Magic Diamond vs Airtight PC1?

terzilaw-
I think you need to check your facts. Below is a letter to Positive Feedback Online regarding Mr Andreoli and his work.
I have also included a link to Micromagic for you for more details. As the owner of a Magic Diamond Blue AND a Denon 103, I can assure you that it is NOT a modified Denon...

Further- The Tondose uses ONLY the housing from the Ortofon SPU

Hi David,
I read your comments about the magic diamond cartridge and couldn't agree more... and I had to smile because many people talk about these MCs (many w/o having heard them, but that's the web...) and nobody seems to know more about them... so I figured you might be interested in a little background.

The guy behind these Swiss made cartridges is reto luigi andreoli, a good friend of mine. He studied architecture at the ETH in Zurich (also Albert Einstein's alma mater), but audio has always been his home turf. don't be fooled to think he's a cartridge manufacturer just because his MCs get such rave reviews—he's more of a contemporary Leonardo da Vinci, a true genius if I know one. He was a concert pianist, still occasionally builds houses, plays a wicked guitar and when he wanted to know more about cartridges, he went to the garrot brothers in Australia to learn the trade from them. He worked with them for (iirc) three years. (before committing suicide, they offered him their company, but he declined.)

Anyway, he also builds VERY good amplifiers and loudspeakers. I've added the PDF of an article we published in sound practices about my blue thunder speakers.

He also built my turntable, an EMT 930 with two tonearms. I think you know Lynn Olson; here's what Lynn wrote about my system when he was in Zurich: http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/europe.html. john Atwood also commented on my turntable http://www.clarisonus.com/blog/?p=18#more-18. needless to say that I also use reto Luigi Andreoli's cartridges; my favourite is his top model, the "tondose" which uses the housing of an ortofon SPU (it's the grey headshell on the rear arm in Lynn's article). in 1992 I bought a battery powered line stage from him that to this day is my preferred line amp and I keep returning to the pair of custom push-pull amps he built for me in 1994.... all in all, your description of the magic diamond cartridge (see PFO Issue 23, January/February 2006, at http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue23/proscenium5.htm) pretty much sums up his "trademark sound," if there is such a thing: it has drive, punch, a very solid bottom end, a smooth and yet detailed midrange, a natural top end with no glare; lots of details and air, and at the same time very homogeneous. I'm sorry, but the best way to describe Andreoli's sound is: if I were an LP, that's exactly how I would want to sound. .... ;-)

Did you know that all magic diamond cartridges have spherical styli? I find this especially noteworthy because according to conventional wisdom it should be impossible to have such an extended, smooth top end with a spherical stylus. but what do I tell you—you know how good this cartridge sounds... however, Andreoli is convinced that spherical is the only way to track an LP correctly. And the proof is in the pudding... his explanations are absolutely logical and convincing; it's not black science but simple, straight thinking of what a stylus tip does in the groove. Compared to a spherical stylus, all other styli produce more distortion. This is not only logical, but is backed up by the scientific studies the BBC conducted in the 60s. They also thought that an elliptical stylus should have less distortion than a spherical stylus and were very astonished when their studies showed the opposite.

In the 90s, I published a hifi magazine not unlike PFO (just nowhere near as big and thorough). For this magazine (HiFi Scene Schweiz), Andreoli wrote a two-part article on LP reproduction that has been dubbed "seminal" by people who don't use such a term lightly. The article is in German, but there are many scribbles that illustrate w/o words why cartridges should have a spherical stylus. You can download the article as PDF from my website (which is in English): http://www.rintelen.ch/e/hifi.html; it's the last of the three links on that page. the article caused quite a stir in the German speaking hi-fi world because he put the finger right there where it hurts...

Andreoli is a very low-key person. The owner of the Swiss hi-fi shop "Dietiker-Humbel" is Andreoli's cousin and that's probably the reason why http://www.dietiker-humbel.ch/micromag.htm is to my knowledge the only shop that sells Andreoli's entire product line. He builds most of his stuff in very little series—and down to the last screw, he builds all by himself. the build quality of his stuff is absolutely incredible, fit & finish are quite simply sensational for one-off products. This kind of quality cannot be cheap, but here in Switzerland, his stuff is not nearly as expensive as in the US or in Asia. And this for a very simple reason: he sells most of his stuff directly or thru one dealer. The price range for his cartridges is between CHF 3000 and 5000 (US$ 2500 - 4200; your magic diamond would be the $2500 cartridge. Just goes to show how distributors add to the cost of living or listening...)

