Not loving my AT740MLx

[Thomas_A]

I don’t know if, where and when JICO wrote this stuff.

 

[JP]

I can't find anything aside from a guy claiming to have talked with someone. Problem is, without know the cutting level and groove diameter, the frequency and distortion numbers are utterly useless.

 

[dlaloum]

I think the last place he was active was diyAudio, or at least that was the last place I saw him posting. Funny - I was reading a lot of his posts on VE researching the supposed "JICO criteria" for assessing stylus wear just a few days ago. More than a dozen years later and most people still can't see the obvious folly in that.

I'll try to reach out to him on diyAudio. I've been meaning to as it'd be amazing to get his old spreadsheet tools/calculators. Very doubtful we'll see anyone else put that much work in to understanding how this stuff works and poking at sacred cows - would love to know that body of work isn't going to get lost to time.

I have a few of his spreadsheet tools...

 

[JP]

I have a few of his spreadsheet tools...

Are you sharing?

 

[dlaloum]

Are you sharing?

Happy to share what I have...

I have the tonearm effective mass calculator, and a work in progress, which was a cartridge electrical performance simulator.... (the later I used to test various loading variables to determine optimal loading for MM cartridges.... but it is a bit of a beast to use)

I may have others - will have to look through my storage archive...

 

[Snoopy]

I feel like I reached my endgame with the AT 740ML cartridge.. parks audio waxwing phono DSP and BlueJeans LC1 cables.. couldn’t be more happy at the moment.

A NM Japanese vintage LP sounds sublime .. and as clean as a CD most of the time. I might add a KAB silicon damper on my Technics SL1500C in the future and maybe some better feet and a custom plinth but damn .. that cartridge is great value for money .. especially considering the price of the replacement stylus .

Sure there is always something better but I don’t see myself spending 2-3 times more money to get a tiny improvement.

 

[JP]

Happy to share what I have...

I have the tonearm effective mass calculator, and a work in progress, which was a cartridge electrical performance simulator.... (the later I used to test various loading variables to determine optimal loading for MM cartridges.... but it is a bit of a beast to use)

I may have others - will have to look through my storage archive...

He's not allowing PMs on diyAudio.

I've seen screenshots of groove/acceleration calculators as well. Not sure when he stopped posting the excels, and what functionality was added since. Even screenshots are difficult to come by as so much has gone from VE.

 

[JP]

Happy to share what I have...

Gentle reminder.

 

[ksulliva01]

Just jumping in here getting back to the original post, I am also not loving my AT VM740xml. My capacitance is as low as I can get it for the time being. I'm estimating my Project Debut Carbon Evo Tonearm ~100 (?), Blue Jeans LC1 (2ft) ~25. Fidler Spartan 5 at 120, total of ~250. There's just too much 10k-12K on everything. Usually don't mind a little "air" but I'm finding it pretty overbearing. Really wanted to love this cartridge as the ML stylus tracks really nicely, but I think it's back to Sumiko, which at least in my system, sounds more balanced and natural.

Even with treble down 2 clicks, the general "character" of the cartridge seems to persist and now all high-end is shelved down and sounds dull yet aggressive at the same time. AT claims this new "X" series brings "new warmth" etc. but from what I've seen over on the phono cart measurements thread of the 745xml, the capacitance sensitivity is still there, nothing really new here.