Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

[cgallery]

I treated a well-used Stylus-30 w/ a rubber rejueination product and saw the LF tracking performance (315-Hz) improve from around 70 with some mistracting to a very solid 80 (no mistracking). The effect wears-off, though. I performed the procedure a couple of times, it would gradually wear off over days (IIRC, the second time it did last a little longer).

I never tested the frequency response, though.

I used "MG Chemicals 408A-125ML Rubber Renue, Rejuvenate and Restore Rubber Belts, Platens and Rollers, 125 ml Liquid Bottle" sourced from Amazon, but it appears they no longer carry that particular variation.

 

[JP]

Ortofon Super OM 30
This was acquired new from thakker.eu around a year ago. This is the same body as was used in the Super OM 40 plots.

As the recommend load range is 200-400pF, I started right in the middle at 305pF:

This is a lot better than the Super OM 40 stylus - one would do fine to leave it right here. While we don't see the HF deviation we saw with the Super 40, there was some at low Cloads that cleared up from around 205pF. Around -32dB crosstalk should be doable.

These are smoothed plots (for readability) of various loads, using the right channel as it was the hottest.

Around 40k/305pF seemed to be the best compromise for this example:

 

[Thomas_A]

That's more like it. The small deviations at 15-20kHz could be fixed with a slight difference R for L and R. Not sure if the coils of the body vary in inductance in this case. My recommendation has always been the 30 stylus for the Super OM. It is cheaper than the 40 and sounds better IMO. I do not have any 30 stylii left for comparison, they are all worn out and discarded. I've settled with the Shure V15Vx/JICO SAS/B for now. The good thing with the OMs is the quite good crosstalk 10-18 kHz, resonance due to the shorter stylus is pushed up to19 kHz. But shorter stylus may be the reason to the rather poor overall distortion figures. The best cartridges/stylii have < -30 dB at 5 kHz.

 

[JP]

While I generally prefer MM in use, I very much prefer MC for measurements. One sweep and you’re done.

 

[Balle Clorin]

I Wonder what is going on in the bass 23hz of that om30…?

 

[JP]

I Wonder what is going on in the bass 23hz of that om30…?

I see stuff, but not sure what you're highlighting specifically?

 

[Balle Clorin]

Arm or cartridge related?

 

[JP]

Both the 30 and the 40 did that, so it's likely cart/arm match. The arm is 8g EM, so heavier than what I normally use, but still lighter than what most people use. Personally, I don't pay much attention to what happens that low as it's almost always cart/arm interaction, and you very rarely see frequencies that low on actual program material. I added plotting below 1kHz because people wanted it, not because I thought it was meaningful.

 

[JP]

Pioneer PC-1000/II (PS-1000/II with CF headshell)

This is a well-used example. I'll post some stylus wear pictures further down the road. VTF for these measurements was 1.2g. Lucky guess:

Typical Cloads below, and an Rload of 100k as I'd seen several mentions on various forums that this was "better". No. No it's not.

Electrical parameters (L/R):

Ls (mH): 318.8/320.2
Cs (nF): 79.47/79.04
Rs (R): 417.1/420.8
DCR (R): 321.9/328.3

 

[Thomas_A]

BBB (Bring Beryllium Back).

 

[Ragnarsson]

Rega Exact

CA-TRS-1007 Side A:
View attachment 427072

CA-TRS-1007 Side B:

Notes

• Cartridge: Rega Exact
• Stylus condition unknown but should be <100hrs (I bought it around 2010 and I wasn't listening lots of vynils anymore)
• Test record: brand new CA-TRS-1007 (tracks A1/A2 and B1/B2).
• Turntable: Rega Planar 3 (First version, from 1977 (date on the parcel, I'm the second owner), with Motor upgrade (not the 24V upgrade, the previous one)
• Tracking force: 1.75g
• Phono stage: Elektor SUPRA (DIY discrete phono preamp, optimised version made by former Selectronic company).
• Capacitance- Unknown, said to be 280pF in Elektor article
• Rega cartridge alignment (close to Stevenson)

I got remarks about these measurements.
As a strange behaviour was noted on low frequencies and the capacitance load of the phono preamp il unknown (seems to be much lower as stated by Elektor), I’ll have a loan from a friend of a Cambridge Duo, for doing again the measurements.

 

[JP]

Both the 30 and the 40 did that, so it's likely cart/arm match. The arm is 8g EM, so heavier than what I normally use, but still lighter than what most people use. Personally, I don't pay much attention to what happens that low as it's almost always cart/arm interaction, and you very rarely see frequencies that low on actual program material. I added plotting below 1kHz because people wanted it, not because I thought it was meaningful.

@Balle Clorin as the same LF imbalance has presented on a completely different cartridge, I'll dig in to it further. With no RIAA the electronics are dead-simple and haven't changed. Curious.

