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- Jul 23, 2012
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Are we sitting comfortably? Excellent.
So it's like this: I've aligned way more turntables than you have. Way more. With heavy emphasis on the spendy setups. Been doing it my whole life, for good money. So I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two. Patterns have fallen out and here I share them. When buying a cartridge, these are the important things, in order from most to least important.
I'm making Rule number Zero the compliance vs. tonearm mass for a properly placed subsonic resonance. This is absolutely essential and getting this wrong means no amount of effort can fix it. That is a long thread all by itself... maybe someday.
However, if discussing the cartridges themselves in isolation from any particular arm, here are the priorities:
1) the shape of the stylus
2) The shape of the stylus
3) THE SHAPE OF THE STYLUS
4) THE FRIGGIN SHAPE OF THE STYLUS
5) IS THIS THING ON?!? STYLUS SHAPE
6) Cantilever material - yes you can hear the difference, with aluminum at the bottom and all of the exotics (boron, sapphire, ruby, diamond) clustered pretty closely together but well above aluminum. Well above.
OK, here's what is not important: the entire back half of the cartridge. The motor. It is far less important what the motor is, moving magnet, moving coil,... IDGAF anymore. Truly superb examples exist in both categories.
It's similar to the evolution, and maturation, of different motor technologies in cars. To the actual driving experience it maters less and less what you choose these days, they all do a perfectly good job. The old cartridge rules no longer apply because preamp electronics got better and made the rules obsolete.
All that matters are the moving parts. The rest is just support gear. Strong analogy here to cars: We obsess over the car itself but we're really driving the tires.
A purchasing philosophy grows from this thinking: Buy the sharpest stylus available in whatever product series you're shopping. It is much smarter to drop down one model line (or two!) and get the top version from that cheaper series.
Get the top version of whatever series you are shopping in. That's the right purchase. Every time.
Yours in audio snobbery,
Me
PS for Jderimig: LVB250. Trust me.
PS for Antares JS: It's your fault I hear the title in my head in Grandpa Buff's voice!
So it's like this: I've aligned way more turntables than you have. Way more. With heavy emphasis on the spendy setups. Been doing it my whole life, for good money. So I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two. Patterns have fallen out and here I share them. When buying a cartridge, these are the important things, in order from most to least important.
I'm making Rule number Zero the compliance vs. tonearm mass for a properly placed subsonic resonance. This is absolutely essential and getting this wrong means no amount of effort can fix it. That is a long thread all by itself... maybe someday.
However, if discussing the cartridges themselves in isolation from any particular arm, here are the priorities:
1) the shape of the stylus
2) The shape of the stylus
3) THE SHAPE OF THE STYLUS
4) THE FRIGGIN SHAPE OF THE STYLUS
5) IS THIS THING ON?!? STYLUS SHAPE
6) Cantilever material - yes you can hear the difference, with aluminum at the bottom and all of the exotics (boron, sapphire, ruby, diamond) clustered pretty closely together but well above aluminum. Well above.
OK, here's what is not important: the entire back half of the cartridge. The motor. It is far less important what the motor is, moving magnet, moving coil,... IDGAF anymore. Truly superb examples exist in both categories.
It's similar to the evolution, and maturation, of different motor technologies in cars. To the actual driving experience it maters less and less what you choose these days, they all do a perfectly good job. The old cartridge rules no longer apply because preamp electronics got better and made the rules obsolete.
All that matters are the moving parts. The rest is just support gear. Strong analogy here to cars: We obsess over the car itself but we're really driving the tires.
A purchasing philosophy grows from this thinking: Buy the sharpest stylus available in whatever product series you're shopping. It is much smarter to drop down one model line (or two!) and get the top version from that cheaper series.
Get the top version of whatever series you are shopping in. That's the right purchase. Every time.
Yours in audio snobbery,
Me
PS for Jderimig: LVB250. Trust me.
PS for Antares JS: It's your fault I hear the title in my head in Grandpa Buff's voice!