Can anyone show the spectrum/curve if it is not the same body and stylus it can be a sample variation . I do nit understand why a body could change frequency response LowBrats.de measured the AT series and 540 was better than 740
The Lowbeats test was interesting as I believe they used the same stylus assembly swapped between bodies. They also used a resonance-inert top Rega tonearm too, which kind-of contradicts my comments below... The 740 wasn't as 'brightly lit' up top by a couple of dB, but the 11khz or so 'peak' was reduced. You need to access the German pages, not the English language ones, although once the language is set for English, they can easily be read.
Innerhalb unser Familienübersicht ist das Audio-Technica VM740ML das größte und mit knapp 330 Euro t
www.lowbeats.de
Mit dem Audio-Technica VM540ML betritt das zweifelsfrei interessanteste Tonabnehmersystem der VM-Se
www.lowbeats.de
Linn did two versions of their AT93/95 based body mount, a plastic one in the K5 and a metallic one in the K9. I was pee-taked to hell and back for suggesting the K9 stylus (a Vital elliptical) sounded better and less 'messy' than it did in its own metal-mount body, but then, the final K9's were sold with K5 plastic mount bodies, so what do Ii know
Anecdotal with no objective proof, but pickups I have here with metal mounting, don't upset my Dual 701 tonearm when cueing/handling - it's a lively arm and some pickups 'sound' almost microphonic when I handle the arm to cue up - the otherwise delightful vintage half-inch mount B&O SP12 is awful for this. I wonder if this AT add-on actually helps to refine and restrain the 540 and previous 440 excesses and maybe not upset some popular lively tonearm designs? Someone will have to do an arm resonance test at high frequencies with the two mounting types to see.
Having said the above, to claim that this mount is 'better sounding' than the AT 700 type is a bit disingenuous maybe, especially when not one iota of objective testing is done to find out *why* it may be better.. I'd certainly consider one for my AT120E (body is the same I believe to all the new 500/700 models), but I have other priorities currently and feel my own rig would benefit from the slightly less 'assertive' tones of the VM740 over the far cheaper VM540 (jury's still out on that view though)
From Lowbeats, the 540 response (they do other tests as well)
The 740 in comparison -