 

[JP]

Ortofon OM 10
This was acquired new from thakker.eu around a year ago.

Looks like higher C is good for this one. I didn't bother changing Rload as it'd likely have an effect below the resonance we want to deal with. Perhaps not, but I didn't want to put time on the record to find out.

The resonance around 500Hz, while present on the Super 30 and Super 40, was quite bad here. On one sweep it audibly miss-tracked. I'm running this right in the middle of the recommended VTF range as I usually do, but these may prefer to be at the upper end.

 

[USER]

I am still wondering about your recent results showing a relatively high peaking at the lowest frequencies. I have only gotten something like that once, when I deliberately measured an extremely low compliance cartridge on a super low mass tonearm. Now, I generally use a turntable with a servo tonearm so perhaps that accounts for some of my overall results, which do not show a large range in that area.

The resonances above 200Hz are a different thing however, and I do see stronger resonances with one of my turntables, which is telling me that something is off with the tonearm as that is the area that usually shows up when something is up. (It's all relatively minor so I haven't invested too much time on it yet.)

Other than that ONE example, this is roughly the range I get in this comparison of a tone-arm cartridge compatibility match and a non-match. I deliberately tried to find the largest difference here with typical cartridges. And it is still relatively small with the worst performer in the +2 dB range. (These cartridges, while technically different, really do have the same FR as the cartridge is likely the same internally. ) You can also see resonance at ~300Hz from one of my tonearms as well. In all my measurements I haven't seen anything above +5dB at 20kHz.

As you can see it is possible for the highest frequencies to be affected, which is a concern here.

Here is my extreme worst case example, which again, was deliberately measured this way. The resonance at 200Hz is crazy as well.

 

[JP]

Test records check out with the reference layback I did of it when I opened it, and electronics check out as well. I'm running far lighter EM arms than most people, and Si3N4 balls with polished pins - stiction is going to be at worst around 5mg. As it's an EPA-500 setup, when I say the EM is Xg, the only thing that doesn't include is the cartridge weight itself.

 

[JP]

Ortofon OM 20
This was acquired new from thakker.eu around a year ago. This is the same body as was used for the OM 10 measurements.

Looks like higher C is also good for this one. I didn't bother changing Rload as it'd likely have an effect below the resonance we want to deal with. Perhaps not, but I didn't want to put time on the record to find out.

The resonance around 500Hz, while present on the Super 30 and Super 40, was bad here, but not as much as with the OM 10. I'm running this right in the middle of the recommended VTF range as I usually do, but these may prefer to be at the upper end.

The resonance around 11kHz I can't explain, but it was present in all five of the measurements I did.

 

[Thomas_A]

The resonance around 11kHz I can't explain, but it was present in all five of the measurements I did.

Ortofon's QC of stylii is not what it used to be. I've been there.

 

[AvLee]

Hey guys, long time lurker.

Just joined. Hope it’s ok to post here.

I’ve been repairing, servicing, buying & selling Technics SL turntables for around 24 years.

As a result I probably have one of the largest collection of carts designed for the Dj market.
Low end all all the way to high end.

A selection of Stantons, almost every Ortofon Concorde cart, a selection of Shures and some ATs.

I’m willing to send them to a trusted and vouched member on here, who has mastered the testing process, to perform some measurements to add to the database!

On a side note, I also have a Neumann vinyl mastering lathe and cut master lacquer's so am very passionate on getting my playback system as flat as possible for when I’m testing my lathe cuts.

So far I’ve been auditioning with a selection of Ortofons and Stanton’s, nothing particularly high end.

As a result of this thread and the preamp thread, I’ve just taken delivery (today in fact) of a NOS Shure V15 V-MR and a Fosi Audio X5 to upgrade my playback setup.

In the future I’d also be keen to have a go at making test records with various tones and sweeps. I have the capability of cutting directly onto PETG, which is like a pressed record.

Let me know your thoughts!

Thanks
Lee

 

[Jimi Floyd]

Welcome AvLee, great offer from your side, I wonder in which continent do you live so that testing volunteers close to you can apply. And, by the way, where did you find a NOS V15 V-MR ? Asking for a friend....

 

[AvLee]

Hi Jimi

Thanks and good point!

I’m just outside London so posting to a uk tester is preferred.

Here’s my Technics operation:

https://www.decknics.co.uk/

A local tester who can pop over to the workshop is also welcome! Address is listed on the website.

Regarding the NOS V15 you’re not going to believe a guy in the uk came across 5 of them buying a whole audiophile haul from the deceased owners family and was selling them on eBay one at a time at random prices, i literally just managed to spot them on his last one! If you do a “sold search” on uk ebay you’ll see them! It only arrived today!