Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

[Danish ear]

Denon DL160 track 1 and 2.

Track 9 and 10.

The cartridge has been remounted(I am currently using another cartridge). The rubberplatter is a bit uneven on tracks 1 and 2.
I've played all the tracks from 1 to 10 as you would with a normal record.
I don't have the knowledge to comment on any irregularities between the two measurements, so comments are welcome.

 

[Thomas_A]

Hm were the channels swapped?

 

[Danish ear]

Hm were the channels swapped?

No, i just recorded the 4 tracks and let the script do its thing.

 

[Thomas_A]

No, i just recorded the 4 tracks and let the script do its thing.

I was wondering since the ≈1 dB channel imbalance shifted.

 

[Danish ear]

I was wondering since the ≈1 dB channel imbalance shifted.

Well that's quite alarming. I've recapped and adjusted the unit according to the servicemanual half a year ago. Anyway, dealing with that problem belongs in another thread I guess.

 

[melloncolliecat]

It does look odd in the 1st set, saying +3 and -0.2 db in the R channel, which is not what the graph shows. Same kind of discrepancy in the 2nd set too...

 

[Thomas_A]

It does look odd in the 1st set, saying +3 and -0.2 db in the R channel, which is not what the graph shows. Same kind of discrepancy in the 2nd set too...

Sharp eye, I did not see that. Odd.

 

[Jimi Floyd]

It does look odd in the 1st set, saying +3 and -0.2 db in the R channel, which is not what the graph shows. Same kind of discrepancy in the 2nd set too...

That is not strange, the +/- values shown on the plot in the boxes on the left are relative to the level of each channel at 1kHz separately, not to the level of the left channel at 1kHz, which is used as 0dB on the scale. The script always used this convention, which is logical by the way.

 

[melloncolliecat]

Oh, yeah that does make much more sense of course... Sorry!

 

[JP]

Oh, yeah that does make much more sense of course... Sorry!

I forgot about it, and I wrote it!

 

[aaaakkkk]

Music Hall Tracker Elliptical l 1.9g l 47k l 130pF l

- stylus - (~100-150LP)
- tracking at 2.0g ~ 90mkm
- tracking at 1.8g ~ 80mkm
- tracking at 1.6g ~ 70mkm

-L 802 Ohm, 597 mH
-R 801 Ohm, 607 mH

 

[Balle Clorin]

Nice, Can you please show with channel balance , not normalised?

 

[aaaakkkk]

Nice, Can you please show with channel balance , not normalised?

It is on the second screenshot.

 

[wpbilderback]

Music Hall Tracker Elliptical l 1.9g l 47k l 130pF l

- stylus - (~100-150LP)
- tracking at 2.0g ~ 90mkm
- tracking at 1.8g ~ 80mkm
- tracking at 1.6g ~ 70mkm

-L 802 Ohm, 597 mH
-R 801 Ohm, 607 mH


View attachment 462165
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That's a nice result for such an inexpensive cart. I believe it is equivalent to the Sanyo MG-29, which can be found for around $35. It would be interesting to see how one of those compares.

The Goldring Elektra (discontinued, I believe) is also probably identical. I used to have an Elektra, which came mounted on a Music Hall turntable, and I immediately "upgraded" to a highly-praised "audiophile" Grado cart that, no doubt, performed worse in virtually every parameter.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Nice results for the Music Hall Tracker which is the same as Goldring Elekra, now replaced by E3 which is a an AudioTechnica VM95E … a Grado would be a downgrade I agree.

 

[Bland_username42069]

Have we reached the point where a VM95E and a $200 or less phono stage is actually peak performance?

 

[acd]

Nagaoka MP-300 (New). Tracks 100mu on the Ortofon test record.

VTF: 1.7g (digital VTF showed 1.67 pm 0.02), Antiskating 1.0-1.1 (Technics scale).
VTA: The lower headshell line is parallel to the turntable platter surface (the line orthogonal to the azimuth correction plane).
SRA: With the above VTA and VTF (within manufacturer limits), I assume that SRA is according to specifications. I don't do specific SRA adjustment.
Azimuth: Set by means of Fozgometer using this record.

The stylus on this sample is not rotated relative to the cantilever as far as I can see and LTA adjustment was not necessary.

Measurements:

Notes / comments:
Brand new in the box. The cartridge belongs to a friend of mine.
This is an MP-300H and I measured it sitting in its original headshell.

 

[Balle Clorin]

Azimuth: Set by means of Fozgometer.

And which record?

 

[acd]

And which record?

Updated post with reference to the record.

 

[acd]

After posting the Nagaoka MP-300 measurements, I reinstalled the Nagaoka MP-500 on the Technics 1300G and did some experiments regarding the armheight.

The armbase is situated "quite high" on Technics 1300G (but 3mm lower than 1210G). Therefore, it is difficult to set the arm/headshell parallel to the turntable platter and I had to use two spacers to obtain the "correct" parallel position. With two spacers, the arm/headshell is parallel to the turntable platter at ~0.5mm. This is the armheight I use when listening to music and for all MP-500 measurements so far.

Height ~0mm

Height ~0.25mm

Height ~0.5mm

Height ~0.75mm