I wrote a portrait of Andreoli in an earlier issue of HiFi Scene Schweiz. It's also in German, but at least with a picture of him. If you're interested, I'll scan the article and mail it to you as PDF file.

That's it for the moment. Pardon my English—it's not my native language... I hope I hadn't bored you to death with my laudation.

Have fun with your magic diamond!

Best regards,

Christian Rintelen

Switzerland

http://www.dietiker-humbel.ch/micromag.htm

That in and of itself, does not mean that the MD is a modified Denon. Many carts use the same type of stylus configuration and canteliever materials. When you refer to the Magic Diamond's "conical" stylus, I am assuming you mean "spherical"- as that is the actual shape of the stylus.

I use the Magic Diamond Blue with the Walker Audio Proscenium Gold TT in a vinyl only playback system. From a technical perspective, it is a medium output MC (0.38mV) of medium compliance. The body is milled from a solid chunk of metal and the stylus/canteleiver assembly is potted to the body in such a way as to make it non-replacable should it break (trust me on this - as I just snapped the canteleiver off mine, and am awaiting the arrival of a new cart).

The Magic Diamond has no real sonic signature of it's own. It is a very neutral cartridge. It is a cart that requires some patience during breakin as it is likely to change from day to day over the first 100 hours or so. But once it settles in you notice the speed and attack of leading edge transients and it's uncanny ability to deliver a focused sense of the music across the frequency spectrum without any emphasis in one range at the expense of another. When used in concert with the Proscenium Gold TT (my only experience with the MD), music leaps from a velvety, ultra black background. Good recordings sound good - and bad recodings sound bad. It digs into the grooves of the LP and fleshes out whatever is in there. It is detailed - but detailed in such a way that lets you listen with ease through the cart and into the music.

Disclaimer: I have no experience with the Airtight and can only relate what I hear in my room on my system.

Gregadd-
Sorry to hear that. Mine was the classic catch the cuff of your shirt on it while adjusting the belt. I watched it in slow motion as it tore off, tumbled through the air and dropped down onto the platter. I'm going to keep it in a little glass bottle near the table as a gentle reminder.

OK Nsgarch - I'll bite: What is a Tondose?

The Virus cart's underside is a bilious green color, just as the MD Blue's is blue. So- I guess it's "virus green" Kind of like the van den Hul "Frog"....

OK, I get it. Seeing as though the Ortofon SPU is an integral Headshell/Cart combination, I guess it makes sense that Mr. Andreoli would have christened his with that moniker...

Thanks sirspeedy! The Magic Diamond was not on my radar until I heard it mated with the Walker Proscenium Gold Signature turntable. It's no understatement when I say it was an ear opening experience. It was at that moment I decided that I had to have the Walker TT, and I never even thought twice about considering another choice in cartridges to go with it. I am very lucky that the synergy of that TT/cart combination also was a good fit for my phono stage.

Actually- My post above says 0.38mV, but Rushton's figure may be a little closer to reality.

Yeah - that WOULD be a typo :o I'll go away now.......

My experience with breakin was just what you are seeing at the moment. it will likely go through several stages before it settles in. A little weak in the bass at first, at some points dark and closed in, then sounding a little tipped up in the HF. Once you get about 100 hrs on it, it will stablize.

with respect to VTA - My MD was installed with my tt by Lloyd Walker. Neutral VTA was set as a baseline using 180g LPs, then reset again for 200g and then again for 140g LPs, so that each LP thickness can be quickly dialed in prior to play.

VTF was set at right around the middle of the manufacturer's guide line: 2.2-2.3g?

My turntable is so stable with respect to settings, it has been pretty much "set it and forget it" except for VTA adjustments where needed.

currently have the cart loaded at 100 ohms.