q2

 

[Thomas_A]

Shure V15VX with Jico SAS/B stylus (pmount 110he version)
View attachment 330432
-Shure V15Vx body with sas stylus meant for a pmount 110he at 1.2 grams
-artdjpre modded to 0/100pf. switch is at 0pf. cables measure 120pf.
-technics sl-q2

Seems that right channel (red) drop a bit more 1-20 kHz in all your plots. STR100 issue?

 

[narud]

Seems that right channel (red) drop a bit more 1-20 kHz in all your plots. STR100 issue?

im shocked im getting anything to work, so if im doing something wrong, im open to any suggestions on how to fix it.

 

[Thomas_A]

im shocked im getting anything to work, so if im doing something wrong, im open to any suggestions on how to fix it.

I'm not sure it is fixable other than use another test record and compare. There is nothing wrong with your method, just a note I made looking at your plots.

 

[JP]

I'm not sure it is fixable other than use another test record and compare. There is nothing wrong with your method, just a note I made looking at your plots.

These seem fine? 566 d
Difficult to tell when both channels aren’t normalized.

 

[Thomas_A]

These seem fine? 566 d
Difficult to tell when both channels aren’t normalized.

I looked at #521, #525, #526, #566, #567. It looks as if right channel dips more than left at HF.

 

[narud]

These seem fine? 566 d
Difficult to tell when both channels aren’t normalized.

should i set the file0norm setting to 0? user mentioned setting it to 1 to show channel balance. im comfortable saying i dont know what im doing!

 

[Thomas_A]

should i set the file0norm setting to 0? user mentioned setting it to 1 to show channel balance. im comfortable saying i dont know what im doing!

No, you are fine with those settings. But you could investigate by setting to 0 and look at them. Is there a pattern?

 

[JP]

should i set the file0norm setting to 0? user mentioned setting it to 1 to show channel balance. im comfortable saying i dont know what im doing!

That’s just a matter of how they’re plotted. For me, being able to see how the two channels track is more important than seeing channel imbalance, as they mostly all have some kind of imbalance. Others will value different things.

 

[USER]

To me a lot of those look like azimuth misadjustment, almost as if the tonearm is skewed a little bit to one side. The last one seems to have something else going on. Perhaps inductance mismatch as the resonances don't match up.

Here are examples of azimuth adjustment. The only change is me either turning the headshell one direction a tiny bit or adding a thin plastic ring one one side of the cartridge between it and the headshell. Everything else is the same. The result is parallel or more parallel left and right FR and better matched left and right channel distortion. It's very easy to test this.

 

[USER]

Audio Technica 150mlx vs 150mlx stylus on 150ea body
View attachment 330430
View attachment 330431
-150 mlx stylus at 1.5 grams on a 150mlx body that isnt low inductance. every 150mlx body ive had has been in the 400mh range rather than the spec'd 360mh. the 150ea body is low inductance.
-artdjpre modded to 0/100pf. switch is at 0pf. cables measure 120pf.
-technics sl-q2
-no idea why i have the brightest mlx ever. this is the same setup i measured the at95ml cart on which had expected results.

This doesn't look right. Distortion is very high above 6kHz. Is this completely worn out?

 

[USER]

That’s just a matter of how they’re plotted. For me, being able to see how the two channels track is more important than seeing channel imbalance, as they mostly all have some kind of imbalance. Others will value different things.

Wait, what? I redid all my measurements after starting this thread because you preferred file0norm on! lol.

 

[JP]

Wait, what? I redid all my measurements after starting this thread because you preferred file0norm on! lol.

I don’t recall that, but if I did, I changed my mind. **shrug**

 

[narud]

This doesn't look right. Distortion is very high above 6kHz. Is this completely worn out?

i always have issues getting a decent pic with my super old iphone so theres some more flare here than what you see through the eye piece.