• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Uncoloured phono cartridges

Angsty

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Messages
1,862
Likes
2,215
Location
North Carolina, U.S.
Too bad that cartridges with jewel cantilevers like the Dynavector Ruby/DV23R apparently can't be retipped.
I don’t know about this specific cartridge, but at least some ruby cantilevers can be “retipped”. I believe that most retip operators these days buy the stylus and the cantilever as a single unit for replacement. Example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184174880868
 

LTig

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 27, 2019
Messages
5,760
Likes
9,442
Location
Europe
I don’t know about this specific cartridge, but at least some ruby cantilevers can be “retipped”.
Van den Hul retips their cartridges, and I think also ones from other companies.
 

Vear

Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2019
Messages
33
Likes
50
wZ0UQx3l.jpg


Stanton 881S
Denon DL-304
Pickering XSV-3000

They're as neutral as digital files playing through the Benchmark AHB2 and DAC2HGC combo. These cartridges are very, very good.

In some cases, depending on the master, they can sound even better than what's available in the digital domain.
 
Last edited:

mhardy6647

Grand Contributor
Joined
Dec 12, 2019
Messages
11,217
Likes
24,181
"Back in the day", I wish I had tried Micro Acoustics's piezo cartridges as they would seem to solve a lot of problems regarding cartridge loading:
http://roger-russell.com/sonopg/micropg.htm
And they could be had for a good deal less money than Sao Win's strain gauge cartridge.

A word to the wise: If you've got a stash of dead or worn cartridges, or even the fancy boxes they came in, they may be worth money! I cringe at the memory of someone cutting open a broken Mark Levinson ML-C1, as they might as well have burnt a couple of $100 bills. IIRC I was paid about $175 for a Fidelity Research MC201 with bent cantilever (potentially rebuildable) and maybe $75 for the solid oak box which had once housed the aforementioned ML-C1. Too bad that cartridges with jewel cantilevers like the Dynavector Ruby/DV23R apparently can't be retipped.
Got one of the MA cartridges here, too :) Midrange is exceptional -- nothing else really is, though. Overall, it's not bad. The one I have is not one of the pricier models of its time, though (in fairness).

DSC_6962 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
 

Sal1950

Grand Contributor
The Chicago Crusher
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
14,073
Likes
16,609
Location
Central Fl
How about cactus needles? You could also just resharpen them when they lost their point. ;)
 

anmpr1

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
3,722
Likes
6,406
I don’t know about this specific cartridge, but at least some ruby cantilevers can be “retipped”. I believe that most retip operators these days buy the stylus and the cantilever as a single unit for replacement. Example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184174880868
FWIW, this seller retipped my Denon DL-160 that I had sitting in a drawer, somewhere. I think I paid him 150 USD. As far as I can tell it plays as good as new. How he does it I can't say. I think turn around time was about a week.
 

Robin L

Master Contributor
Joined
Sep 2, 2019
Messages
5,211
Likes
7,590
Location
1 mile east of Sleater Kinney Rd
Meanwhile, I'm listening to a stream of Szell/Cleveland Orchestra playing the Eroica, remembering that I hunted down the original Epic issues on vinyl, every copy audibly off-center.

Future is NOW.
 

anmpr1

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
3,722
Likes
6,406
... I hunted down the original Epic issues on vinyl, every copy audibly off-center.

Over the past couple of years I bought a handful of 'audiophile' pressings--mostly in order to check out the SOA. Some Bill Evans work, Chet Baker, Sun Ra... Some DG classical. Off center! Not all of them, but enough that you notice it. LOL
 

Angsty

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Messages
1,862
Likes
2,215
Location
North Carolina, U.S.

Angsty

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Messages
1,862
Likes
2,215
Location
North Carolina, U.S.
The best MM/MI I've heard with a nude fine line stylus is the Nagaoka MP-500.

It's got a better motor than the 2M Bronze.

But it's not cheap for MM/MI.

A review by Mike Fremer of nine cartridges is one I revisited a few times to understand the cartridge brands better. The 2M Bronze and the Nagaoka MP-300 are covered. I chose a Hana SL when I was ready to upgrade from my 2M Blue, but the Hana is an MC cartridge.

