Thanks to you both for the usual thoughful review.
The cartridge sound very intriguing. As my listening is weighted toward jazz and rock, I know that people are looking for a certain about of friendliness when it comes to, say, "Physical Graffiti". The question here is that is it the fault of the cartridge? Should you be choosing a cartridge with more slam or should that be regulated to the rest of the system. That's hard to say and while the atmos sounds very intriguing and is a good 1300 bucks cheaper than universe,I am of the mind that the cartridge should be as neutral as possible getting all the details out of the grooves. If I want a little more midbass, on occasion I have switched to my B&W's for it, which are more cohesive than the dunlavy's but far more neutral than my quads or spendors.
My mastering engineer, who knows more than anyone I know about audio in general, masters on Duntech sovereign's, a close cousin to my dunlavy scIV-a's.
He has mentioned and i agree, that the dunlvay's draw you so far into the detail of the midrange than you are able to hear things almost track by track. This, we both agree, would make them impossible to mix a record on, as mixing requires a neutral speaker but one with enough glue not to distract you so much you can't hear the whole picture. I have found that records mixed on B&W's will sound good on dunlavy's, but I wonder if it would go the other way.
Anyway, My rambling is just the note that the Atmos sounds very tempting. As i have a universe, I don't know if I'm ready to trade down for less resolution and more color. I am sure it is a great cartridge, but I would also note that people naturally voice their systems for the kind of music they like. I never liked Krell amps, but people will "soft speakers" often like to mate the brighter sounding krells with them. I find the bass in Wilson speakers in my limited experience to be unnatural and strange, but lovers of "big bass" and the music that accompany's it may find them just the thing. maybe a am amp is a good way to voice a system for the music you love.
I think a cartridge should just pick up everything that's there. If you've ever been around when a record is being cut it seems like Records are so primitive a technology it's amazing there is so much to be found in those grooves. Cartridge design is a black art. I wouldn't want the job!
bright moments,
philip
The cartridge sound very intriguing. As my listening is weighted toward jazz and rock, I know that people are looking for a certain about of friendliness when it comes to, say, "Physical Graffiti". The question here is that is it the fault of the cartridge? Should you be choosing a cartridge with more slam or should that be regulated to the rest of the system. That's hard to say and while the atmos sounds very intriguing and is a good 1300 bucks cheaper than universe,I am of the mind that the cartridge should be as neutral as possible getting all the details out of the grooves. If I want a little more midbass, on occasion I have switched to my B&W's for it, which are more cohesive than the dunlavy's but far more neutral than my quads or spendors.
My mastering engineer, who knows more than anyone I know about audio in general, masters on Duntech sovereign's, a close cousin to my dunlavy scIV-a's.
He has mentioned and i agree, that the dunlvay's draw you so far into the detail of the midrange than you are able to hear things almost track by track. This, we both agree, would make them impossible to mix a record on, as mixing requires a neutral speaker but one with enough glue not to distract you so much you can't hear the whole picture. I have found that records mixed on B&W's will sound good on dunlavy's, but I wonder if it would go the other way.
Anyway, My rambling is just the note that the Atmos sounds very tempting. As i have a universe, I don't know if I'm ready to trade down for less resolution and more color. I am sure it is a great cartridge, but I would also note that people naturally voice their systems for the kind of music they like. I never liked Krell amps, but people will "soft speakers" often like to mate the brighter sounding krells with them. I find the bass in Wilson speakers in my limited experience to be unnatural and strange, but lovers of "big bass" and the music that accompany's it may find them just the thing. maybe a am amp is a good way to voice a system for the music you love.
I think a cartridge should just pick up everything that's there. If you've ever been around when a record is being cut it seems like Records are so primitive a technology it's amazing there is so much to be found in those grooves. Cartridge design is a black art. I wouldn't want the job!
bright moments,
philip