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Cartridge frequency response specs

It seems that sometimes, but not always, a cartridge will be given two frequency response specs, one with db and one without - and at the Dynavector website, the descriptions even vary in this regard among their own cartridges, e.g.

The Karat 17D2 Mk II: 20Hz-100kHz; 20Hz-20kHz (+/- 1db)
Te Kaitora: 20Hz-50kHz; 20Hz-20kHz (+/- 1db)

BUT

10X4 Mk II: 20Hz-20kHz (+/- 2db)
XX-2: 20Hz-20kHz (+/- 1db)

Why is Dynavector (or Denon, etc,) giving us the non-db specs, and why just for some DV cartridges and not for others - and what is the significance of these way-above-20kHz frequencies as far as our listening experience goes, 'vibes'??
phoenixpizza

Showing 3 responses by twl

twl
3,251 posts
 
They are giving you the overall fequency response (wideband) in one spec(with no db tolerance shown)and also the linearity in the audio band(with db tolerance shown)with the other spec.
Whether the wideband response is significant, is a matter of debate.
As an information retrieval transducer, the audio band linearity of a cartridge is important. But it gives no insight into the sound characteristics of the cartridge. Or tracking ability, or resolving of detail, or many other things.
twl
3,251 posts
 
That is a very good point, Sean. Just out of curiosity, in low ouptut MC carts, did the high end roll off with higher ohm loads than specified, or lower ohm loads? I was thinking about experimenting with different loadings for my DL103, and would like some initial info on this before I start. I have read that in many cases listeners preferred much lower ohm loadings than spec'd by the mfr. I currently load my DL103 at 40ohms at the step-up transformer. Any advice on this?
twl
3,251 posts
 
Sean, buddy, that was super excellent info! Thanks! I will play around with that because I am getting a tinge of what sounds like distortion at really tough dynamic high-freq passages. It may be that distortion that you mentioned that could be tamed by slightly lower load. I am just running it "free" on the capacitance right now, but I'm going to try some caps to see what they do. Thanks, again. That was really, really useful info!
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