Cartridge advice

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IslandPink
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#16 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by IslandPink »

vinylnvalves wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 10:24 pm I don’t think the linear tracking arm could cope with an SPU, but fair point. I should have qualified, ones I have owned, which are the affordable end of the range.
It's only about the effective mass of the arm - linear trackers are not inherently low-mass - just add some mass !
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#17 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by vinylnvalves »

IslandPink wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:46 pm [quote=It's only about the effective mass of the arm - linear trackers are not inherently low-mass - just add some mass !
It wasn’t the effective mass it was the physical mass.. SPU is around 20 grams heavier than a typical cartridge, add extra for counterbalance. May affect the air bearings capacity. I had an MG1 linear tracker, adding mass meant more air pressure to keep the bearing running freely.
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#18 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by Ant »

Its a moot point with this arm, it doesnt have an sme bayonet fitting anyway.
Linear arms are oddities in terms of mass, they have low vertical mass but relatively high lateral mass in relation to the vertical. the lateral travel has to move the wand, counterweight and carriage, the vertical travel only has the wand and counterweight mass to cope with. So there is more lateral inertia than vertical. A pivot arm will behave in much the same way in both lateral and vertical planes
The linear arm lateral mass however, is still less that a pivoted arm as the wand, carriage and counterweight are still lighter than for example a 9" pivoted arm.

In practice, ive tried it with medium compliance and high compliance carts, and it doesnt seem to care too much. the cantilever wasnt dancing on the high compliance cart, and the wand, being a complex 3d printed nylon shape, doesnt seem to have the same sort of resonance modes that a tubular arm does.
Im sure they are there, but i cant hear them in the same way as for example an rb250.
It seems less affected by compliance than some of my other arms. For example, the mayware in combination with an early low compliance eroica was dreadful, as was the at1100 with the same cart.
Either with the high compliance 20a2 in them were lovely. The jvc arm was somewhere in the middle, fine with the at440 and a light headshell, fine with the new eroica that i broke, again in a light headshell. not quite so good with the 20x2.
at the other end is the acos. Bloody awful with the 20a2 in it, abit off with the vm540 in it but not bad at all, and fine with the 20x2h in it that is a little lower compliance.
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#19 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by vinylnvalves »

What about the Audio Technica AT33PTG, I remember hearing one on the AoS set up at the Scalford show one year, on a linear tracker.
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#20 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by Ant »

Ill look at that one, i didnt think it was a current production one
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#21 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by JohnG »

The Link has quite a few comments on the Hori and a review carried out by a very experiences vinyl user, who has auditioned numerous Cartridges.
It might need the Translate Tool used to read the review.

Im considering the jico seto hori at the top end of the budget, but the lack of meaningful user reviews is kinda putting me off.

https://www.analog-forum.de/wbboard/ind ... /&pageNo=1
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#22 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by IslandPink »

vinylnvalves wrote: Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:12 am It wasn’t the effective mass it was the physical mass.. SPU is around 20 grams heavier than a typical cartridge, add extra for counterbalance. May affect the air bearings capacity. I had an MG1 linear tracker, adding mass meant more air pressure to keep the bearing running freely.
Ok, good points.
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#23 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by Ant »

I finally went with an at33sa after being able to hear one before i put my hand in my pocket
A different blend of strengths and weaknesses to the dv, but a very natural, slightly laid back ( compared to the dv) sound that i found really rather pleasing. Especially on voices, pianos and violins
Running it through the mofi studiophono i bought, a really nice combination imo.
Thanks for the recommendations
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#24 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by Greg »

Ant wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 9:36 am I finally went with an at33sa after being able to hear one before i put my hand in my pocket
A different blend of strengths and weaknesses to the dv, but a very natural, slightly laid back ( compared to the dv) sound that i found really rather pleasing. Especially on voices, pianos and violins
Running it through the mofi studiophono i bought, a really nice combination imo.
Thanks for the recommendations
Good choice. When I have the funds to buy a back up for my Hana ML, I will get a AT33Sa.
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#25 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by Ant »

