Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

[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

View attachment 358479View attachment 358480
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.
View attachment 358476
View attachment 358477View attachment 358475



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.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Anyone going to post results for a Dynavector, 10x5mkii Low in particular..
I have always been curious about that one

 

[USER]

I blame us:

SHURE V15-TypeV-MR MM Cartridge with Original Stylus VN5MR!

You are looking at the *SHURE V15-TypeV-MR MM Cartridge with Original Stylus VN5MR! Condition: Stylus is still sharp and Good Working Condition! *Don't forget to check our other items to view more cool stuff. We'll be glad to combine shipping! Express Shipping : 3 - 10 days. Standard...

samuraiaudio.com

And this is for that patented Samurai Audio we cleaned it up so it looks to be in better condition than it is condition.

Hot tip for these: the brush condition usually tells a good story.

 

[JP]

Been high for awhile? Last time I bought styli off Yahoo I want to say they’d go for high 2’s to low 3’s, and the latest was first half of last year.

 

[USER]

Been high for awhile? Last time I bought styli off Yahoo I want to say they’d go for high 2’s to low 3’s, and the latest was first half of last year.

Yeah, that's what I paid for my styli. Had the opportunity last year to get 4 for $200 each but decided not to get greedy. 5 mins later someone swiped the remaining 3. Lesson learned. My NOS cartridges cost between $400-500, all since 2017. I am thinking those days are long gone.

 

[JP]

Yeah, that's what I paid for my styli. Had the opportunity last year to get 4 for $200 each but decided not to get greedy. 5 mins later someone swiped the remaining 3. Lesson learned. My NOS cartridges cost between $400-500, all since 2017. I am thinking those days are long gone.

People that know me ping me when they see something they want that they think I’d buy - I‘ll usually hold off, or jump in after it crosses their high side if it makes sense. Otherwise get greedy and share later, as chances are the next guy won’t.

 

[VinyLuke]

Philips GP-401 II with Analogis Black Diamond stylus

Notes:

• Stylus has less than 100hrs of use
• Turntable: Technics SL-1210GR with KAB Fluid Damper
• Headshell: Analogis HS-10
• VTF: 2.25gr - tested with Ortofon Test Record - at max recommended VTF it barely passes the 70um trackability test
• Phono stage: HusaRIAA v2 (http://tinyurl.com/45ke55cx)
  • Capacitance: ~245pF (set at 147pF)
  • Loading: 48kΩ
• A/D: ASUS PRIME B660M-A Line In and Audacity
• Test record: Clearaudio CA-TRS-1007 side A

 

[Balle Clorin]

I begin to wonder if CA TRS-1007 has less level in the right channel and also drops off earlier/more in the right(red ) channel. A lagre portion of my own curves and others seem to repeat the pattern above…

 

[Thomas_A]

I begin to wonder if CA TRS-1007 has less level in the right channel and also drops off earlier/more in the right(red ) channel. A lagre portion of my own curves and others seem to repeat the pattern above…

I think so too. My latest SAS stylus seem to give the same HF drop in right channel.

Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

This was our reference in the 1970s in a recording studio. We had an historic archive of concert performances cut to disc before tape. Our reference arms were the SAE 3000? large diameter disc curved on a large mass large diameter 16"? mains synced platter. At home at the time, I had a V15-IV on...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Balle Clorin]

Here is the MP-200 at 34k Ω. I'm guessing somewhere around 40k would be optimal.

View attachment 363092
Normalized version of the graph:

View attachment 363093

MP-500 at the same loading (not sure what's up with the LCH 2H distortion. It seems to randomly go pretty high on some tests with this cartridge)

View attachment 363098

How does the mp200 look like
at 200pF , a common value for many I would guess

 

[mackat]

How does the mp200 look like
at 200pF , a common value for many I would guess

Unfortunately, I ended up selling it a couple weeks ago. Just didn't have a good reason to keep it

 

[USER]

I begin to wonder if CA TRS-1007 has less level in the right channel and also drops off earlier/more in the right(red ) channel. A lagre portion of my own curves and others seem to repeat the pattern above…

Try recording actual music and compare.

 

[dennis h]

I begin to wonder if CA TRS-1007 has less level in the right channel and also drops off earlier/more in the right(red ) channel. A lagre portion of my own curves and others seem to repeat the pattern above…

swap channels @ the cartridge pins back to back?

 

[USER]

The index is now up-to-date.

Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

After years of development we are finally launching our phono cartridge measurement library. These measurements were created using the brilliant cartridge response python script written by @scott wurcer and @JP. Information about its origins can be found in the following threads...

audiosciencereview.com

Thanks, everyone.

 

[Balle Clorin]

swap channels @ the cartridge pins back to back?

Will not change anything as my RIAA is perfectly balanced, the outer groove will still be the outer/right channel.
My B&K QR2011 arrives next week, maybe the sweep and PN can tell me something…

 

[Balle Clorin]

Try recording actual music and compare.

Try recording actual music and compare.

Balle Clorin said:
I begin to wonder if CA TRS-1007 has less level in the right channel and also drops off earlier/more in the right(red ) channel. A large portion of my own curves and others seem to repeat the pattern above…


Not really music but Denon XG-7005 Pink Noise, basically the same above 5kHz as CA TRS-1007...