Cello Cartrige Help Please


I recently got a Sota Saphire turntable with a Cello Cartrige.

Can not find much info. I assume it is pretty high end as it is mounted on Shure SME Series V tonearm.

I would appreciate any help and any idea about its value.
anmurash
From what I remember, it is a moving coil cartridge source from Ikeda in Japan. Mark Levinson (the man) owned Cello and spec'd the cartridge for his line of very high end equipment.
There were two Cello Cartridges.
The Maestro is an Ikeda and it had a rounded front, straight sides and flat back. The stylus is like that of a Decca cartridge with no cantilever.
The Chorale is a Miyabi. It's round and it has the conventional cantilever type stylus assembly. This cartridge is not typical as far as loading goes and you may find that it sounds better when loaded with something between 100 and 1000 ohms.
The Maestro needs the right arm and knowhow in setup or you won't hear what it can do. The Asian audiophiles seem to be the experts on these.
The Chorale will work in more arms and it's not uncommon for it to be a low rider. After 20 to 50 hours of use the cantilever ususally ends up closer to the cartridge body and you need to adjust the VTA.
Both are very good cartridges in the right setup.
New Ikeda and Miyabi Cartridges are in the thousands but the used market for a Cello Cartridge may bring around $700-900 unless you find the "right buyer."
Used cartridges are a gamble and unless it's a one owner item with believable history and a highly rated seller a potential buyer will be more cautious.
I forgot to mention the VTF.
If you look at Ikeda cartridges on the Cartridge Database there are several models that look like the Cello Ikeda yet the tracking force is different. It's a Model 9 but 9 what?
I'd start at 2 grams and go down slowly from there.

http://www.vinylengine.com/cartridge_database.php?m=Ikeda&t=any&mod=&Search=Search&sty=&ovlo=&ovhi=&can=&dclo=&dchi=&stid=&masslo=&masshi=¬=&prlo=&prhi=

Based on my experience the Cello Miyabi seems to track and sound good between 1.8 and 2 grams but closer to 2 grams may yield a fuller sound.