The sound of SPU

Bydlo,

If you prefer what I consider a natural amount of pick-apart detail presented in recorded music then SPU will have easily enough when mated to an appropriate tonearm. I am not sure why people think that the SME 3012 is a great match. The 3012 will work -- just. It's a medium mass arm at 14g and the SPU is a fairly low compliance cartridge (eff mass 8, which is just a skosh less compliant than the Denon 103 when that cartridge's compliance rating is corrected for Denon's non-standard spec). A tonearm more in the area of 20g effective mass is better. Moreover, I've never found SME's knife-edge bearing well suited to the energy these massy, low compliance cartridges ping back into the tonearm structure. The Thomas Schick tonearm is ideal and relative to what new quality tonearms cost today, it's moderate. I've also gotten good results, unexpectedly, from a vintage Stax UA90 and of course the current production Ortofon RS-309. For standard-length tonearms, the Jelco 750D with the heavy counterweight option does pretty well. In the latter case, this is also a medium mass arm, so the heavy counterweight and the heavy Ortofon SPU-in-headshell push up effective mass, just as they would with an SME. Still, a Schick is a much better platform for this cartridge, IMO.

Pani - In my Schick and Stax arms, the Meister Silver is fast and articulate, with the emphatic drive characteristic of the big SPU whereas the Synergy is creamier and more forward, partly because if has more output voltage, and its emphasis - by small degrees - is on pure tone over articulation and speed, compared to the Meister Silver. These differences are fainter in the Jelco 750D arm. I'm not splitting hairs on this, but on the other hand both cartridges are so thoroughly SPU, you couldn't go wrong with either if you are attracted to the essential SPU sound. If you have too much gain in your system, you can opt for one of the 0.2mv Classic SPUs, and that will shift things further in the vintage direction.

I think the Royal N is worth trying -- it's certainly less expensive -- if you want to get in for fewer dollars. If you use a ~14g arm you might want to buy a heavier-than-standard headshell for it. But the headshell will be a variable. The basic character of SPU will come through plus the Royal N has the Replicant 100 stylus, so it's articulate too.

Phil

So what current  "non spu" cartridge would get you close to that sound? Denon 103?

Not familiar with the SPU cartridges sound but from the descriptions of it I think the DL-103 would be fairly close to it. I'm a big DL-103 fan but would love to try one of those SPU carts. My Audio Technica ATP-12T has an effective weight of 21 grams so it would be a great arm to try one on.

 

BillWojo

It’s true that SPU’s as a ‘species’ have a certain ‘gestalt’ that can be easily recognised. But that doesn’t mean all SPU’s are created equal, far from it.

So this question depends on what SPU you are referring to. The SPU Classic with spherical stylus is loved for the musical rendition of the midrange, but the top and the bottom of the frequency range are missing in action. This could also be said of Denon DL 103, so there is some resemblance as both are ancient designs and that’s exactly how they sound.

Thankfully Ortofon has retained the basic design elements and their sonic strengths for more modern versions that do not suffer from the limitations of the original. I haven’t heard them all, but the ones I do know very well - SPU Gold Reference and the A85, A90 and A95 Anniversary models - occupy a very different sonic (and financial) universe. There are significant differences between them, but each in their own way manages to amalgamate the musicality of the original with the full frequency extension and transparency of more modern designs, so as to ‘have your cake and eat it’. 

The only similarity between these more modern SPU’s and Denon DL103 is that they both require a heavy gun as a tonearm. There are people who seem to think that the 103 is all they need and are fairly loud in attempting to convince others as well. Obviously they’re free to believe whatever they like, just don’t take their word for it and listen for yourself. The used market is absolutely riddled with 103’s (just check hifi shark) so you can try one without any financial risk. If you don’t like it you can resell it just as quickly. I know I did!

A couple of years ago my Transfiguration Proteus was starting to give a but more sibilance than I was used to. While I looked for someone to rebuild it I bought an SPU Royal N as a stopgap. My arm is a Schröder Reference so I can add 5g to the effective mass by changing the cartridge plate from certal to brass, this puts the effective mass up to 18g, which seems to be enough by the time the 15.7g weight of the cartridge and spacer is added and the Ortofon screws are a couple of grams.

It’s been a rather steep learning curve but I’m finding the Royal N more satisfying than the Proteus was but it’s very fussy about setup, on the Schröder arm at least. Get VTA and VTF a little out and it will plod, get them right and it will swing. Also, and this may be specific the the Schröder, it’s very easy to over tighten the screws securing the cartridge mount to the arm and the counterweight locking screw and though it still excels at classical it won’t rock, get them right, which is only just enough to hold them in place, and it’s air guitar time.