MC-MM-MI CARTRIDGES . DO YOU KNOW WHICH HAS BETTER QUALITY PERFORMANCE? REALLY?


Dear friends:The main subject of this thread is start a dialogue to find out the way we almost all think or be sure about the thread question :  " true " answer.

 

Many years ago I started the long Agon MM thread where several audiophiles/Agoners and from other audio net forums participated to confirm or to discover the MM/MI/IM/MF/HOMC world and many of us, me including, was and still are" surprised for what we found out in that " new " cartridge world that as today is dominated by the LOMC cartridges.

 

Through that long thread I posted several times the superiority of the MM/types of cartridges over the LOMC ones even that I owned top LOMC cartridge samples to compare with and I remember very clearly that I posted that the MM and the like cartridges had lower distortion levels and better frequency range quality performance than the LOMC cartridges.

 

In those times j.carr ( Lyra designer ) was very active in Agon and in that thread  I remember that he was truly emphatic  posting that my MM conclusion was not  true due that things on distortion cartridge levels in reality is the other way around: LOMC has lower distortion levels.

 

Well, he is not only a LOMC cartridge designer but an expert audiophile/MUSIC lover with a long long and diverse first hand experiences listening cartridges in top TT, top tonearms and top phono stages and listening not only LOMC cartridges but almost any kind of cartridges in his and other top room/systems.

 

I never touched again that subject in that thread and years or months latter the MM thread I started again to listening LOMC cartridges where my room/system overall was up-graded/dated to way superior quality performance levels than in the past and I posted somewhere that j.carr was just rigth: LOMC design were and are superior to the other MM type cartridges been vintage or today models.

 

I'm a MUSIC lover and I'm not " married " with any kind of audio items or audio technologies I'm married just with MUSIC and what can gives me the maximum enjoyment of that ( every kind )  MUSIC, even I'm not married with any of my opinions/ideas/specific way of thinking. Yes, I try hard to stay " always " UNBIASED other than MUSIC.

 

So, till today I followed listening to almost every kind of cartridges ( including field coil design. ) with almost every kind of tonearms and TTs and in the last 2 years my room/system quality performance levels were and is improved by several " stages " that permits me better MUSIC audio items judgements and different enjoyment levels in my system and other audio systems. Yes, I still usemy test audio items full comparison proccess using almost the same LP tracks every time and as always my true sound reference is Live MUSIC not other sound system reproduction.

 

I know that the main thread subject is way complicated and complex to achieve an unanimous conclusions due that exist a lot of inherent differences/advantages/unadvantages in cartridges even coming from the same manufacturer.

 

We all know that when we talk of a cartridge we are in reality talking of its cantilever buil material, stylus shape, tonearm used/TT, compliance, phono stage and the like and my " desire " is that we could concentrate in the cartridges  as an " isolated " audio item and that  any of our opinions when be posible  stay in the premise: " everything the same ".

 

My take here is to learn from all of you and that all of us try to learn in between each to other and not who is the winner but at the " end " every one of us will be a winner.

 

So, your posts are all truly appreciated and is a thread where any one can participates even if today is not any more his analog alternative or is a newcomer or heavily experienced gentleman. Be my guest and thank's in advance.

 

Regards and ENJOY THE MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

Ag insider logo xs@2xrauliruegas

@mijostyn  : " but the best a stylus can do is about 70 kHz.  "

The Technics it's not the only that goes beyond 100khz: Highphonic D-15 ( LOMC ) or other LOMC as the Denon DL 1000 and several others what's sure is that your Lambda can't and your 16khz is not the issue here. All counts in what we " hear ". Your post is wrong about.

 

Dear @terry9 : " Am I correct in thinking that this is your favourite MM? Would you care to say more about why you like it? "

 

Well, not exactly. Today I have not a favorite cartridge between the top quality performers that share in between almost the same performance characteristics where what change in each one of those top cartridge motor designs mainly is its " color ".

All top LOMC/MI/MM/IM/ELECTROSTATIC and the like has first rate transient response; rhythm, dynamics, brigthness,agresiveness, tone equilibrium top to boo

om," perfet " handled of both FR extremes,no mistracking and superb noise floor. All can give you what is in the recordingadding the lessand losting the less.

I can easily truly enjoy MUSIC with any one of them.

 

Yes, now that I remember I have a favrite:MUSIC home system near " perfect " reproduction.

 

R.

@rauliruegas Perfect for you, but then that is all that counts. 

The difference between 50 kHz and 100 kHz is one octave, an octave not a single one of us can hear, not to mention most loudspeakers can not reproduce. The Koetsu of the day sounded better to my ear than the DL1000. After about a week in the store the DL1000 failed internally. Shortly thereafter Denon released the DL1000A. It also had a ridiculously low output. 

here is one thing I have become absolutely sure about during my years of expressing an interest in Vinyl Replay is that a Cartridge is required to achieve this.

With that Bombshell Dropped, I can now reveal I have collected a Cart' +One, Two, Three over the years.

I can also reveal these Cart's do not share the same design and the bulk of the collection is in storage.

I myself have many spare Headshells, in the same material and very close in weight or the same in their weights.

I have opted for the experiencing the Cart' of choice, and have not shown an interest in Pre Mounting Headshells for easy change outs.

One Cart' at a time is all that is able to be listened  to and I stick with this as the methodology.

@mijostyn  : My mistake because I owned the DL 1000A and was and is way way better than any Koetsu of those times and I know becase I owned almost all Koetsu cartridges of those times.

Even today the DL 1000A is a great performer and one of the favorities of your Lambda designer and you can ask him.

 

That the speaker can not reproduce is not the issue.

 

R.