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In Reply to: RE: MM vs MC is MC THAT much better? posted by MannyE on December 29, 2016 at 05:54:12
I wouldn't get too hung up about the transducer principle. The differences between cartridges (whether MC or not) will largely come down to the usual issues of manufacturing tolerance and alignment accuracy in your system as well as loading.
It just so happens that with MCs being more expensive they tend to be partnered with better styli which also credits them with better sound.
The big advantage is the low inductance which shifts the electrical resonance well outside the audible range to nearly the MHz range depending on the system loading.
With MM, the FR flatness is the result of the electrical resonance and mechanical resonance interaction. It is often stated that MM has a limited FR range due to the high inductance. Whilst this is true to an extent if you simply look at the loading and cartridge inductance, Stanton was able to achieve a bandwidth of 50kHz into a standard 47k load with the 981HZS which has a specified cartridge inductance of 450mH.
The audibility of phase change due to the electrical loading is a contentious subject. However, by shifting the electrical resonance well outside the audible range due to the low inductance associated with a LO design, the only limitation to the FR range would be due to mechanical properties.
Although no longer available, the Stanton/Pickering low impedance bodies very successfully demonstrate that the transducer principle doesn't make an audible difference and give the advantage of a replaceable stylus assembly with a very low tip mass and wide frequency response to rival and beat similarly priced LO MC. At that point in time (late 70s/early 80s), MMs typically had the lowest effective tip mass and the low impedance design enabled a response to extend beyond 50kHz.
HOMC like the Denon DL110 achieve the high output by increasing the coil inductance. This is at the expense of effective tip mass which naturally goes up and reduces the HF tracking ability and can result in a coarseness on hot cuts.
MMs available now are not of the same standard that they were in the late 70s early 80s. So you may well get a better performing/sounding MC these days compared to what is on offer with MM.
AT MMs whilst on the one hand being superlative technically, tend to have a rather unpleasant brightness but that is an engineered peak around 10 to 12kHz. The AT MC cartridges tend to have a more neutral balance.
The degree to which you find MC sounding better than what you have will come down to how much you are prepared to spend to "scratch your itch"!
John's suggestions are good. I would just advise caution with a Denon DL301/II though. I have two and the second one simply doesn't meet specifications and was a terrible tracker. The first was fantastic. Take home message - beware of variability!
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
Follow Ups:
Would love to see that LOMM principle revived.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Hey there! Good to see you back here.
Have you managed to score an XLZ/LZS body?
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
Hi - and Happy New Year!
No, sadly. I'm thinking of corresponding with Vickers in the UK, in case they can put me onto someone who may have a spare. Seems like a way forward.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Happy New Year to you too!
Vickers used to offer an "upgrade" service to convert an existing high impedance body. I don't know whether they simply swapped out the body or genuinely replaced the coils.
Good luck!
BTW how did your P-mount cartridges work out? Were the tips well aligned? If so, you are a very lucky chap! My success rate with eBay scored Stanton/Pickering has been VERY poor indeed. I'm astonished at how bad the alignment is in some cases and I understand why they are turning up as "NOS" as they were probably store returns from unhappy customers back in the day. I had one stylus that was skewed by about 3 degrees!!
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
flood2 wrote:
"Happy New Year to you too!
Vickers used to offer an "upgrade" service to convert an existing high impedance body. I don't know whether they simply swapped out the body or genuinely replaced the coils.
Good luck!" ......In reality, you do not need a Pickering body. You simply buy a brand new(NOS) low output body for £199.90. The The ad is somewhat misleading. . . A needle that works qutite good at 1.5g VTF(+1g for the brush) can be found at LP-Gear : http://www.lpgear.com/product/PICKSXLV7500MK2S.html
Edits: 01/07/17 01/07/17
Good to know about the body - that was very misleading of them indeed!
Actually the price they are charging is still a very good price compared to the prices on eBay of low impedance cartridges with busted styli.
Back in the 90s, I was talking with John Kuykendall (who in the latter years was the VP of engineering at Stanton) about the Pickering UK site. He said they knew nothing about them and hadn't authorised them to use the branding specifically. He reckoned they must have bought up a large amount of stock from somewhere and were working their way through the stock. I've bought from them and the Pickering product IS the real deal. However, with some of the items like the head amp, they must be making them new. The head amp is described as being Made in Britain!
I'm very suspicious about the LPGear replacements. I bought a couple of their D98S replacements and they were absolutely dreadful. None of those 3rd party replacements have the tie-wire suspension design of the originals and there was a tremendous amount of distortion combined with poor tracking ability.
I guess for anyone without ANY styli needing to get a body going then they wouldn't have much choice but to buy them. For myself, I would stick to retipping my originals while they still work well.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
Despite no tie-wire, this VividLine needle sounds just beautiful
at 1.5g(+1g for the brush) VTF. A friend of mine have one for the
Pickering XSV-3000 and likes it a lot, also this at 1.5g VTF(Nota Bene).
At 1.25g VTF none of the needles tracks and therefore sounds
terribly bad.
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