And, yes, I do get a kick out of the irony that Fremer digitizes the needle drops to compare them!

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/nine-cartridges-compared-reviewed-and-voting-results
 
Last edited:

Angsty

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Messages
1,862
Likes
2,215
Location
North Carolina, U.S.
But records are fun, if you have them. If you don't I don't see the point in getting involved. Phono playback is really a hardware money funnel.

I so agree. I got into vinyl about 5 years ago when I inherited a collection, otherwise I would have never owned a turntable. Now I own 4 turntables, 2 phono preamps, a handful of cartridges and any number of doodads to “improve the experience” (pressure gauge, stylus and record brushes, Zerodust, vacuum record cleaner, etc)

Vinyl is a money funnel, indeed.
 

Sal1950

Grand Contributor
The Chicago Crusher
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
14,073
Likes
16,609
Location
Central Fl
Vinyl is a money funnel, indeed.
Maybe you should consider therapy? ;)

In some cases, depending on the master, they can sound even better than what's available in the digital domain.
"Depending on the master" , that's the critical part. If they were made from the same master the digital file will always crush the vinyl.
And then if things like S/N, distortion, accuracy to the master tape, just about everything other than personal preference, the digital will always be miles ahead.
My God people, it's 2020, 40 years past vinyls prime.
Let it die a dignified death. :p
 

Angsty

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Messages
1,862
Likes
2,215
Location
North Carolina, U.S.
Maybe you should consider therapy?
Given the conditions in the US recently, vinyl was supposed to be my therapy! I spent about 2 hours last night relocating a turntable and fiddling with aligning a cartridge. Didn’t think about coronavirus or politics once the entire time!

BTW, my CD collection has also grown considerably in the past 6 months - another anachronistic music technology!
 
Last edited:

sergeauckland

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
3,440
Likes
9,100
Location
Suffolk UK
Maybe you should consider therapy? ;)
My God people, it's 2020, 40 years past vinyls prime.
Let it die a dignified death. :p


In these troubled times, I find the nostalgia of vintage equipment comforting. Currently restoring an amplifier from the early 1970s, just finished recapping the crossovers from a 1980s loudspeaker for a pal, and have my pair of JR149s from the late '70s to recap when I've finished what I'm currently doing.

In the evenings, I've been playing a lot of my LPs which I hadn't played for a while. Mostly, it's because I've just had my EMT cartridge retipped (Expert Stylus fitted one of their Paratrace stylii in place of the old Van den hul) so am trying it out and getting a few hours on it. It's fun rediscovering stuff I'd forgotten I had.

I've also been buying a fair few SQ encoded LPs, mostly classical, which by their condition have probably hardly ever been played.

I think Nostalgia is every bit as good as it used to be.

S.
 

anmpr1

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
3,722
Likes
6,406
In these troubled times, I find the nostalgia of vintage equipment comforting. ...just finished recapping the crossovers from a 1980s loudspeaker...

The most satisfying hi-fi experience I've had was building my Dynakit Mk IV amps, and matching preamp (actually it's the 'NOS' Dyna clone from Dynakitparts, and the PAS look-a-like from Erhard Audio). And then refurbing and refinishing my L100s. Next, fixing a broken Dual 704 and cleaning up a Garrard Z100.

Specwise I know that it doesn't compare with SOA. Yet there's something about do-it-yourself that instills a pride of ownership. No doubt about it.

20200927_100615.jpg
 

sergeauckland

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
3,440
Likes
9,100
Location
Suffolk UK
Am I the only person on this forum that just uses their TT like a normal person and never fiddles with it.
I wouldn't say 'never', but apart from cleaning the stylus, mine stay 'unfiddled' for years at a time. Having Direct Drive TTs with integral phono stages means that there's nothing to fiddle with once set up. In the case of the EMT, even the cartridge is factory-aligned so even less to do.


S.
 

Sal1950

Grand Contributor
The Chicago Crusher
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 1, 2016
Messages
14,073
Likes
16,609
Location
Central Fl
The most satisfying hi-fi experience I've had was building my Dynakit Mk IV amps,
Did ya ever notice you mounted the pc board of one amp on the bottom of the chassis and on the top of the other??? ;
 
Top Bottom