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Hear my Cartridges....🎶

Many Forums have a 'Show your Turntables' Thread or 'Show your Cartridges' Thread but that's just 'eye-candy'.... These days, it's possible to see and HEAR your turntables/arms and cartridges via YouTube videos.
Peter Breuninger does it on his AV Showrooms Site and Michael Fremer does it with high-res digital files made from his analogue front ends.
Now Fremer claims that the 'sound' on his high-res digital files captures the complex, ephemeral nuances and differences that he hears directly from the analogue equipment in his room.
That may well be....when he plays it through the rest of his high-end setup 😎
But when I play his files through my humble iMac speakers or even worse.....my iPad speakers.....they sound no more convincing than the YouTube videos produced by Breuninger.
Of course YouTube videos struggle to capture 'soundstage' (side to side and front to back) and obviously can't reproduce the effects of the lowest octaves out of subwoofers.....but.....they can sometimes give a reasonably accurate IMPRESSION of the overall sound of a system.

With that in mind.....see if any of you can distinguish the differences between some of my vintage (and modern) cartridges.
VICTOR X1
This cartridge is the pinnacle of the Victor MM designs and has a Shibata stylus on a beryllium cantilever. Almost impossible to find these days with its original Victor stylus assembly but if you are lucky enough to do so.....be prepared to pay over US$1000.....🤪
VICTOR 4MD-X1
This cartridge is down the ladder from the X1 but still has a Shibata stylus (don't know if the cantilever is beryllium?)
This cartridge was designed for 4-Channel reproduction and so has a wide frequency response 10Hz-60KHz.
Easier to find than the X1 but a lot cheaper (I got this one for US$130).
AUDIO TECHNICA AT ML180 OCC
Top of the line MM cartridge from Audio Technica with Microline Stylus on Gold-Plated Boron Tube cantilever.
Expensive if you can find one....think US$1000.

I will be interested if people can hear any differences in these three vintage MM cartridges....
Then I might post some vintage MMs against vintage and MODERN LOMC cartridges.....🤗
128x128halcro
harold-not-the-barrel
895 posts
 
Henry, thanks for illustrating the colour subject. It seems to me that your "later stock" GLANZ MFG 610LX has a tube boron cantilever likewise does mine from mid eighties and beryllium was probably never used. As the original GLANZ MFG 61 is long ago discontinued the MFG 610LX is "the most prestige model among the GLANZ MF cartridges" and it does sound excellent as I´m currently revisiting my sample.
Many audiophiles praise the Grace F-9 Ruby as the best sounding of the F-9 series, I have read over the years in many Hi-Fi forums...
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
You’re welcome Harold.
I think you’re probably right, except it’s a ‘hollow’ tube....and I don’t recall seeing a hollow boron tube before?

The cartridges in the shoot-out above are NOT F-9 Graces.
They are F-8 Level II....
Different animals altogether. Two to three times the price of an F-9 Ruby 🤪
harold-not-the-barrel
895 posts
 
Henry, you are right. I meant "hollow" tube. Both my sample from mid eighties and your "later" stock have hollow tube boron cantilevers. Seems to me that they are exactly the same cartridges, and therefore namely the MFG-610LX may very well be the finest sounding cartridge GLANZ ever produced. For me there´s no mystery anymore. Truly great find.
As for the Grace, the more expensive models usually are better in sound quality... like the Grace F-14 series :__ )



dover
2,177 posts
 
@harold-not-the-barrel
The discussion on Glanz has inspired me to pop my Glanz MFG61 back in the system. I have completed some subtle upgrades to my system in the past year. A couple of months ago I managed to wipe out my Koetsu Black Goldline which I was using on an FR64S/B60 for non critical listening.
Well, the Glanz MFG61 has left the koetsu well and truly dead - more refined, more linear to use Frogmans language), quicker and more transparent. It gets much closer to my reference Dynavector Nova 13D in spectral balance and accuracy.

The MFG61 has different specs to the 610LX - different compliance, better channel separation, and finer stylus profile. From Halcro’s earlier posting, not withstanding whats lost in translation ( to video/digital ), my impression is that the 61 sounds much more refined and less course than the 610LX.

PS
Halcro - thanks for the Decca post for Frogman and I - I have been a bit busy to respond - the music was great.

harold-not-the-barrel
895 posts
 
Dover, does your MFG 61 have a rod boron cantilever unlike MFG 610LX ´s hollow tube boron ? And what´s the compliance, is it much higher ? You mean its frequency response is flatter ?
The finer stylus shape of MFG 61 does make a difference indeed. And all these factors together make a difference for sure. But what is the end result, in different TT/TA combos really matters. In your system the MFG 61 wins, so good for you.
Your reference is Dynavector Nova 13D, have you tried the new Nova 17D3 ?

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