Who needs a Diamond Cantilever...? 💍

Hi, and hope that everyone is staying safe!

Note that the auction listing on Yahoo.jp <https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b489057356> is for the integrated headshell version, with a long joint pipe and comparatively short diamond stylus/cantilever. I am not aware of any internal differences between this and the standard, non-Custom XL88D.

As had been written elsewhere, the higher-performance version with a short joint pipe and long diamond stylus/cantilever was also called Custom, but Mori-san seemed to think that fewer than 10 pieces were made.

FWIW, for some time I had the diamond-cantilevered AT1000MC that Raul wrote about earlier in this thread. However, I have no recollection of the cantilever being a single piece with the stylus.

The following link suggests that this was not the case, but perhaps others can look at the third photo and voice their opinions.

https://aucfree.com/items/w349368744

https://img.aucfree.com/w349368744.3.jpg

Hi @edgewear 
Yoshihisa Mori was close friends with Kanemori Takai, and after Mori left Sony, he was involved in a variety of projects, one of which would have been the creation of a cartridge production line inside Final.

FWIW, Final was originally formed by two brothers with the family name of Kitamura; I was friends with them before Takai-san acquired the brand and merged it with his own Takai Laboratory.

Due to Mori-san's friendship with Takai-san, and his high-ranking position within the Sony corporate organization, I believe that Mori was able to obtain special dispensation for Takai-san to use the XL-88D design and suitable components from Sony's parts-bins.

Since Sony by that time was so heavily focused on digital (eventually Mori became the head of Sony's SACD division, and came to be called "Mr. SACD"), the cartridge IP was no longer of much value to Sony.

As you write, the body is that of an XL-44 (the XL-55 looks similar but has a different finger-lift design, among other detail differences). Small scratches reveal the underlying plastic to be of a different color than the metal-blue surface, therefore the color was painted onto the plastic rather than being molded into it (as would have been done for real bespoke production).

The coils appears to be of the coreless figure-8 type, which was the final coil design that Mori-san settled on for its MC designs.

I can't comment about the damper choice, as this is not visible from the photos. However, the damper-to-cantilever matching is one of the key aspects which can make or break a cartridge's sound, and given the size and production volume of Sony's cartridges division, they would have possessed a range of different rubber compounds and shapes. Therefore it wouldn't be a surprise if Takai-san chose a different set of dampers to the XL-88D, and if so, the sound wouldn't have been the same.

Again as you write, the joint-pipe is long and the one-piece stylus-and-cantilever diamond section short on this sample, showing that this used the standard XL-88D configuration rather than following the extreme and costly Custom.

Finally, since the body is of the integrated-shell variety, this cartridge must be used with a universal-type tonearm. The universal headshell connector, although widely adopted for its convenience, has a number of fundamental design flaws will most likely limit the performance level that can be extracted from this cartridge.

Still, this could have been a very interesting purchase. The screwed-on copper top was most likely added to make working on it easier than the molded-and-glued-shut Sony originals.

Too bad the auction seems to have ended (wonder what it ultimately sold for).

kind regards, jonathan

Since Yahoo Japan auctions are what has kept this thread fed,
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u451175616

😃

Hi @edgewear:
>The auction ended yesterday at a smidgen under 200.000 JPY and I’m happy to disclose that my Japanese contact has won it!<

200,000 JPY is quite a bargain. Today Namiki-Adamant charges significantly more for their top diamond cantilever only (no cartridge included).

https://www.ad-na.com/en/product/jewel/product/shop_diamond_microridge.html

IOW you got a discount on the cantilever, and the cartridge for free! 😊

>The spec sheet of XL-44 (with 49mm distance) even claims that variations within that 2mm range don’t impact sound quality. I’ve also noticed that Ortofon is not too meticulous about observing the required 51mm collar to stylus distance for the SPU’s. I’m well aware this runs against the grain of the meticulous P2S alignment methods considered mandatory today, but in practice it does seem to work fine without audible distortion.<

>What are your thoughts about this?<

More than one vintage Japanese tonearm was designed without accurate calculations for horizontal tracking geometry (applies equally to Lofgren A, Lofgren B, or Stevenson). In some cases hitting the null points requires that the cartridge be twisted significantly in the headshell. When the cartridge cannot be twisted because it is housed in an integrated headshell, how important is precise overhang?

>As a good audiogon citizen I will report back when I have taken delivery of this Takai Lab Final MC.<

Looking forward to your initial impressions. Longer-term, I recommend that you try out a variety of setup approaches at your leisure until you can ferret out how to make it sing at its finest.

kind regards, jonathan