Phonograph Cartridges. . . some thoughts
Dear Reader,
Until recently, these were my thoughts on phonograph cartridges:
Recently I have been playing a $2000 list Dynavector XX2 MkII moving coil cartridge and a $399 list current production Audio Technica VM750SH cartridge. SH stands for Shibata. I paid $430 USD for the Dynavector with 480 hours on it. These are both fine cartridges. The Dynavector is all about detail and dynamics. The AT is all about body and holism. It seems that about half of my good vinyl LP records thrive on the Dynavector. The other half thrive on the AT. I am on the verge of proclaiming that you cannot have it all from one cartridge. It seems that different records respond well to different cartridges. So this is my new path. I am using a vacuum tube phono stage with switchable inputs, one for MM/MI one for MC. I have two arms set up, so a flip of a switch allows me to choose the cartridge. Both cartridges are on Woody arms. I must say though, that I have heard a Rega RB250 with my VTAF VTA adjuster/isolator make wonderful music with the AT VM750SH cartridge on those records that thrive on a full bodied holistic presentation.
After recently coming to this tentative conclusion about the importance of having multiple cartridges at the ready (this conclusion is sixty years in the making) I read Herb Reichert's discussion in Stereophile of low-priced cartridges he has given a listen to. This poured gasoline on the fire. Now I have purchased a $34 current production Audio Technica VM95 conical tip cartridge to evaluate. I will follow up by playing the AT VM95 with an elliptical stylus and then a line contact stylus. Just pop the needle assemblies in and out. I recommend you read Herb's article, Gramophone Dreams #44: Audio-Technica, Goldring, LP Gear phono cartridges:
https://www.stereophile.com/category/gramophone-dreams
This recent investigation of mine helps to explain why in a period of 60 years I've never found a single cartridge that did not disappoint on some very good vinyl LP records. Perhaps there is no one cartridge for all vinyl LP records.
I plan to further this discussion as experience unfolds. So, stay tuned. So many good topics. So many good records. So little time.
More recent experience:
Hi David,
It is good to hear that things are working well with your Woody SPU Tonearm. In answer to your questions about my experiences with phono stages:
For a while I was playing a Jolida JD9 phono stage with op amp gain and equalization and a tube buffer. I upgraded this several times. It was a bit lackluster.
Then I purchased a combined tape stage phono stage built by Kara Chaffee of de Haviland Electric Amplifier Company. This used op-amp gain for the first 20 dB of gain and tube gain for the final 40 dB. The phono stage for this was a one-off thing added to the tape stage as a favor by Kara. This was a bit lean sounding. Then a customer graciously bought for me, gratis, a very fancy multiple input phono stage built by Musical Fidelity. This was a masterpiece of convenience, and sounded pretty good, but was plagued by a bit more hum than I found acceptable. At the time this was priced somewhere around $3000, too much for a gift I could not use. So, I had the giver of the gift arrange for it to be returned to Music Direct, the seller, and be refunded his purchase price.
All this time I had a George Wright WP100 all tube phono stage with 40 dB of gain and an input impedance of 47 kOhms. I finally dusted off the George Wright unit and coupled it with a pair of RCA MI12399 microphone transformers with a 14:1 turns ratio (23 dB of gain, 196 x reduction of impedance). I read-up on the recommended load impedance for my SPU Classic G Mk.II cartridge. The recommended impedance was 10 Ohms or greater. I dug around in my carbon comp resistor collection and found a couple of 5300 Ohm resistors. 5300 Ohms divided by 196 is equal to 27 Ohm load on the SPU cartridge. When I played this, I was blown away. I had no idea how "right" an SPU could sound, how musical, how lovely on the top end, and how dynamic. For the foreseeable future, maybe for the duration, this will be my phono setup. I think the carbon comp resistors are part of this magic.
The RCA transformers are mounted in a beautiful little crinkle finish black box I bought on ebay. I can't remember the name of the seller (a really good guy), but he sells a lot of these boxes for various transformers. If you don't see one for the transformers you choose, email him.
Whereas, earlier, I thought it might be necessary to have different cartridges for different phonograph records, I seem to be finding that my Woody SPU Tonearm, with the Ortofon SPU G Mk.II cartridge seems to conquer quite a wide range of musical material. This is with an all-tube phono stage, preferred step-up transformers, and carbon composition load resistors selected to work with the cartridge and step-up transformers.
David, I hope you find these thoughts of value. Thank you for the kind words you have said about the Woody SPU tonearm and my Woody Interchangeable SME style headshells.