I didnt follow my own advice on the second cartridge.

i was going to, i went to get a new vm540ml from lords on ebay today which are about 225 quid...... and saw a less than 100 hour vm760slc for sale with about 10 minutes to go in the suggested items bit on the bottom of the page. Couldnt help being curious as to why the 760 is 400 quid dearer than the 540. Had a good look at the pictures, looking for evidence of use that would suggest the less than 100 hour claim was bollocks. Luckily the sellers pics were high quality so i could enlarge them and not lose detail. It is very very clean so im pretty confident that it has had the low use that it says. Stuck a cheeky bid in and won it for £250, so only an extra 25 quid over the 540.
Second hand carts can be a blummin lottery, so fingers crossed.

Interestingly, i have mi dads 540 here at the moment (and a 440mlb) on the jvc, so if i were of a mind to, i could see if i could tell the difference between the gold heavy body and the black light body

Hopefully it sounds good. The measurements ive read that someone did on it dont tally exactly with the reviews of it, so who knows....
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#26 Re: Cartridge advice

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Nice ! - another parcel to look forward to.
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#27 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by vinylnvalves »

Now I know who beat me in the eBay auction... :D. I didn’t really need another cartridge anyway.. I like the vm750 quite a lot, but have found I when I fitted the mentor tonearm, for a play with, it really sounded better than expected, and the Ortofon MC’s sound even better on the mentor. Never thought I would say that about a unipivot tonearm....
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#28 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by Ant »

Dont pay 600 quid for an slc, it aint worth it. It sound almost identical to my at150 sa and the vm540ml.
It has maybe a tiny bit more extension at the top end, quite nice and open, a little tiny bit more presence in the midrange than the 540, on par with 150sa. A gnats more detailed than the 150, on par with the 540.

The seller wasnt wrong with the hours, looking at it under a microscope at 200x (i got one for the kids to look at dead bugs ect, with an ulterior motive) its pretty much spotless

Tbh, if id paid 600 quid, id be well pissed off. Because i didnt, i am not, im just a little disappointed.
If you are going to buy a new one of this range, buy the 540ml. Or if you want a little bit more body and soul get the 750 sh.

I took the 33sa off the linear arm and put the 760 on there to try it, the 33 in my opinion is mostly better, the 760 is more lively, which is nice, but it isnt better anywhere else.
Its a little below par everywhere if we call the 33 par.

Put it on the jvc and swapped between the 540 and 150 to compare it easily.

The only area where it is any better than the other 2 is how it images. Its a noticable amount better. Not much, but its there.

If it was 450 to 500 quid new, fine, 600 is too much.

I just keep coming back to that bloody dynavector as my go-to........
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#29 Re: Cartridge advice

Post by Ant »

This 760 is getting better and better
I thought i was hearing things or subconsiously trying to justify the spend on it, but no, i dont think i am.

Its been on the jvc for a week, and has been used for a good few hours a day by she who must be obeyed while ive been working.
So i havent sat down in front of it at all since i got it. Now i have, its surprised me

It sounds much less rough now, not that it was particularly rough in the first place, but its filled out and squared itsself away, with about another 30 hours on it.

Ive a sneaking suspicion that it had much less than 100 hours on it. The spotless stylus bears this out. I reckon maybe 20 or 30 at the most, because its doing exactly what the 540ml did and that took probably 2 to 3 weeks of use to come on song. Which is unsurprising, given the generator and stylus assembly are practically identical. Its only the stylus itsself thats different, and that the generator is one that q/a's to a tighter minimum spec for the 700 range. The metal housing as opposed to plastic is irrelevant.

Maybe it is worth its price. i think its now on par with the hana i had. The dv and the 33 are still better to me, but its gotten closer
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