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Who needs a Diamond Cantilever...? 💍

So suddenly, there seems to be a trend for Uber-LOMC cartridges released with Diamond Cantilevers...😱
As if the High-End MC cartridges were not already overpriced....?!
Orofon have released the MC-ANNA-DIAMOND after previously releasing the Limited Edition MC-CENTURY...also with Diamond Cantilever.
Then there’s the KOETSU BLOODSTONE PLATINUM and DYNAVECTOR KARAT 17D2 and ZYX ULTIMATE DIAMOND and probably several more.

But way back in 1980....Sony released a Diamond-Cantilevered version of its fine XL-88 LOMC Cartridge.
Imaginatively....they named this model the XL-88D and, because it was the most expensive phono cartridge in the world (costing 7500DM which was more expensive than a Volkswagen at the time)....Sony, cleverly disguised this rare beast to look EXACTLY like its ’cheap’ brother with its complex hybrid cantilever of "special light metal held by a carbon-fibre pipe both being held again by a rigid aluminium pipe".
The DIAMOND CANTILEVER on the 88D however......was a thing of BEAUTY and technological achievement, being formed from ONE PIECE OF DIAMOND including the stylus 🤯🙏🏽

I’ve owned the XL-88 for many years and recently discovered that it was my best (and favourite) cartridge when mounted in the heavy Fidelity Research S-3 Headshell on the SAEC WE-8000/ST 12" Tonearm around my VICTOR TT-101 TURNTABLE.
Without knowing this in advance.....I would not have been prepared to bid the extraordinary prices (at a Japanese Auction Site) that these rare cartridges keep commanding.
To find one in such STUNNING CONDITION with virtually no visible wear was beyond my expectations 😃

So how does it sound.....?
Is there a difference to the standard XL-88?
Is the Diamond Cantilever worth the huge price differential?
Is the Pope a Catholic....?

This cartridge simply ’blows my mind’...which is hard to do when I’ve had over 80 cartridges on 10 different arms mounted on two different turntables 🤯
As Syntax said on another Thread:-
When you have 2 identical carts, one regular cantilever and the other one with diamond cantilever (Koetsu Stones for example), the one with diamond cantilever shows more details, is a bit sharper in focus and the soundstage is a bit deeper and wider. They can sound a bit more detailed overall with improved dynamics
I’ll leave it at that for the time being. I will soon upload to YouTube, the sound comparisons between the two Sony versions on my HEAR MY CARTRIDGES THREAD.

But now I’ve bought myself a nightmarish scenario.......
There is no replacement stylus for this cartridge!
There is no replacement cantilever for this cartridge!
Each time I play records with it, I am ’killing’ it a bit more 🥴😥
If I knew how long I had left to live......I could program my ’listening sessions’ 🤪
But failing this.....I can’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable listening to this amazing machine.
128x128halcro
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
@edgewear 
I've just joined your nightmarish scenario. A cartridge with irreplacable cantilever, irreplacable stylus and irreplacable sound! I completely share your sentiments and I'm glad I followed your lead!
I'm so pleased for you my friend.... 👏
And I'll never forget your kindness in NOT bidding in the auction for my Sony XL-88D so that I would have a better chance.....

Your eloquent description of some of the feelings elicited by this stylus reinforces the spine-tingling excitement I also feel every time I switch from a different cartridge......
It's hard to describe and even harder to convey to others.....
YouTube videos are unable to capture all the qualities projected into the listening room.

There is one light at the end of the tunnel for our mutual 'conundrum'......
As we get older, the listening hours available to us are inevitably decreasing so that the 'value' proposition of listening to this cartridge rather than some of our other ones is increasing.....if you follow this logic? 🥴

The fact that this Thread inspired you to follow my lead into the 'abyss' is justification alone for my efforts...and if anyone else has profited from reading the contributions here, it may have saved the few remaining vintage cartridges like ours from lying dormant in some drawers...?

Happy listening @edgewear....💍 
edgewear
543 posts
 
Dear @halcro yes, I follow your logic. My ears sure aren't getting any better with aging and mild tinnitus for good measure. In fact I wasn't too sure I would be able to hear the things you had described. But thankfully I did and will make an effort to get the most out of it. While curiosity to discover new things is one of the human qualities that makes life interesting, this could very well be my 'final' cartridge.

Like you I have many cartridges, all with different strengths (and weaknesses). To give a few examples: for sheer tonal beauty there's Miyabi, for speed and explosive micro dynamics there's VdHul Colibri, for ballooning macro dynamic crescendo's there's Ikeda 9 Rex, for ultimate detail retrieval there's Transfiguration Proteus, etcetera. Obviously I haven't heard all the contenders and Lyra Atlas (or Olympos) is still on my 'must hear' list.

But so far none of these cartridges can do it ALL at the same time in the same self-evident manner as the Final/Sony. The way I see it, designers active today should make an effort to hear it and study it as a benchmark. Perhaps some current designs already have these same capabilities. If so, I'd like to hear (about) it.

danvignau's avatar
danvignau
935 posts
 
Who need this?  Anyone who thinks diamonds have an intrinsic value, rather than just being something to sell to pepole with too much money, who do not know how much these trinkets are marked up... after the near-slave labor harvests them.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
rauliruegas
12,786 posts
 
Dear @edgewear :  ""  what has been the reason of your decision never to use diamond as cantilever material. Just curious! ""

It's obvious that he has very good reasons not use that material in the cantilever.

He is a cartridge designer but it's not the only today cartridge designer and exist at least 5 of them that use that synthetic diamond in  some of their designs: Dynavector from the old times, Koetsu, ZYX that a little weird but today its top of the line series does not uses synthetic diamond but carbon cantilevers, Etsuro and Ortofon but this Denmark manufacturer choosed to use syntethic diamond after one century from was founded because never did it in the past and did it just for this way important anniversary ( the Anna too but is not usual with this company. ).

I think that JC can't post something about that could cause a controversy between he and his manufacturer colleagues. Btw, he already listened the 88D and even that .....! ?

Of course that we audiophiles want to know about,  more than" just curiosity ".

There are today several cartridge designers that for whatever reasons really don't " trust " in synthetic diamond for their top of the line cartridges: Lyra, Clearaudio, Denon ( never used that material. ), Audio Technica, My Sonic Lab, VdH, ZYX, Allaerts, Ikeda, Shelter, EMT,SoundSmith, Benz Micro, etc, etc.

In the old times very well regarded manufacturers neither use synthetic diamond: Accuphase, Audiocraft, Denon, Audio Note, Goldbug, FR, Technics,  and many others.

Btw and due that you are " collecting " that kind of cartridges you need to put your hands in the Highphonic D15 ( ex-Denon workers. ) and the Supex 1100D ( I owned the 1100 R that's really good performer . ).

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.


unreceivedogma's avatar
unreceivedogma
890 posts
 
You sound like you find yourself in a situation roughly analogous to that film by Pedro Almodovar where two lovers are in a rapturous embrace, then the female pulls out a knife, and as he climaxes, she stabs him under the theory that his act of dying keeps his climax going very very hard for the longest finite amount of time.

Is it something like that?

Please, pray tell …

FILE UNDER: the size of an audiophile’s speakers are in inverse proportion to the size of some of his other equipment.
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