Kind Regards,
Pete
Until recently, these were my thoughts on phonograph cartridges:
Recently I have been playing a $2000 list Dynavector XX2 MkII moving coil cartridge and a $399 list current production Audio Technica VM750SH cartridge. SH stands for Shibata. I paid $430 USD for the Dynavector with 480 hours on it. These are both fine cartridges. The Dynavector is all about detail and dynamics. The AT is all about body and holism. It seems that about half of my good vinyl LP records thrive on the Dynavector. The other half thrive on the AT. I am on the verge of proclaiming that you cannot have it all from one cartridge. It seems that different records respond well to different cartridges. So this is my new path. I am using a vacuum tube phono stage with switchable inputs, one for MM/MI one for MC. I have two arms set up, so a flip of a switch allows me to choose the cartridge. Both cartridges are on Woody arms. I must say though, that I have heard a Rega RB250 with my VTAF VTA adjuster/isolator make wonderful music with the AT VM750SH cartridge on those records that thrive on a full bodied holistic presentation.
After recently coming to this tentative conclusion about the importance of having multiple cartridges at the ready (this conclusion is sixty years in the making) I read Herb Reichert's discussion in Stereophile of low-priced cartridges he has given a listen to. This poured gasoline on the fire. Now I have purchased a $34 current production Audio Technica VM95 conical tip cartridge to evaluate. I will follow up by playing the AT VM95 with an elliptical stylus and then a line contact stylus. Just pop the needle assemblies in and out. I recommend you read Herb's article, Gramophone Dreams #44: Audio-Technica, Goldring, LP Gear phono cartridges:
https://www.stereophile.com/category/gramophone-dreams
This recent investigation of mine helps to explain why in a period of 60 years I've never found a single cartridge that did not disappoint on some very good vinyl LP records. Perhaps there is no one cartridge for all vinyl LP records.
I plan to further this discussion as experience unfolds. So, stay tuned. So many good topics. So many good records. So little time.
More recent experience:
Hi David,
It is good to hear that things are working well with your Woody SPU Tonearm. In answer to your questions about my experiences with phono stages:
For a while I was playing a Jolida JD9 phono stage with op amp gain and equalization and a tube buffer. I upgraded this several times. It was a bit lackluster.
Then I purchased a combined tape stage phono stage built by Kara Chaffee of de Haviland Electric Amplifier Company. This used op-amp gain for the first 20 dB of gain and tube gain for the final 40 dB. The phono stage for this was a one-off thing added to the tape stage as a favor by Kara. This was a bit lean sounding. Then a customer graciously bought for me, gratis, a very fancy multiple input phono stage built by Musical Fidelity. This was a masterpiece of convenience, and sounded pretty good, but was plagued by a bit more hum than I found acceptable. At the time this was priced somewhere around $3000, too much for a gift I could not use. So, I had the giver of the gift arrange for it to be returned to Music Direct, the seller, and be refunded his purchase price.
All this time I had a George Wright WP100 all tube phono stage with 40 dB of gain and an input impedance of 47 kOhms. I finally dusted off the George Wright unit and coupled it with a pair of RCA MI12399 microphone transformers with a 14:1 turns ratio (23 dB of gain, 196 x reduction of impedance). I read-up on the recommended load impedance for my SPU Classic G Mk.II cartridge. The recommended impedance was 10 Ohms or greater. I dug around in my carbon comp resistor collection and found a couple of 5300 Ohm resistors. 5300 Ohms divided by 196 is equal to 27 Ohm load on the SPU cartridge. When I played this, I was blown away. I had no idea how "right" an SPU could sound, how musical, how lovely on the top end, and how dynamic. For the foreseeable future, maybe for the duration, this will be my phono setup. I think the carbon comp resistors are part of this magic.
The RCA transformers are mounted in a beautiful little crinkle finish black box I bought on ebay. I can't remember the name of the seller (a really good guy), but he sells a lot of these boxes for various transformers. If you don't see one for the transformers you choose, email him.
Whereas, earlier, I thought it might be necessary to have different cartridges for different phonograph records, I seem to be finding that my Woody SPU Tonearm, with the Ortofon SPU G Mk.II cartridge seems to conquer quite a wide range of musical material. This is with an all-tube phono stage, preferred step-up transformers, and carbon composition load resistors selected to work with the cartridge and step-up transformers.
David, I hope you find these thoughts of value. Thank you for the kind words you have said about the Woody SPU tonearm and my Woody Interchangeable SME style headshells.
Kind Regards,
Pete
___________________________________________________________________________
Pete Riggle Audio
2112 S. Olympia Street, Kennewick WA 99337, USA
Shop phone: 509 582 4548 email: peteriggle@msn.com
VTAF™ Trademarked. U.S.Patent No. 7630288.
Website content Copyright © 2021 Pete Riggle Audio, All Rights Reserved.
Pete Riggle Audio
2112 S. Olympia Street, Kennewick WA 99337, USA
Shop phone: 509 582 4548 email: peteriggle@msn.com
VTAF™ Trademarked. U.S.Patent No. 7630288.
Website content Copyright © 2021 Pete Riggle Audio, All Rights Reserved.