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I've been listening to a Royal N for a couple of weeks and I'm really enjoying it. It's my first SPU, although I'm using it in a standard headshell. Anyone use one? Anyone like it but then found another SPU they liked better?
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Count me a fan, not tried other SPUs yet though. I've used it in a Schröder reference with the heavier brass mounting plate which makes the arm 18g effective mass and a Naim Naim superline phono stage loaded at 220Ω.
I particularly like it's way with piano music.
I have a heavier arm on its way that will take a pickup head so I can try the full SPU experience but the Schröder is going to give anything a hard time in comparison.
I have been a SPU fan for many years and i am going to stick with it.
They are still relatively affordable when comparing to many high end exotic cartridge. However in order to make it shine, it needs to match with the right arm.
If you like SPU Royal, the Wood A SPU should be on your radar. I generally prefer SPU with lower output, Wood A is one. So you need to have a SUT and an arm that can accept A type SPU. Wood A has a fantastic warm tone and clarity that I personally think it has surpassed Royal. I have Royal SPU MKII also.
I have a G arm. Is it worth it to get the adapter and use an Wood A or in your opinion will that negate the goodness of the Wood A?
Wood A is a wonderful cart, I have used the adaptor with wood A on RMG 309 arm and FR-64s arm, both works well.
At the end I bought a RMA 309 just for the wood A because I much prefer the simplicity.
Found a good deal on a A95! Can't wait to hear it...
I have a A95, too.
it isn't as warm sounding as the Royal. However, it is a all-around type, more detail sounding than Royal and extension of LF is much better.
A tag more modern sound, some called it more HiFi-ish but I really like it, over my Royal MKII.
I think you will enjoy it very much.
Thanks! Your assessment is very interesting. I keep hearing all sorts of different opinions about where it falls on the modern/vintage scale. I was hoping for something in-between my SL15 and the Royal N. Maybe this isn't going to be it? Can't wait to hear for myself!
Edits: 12/23/22
I have several SUP, including some older type.
If you have speakers like older altec, JBL, Quad, AR, etc which does not have good LF extension but more focus on mid range and high freq reproduction, using Royal or older SPU probably like a match in heaven. Another scenario is for those who play older records from early 60s, the intrinsic character of those recording with older SPU is a fantastic match.
I have a modern system, my records collection are mostly post 70s, hence I prefer a cartridge has the capability to cover "the whole thing". For the warm sound, I let my SET amp makes those "compensation"
I hope my little summary makes sense.
Happy holiday.
This has been an interesting couple of days. My speakers are 1975 Mitsubishi Diatones which are 12" bass reflex studio monitors from a recording studio in Japan. The amount of bass I'm getting with the Royal and SET amplification is crazy. Less with the A95 for some reason. The A95 is pretty incredible though for other reasons. It's going to be fun to compare over a longer period of time.
Happy holidays to you too!
The SPU-A Wood contains essentially the same motor + nude mounted conical (spherical) stylus I described in my previous post, except mine is mounted in a G body shell, hence, SPU-G or the equivalent of the current SPU Classic G MKII.
I've had the Royal N for many years, but never got the best out of it. I've had it on Jelco, SME 3012R, RS Labs and Viv Labs arms. Maybe I just couldn't get its Replicant stylus aligned right.
But then I tried it on the Sperling arm, a beast of at least 30g effective mass. It sounded fantastic! Except for the sibilance. I want to get around now to trying it on a new-to-me FR 64S.
Meanwhile I got a Classic GM and it sounds great on the Viv Labs.
FR-64s is a fantastic match with SPU.
In Japan, such combo is almost a standard.
Sibilance! Yes! I've been trying to track it down. I think there's an element in my amplifier (Sun Audio 300B) and I'm getting a SS amp this week to check it. If it turns out to be the Royal N I'll need to move on. I have a SL15 which sounds glorious but every time I swap in the Royal N it stays on there.
Of all the high end SPUs with complex stylus profiles and exotic windings I've listened to, I like the Synergy the most! IMHO, the higher end Anniversary, Meister, Reference etc. which I've heard in familiar systems, lose the essence of an SPU. I'd much rather have a Koetsu Black (80s), Rosewood or Supex SD900 if I want to retain the warm(ish) flavor with more detail and resolution.I've been a GME-II (nude elliptical stylus) user since the 90s. I bought an SPU #1s (bonded conical stylus) when it came out and found it to be more musically capable despite the relative lack of detail and resolution vs. the GME-II. Then I got an older model SPU-G (pictured above) with a low mileage nude mounted conical stylus from Japan. This model combined the virtues of the #1s + GME-II, which encouraged me to get my high mileage GME-II re-tipped with a nude mounted conical by VAS Audio.
My SPUs are usually mounted on a G301/RMG309, G401/Bokrand AB309 or TD124/AS309. But I've also used them in an Audio Technica AT1501/ATP16T, FR64fx, FR54, SME 3012 and Tokyo Sound ST900.
As usual in this hobby, YMMV!
Edits: 12/19/22
I moved on but I understood why Takeda ( of 47 Labs Miyabi ) loved the Ortofon SPU series cartridges.
Enjoy.
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