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What innovative, unconventional cartridge designs can you recommend?

Most cartridges have a stylus and cantilever where the transducer (magnet, iron or coil) sits on the far end of the cantilever.  What other designs are there?

I am mindful of two designs which put the business end right on top of the stylus.  The first is the moving coil (MC) Audio Technica AT-ART1000 which places two tiny coils, each 0.9-mm diameter, with eight turns of wire directly above the stylus.  Australian price is about AUD-7000 and there apparently is a newer model, slightly less exxe. the ART1000X.  This has square coils for a bit more output, and threaded mounting holes.

A downside is that stylus replacement involves a factory maintenance program and the Australian website page describing this service does not exist.

Another design is optical, exemplified by DS Audio's range.  While these still need a stylus to trace the groove, the signal is produced by reading the intensity of light produced by a Light Emitting Diode (LED) hitting two sensors.  Between the LED and the sensors are two 'shades' mounted above the stylus which change the amount of light as the stylus vibrates.  These cartridges need a special "photo-stage" to replace the conventional phono-stage which is an additional expense.

Australian prices including photo-stages range from AUD-2,150 for the DS-E1 to the DS Master 3 at approximately AUD-40,800, which is a bit outside my price range!  Where is the sweet spot?

What other way-out designs are there?

richardbrand
richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand OP
1,395 posts
 

Apart from the User Guide, the SoulNote came with a 24 page booklet entitled SoulNote High End Audio Brand which I find fascinating.

Kato, the Chief Engineer, explains that he was instructed

Make SoulNode the best audio brand in the world

To continue to quote Kato

Well, "number one in the world" was Nakazawa's favourite phrase, and while it may seem like a wild idea, I had an idea to make it happen.  We would properly explain the reasons for the "discrepancy between specifications and sound quality", which is the biggest mystery in the audio world, achieving unprecedently sound quality using methods that other manufacturers would not (or could not) use, and present it to the world.  If we could do that, I really thought we could turn the world's perception of value upside down.  I understood the reason for the discrepancy between specs and sound quality, and that is the basis of SoulNote's current design philosophy.

So here is a practicing engineer who goes on to challenge the conventional view of audio as frequency dependent.  To him (and me) it should be time dependent.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,990 posts
 

Do you really need a 6 meter run of XLRs?

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand OP
1,395 posts
 

@audphile1 

Do you really need a 6 meter run of XLRs?

No, but I could not buy 5-m ones off anybody's shelf.  Having put 6-m ones in, I find I have 2-m slack, so 4-m would do, just, as I currently have my gear positioned.

Many cable manufacturers stop at 3-m, but 5-m are also available.

I am thinking hard about how I could rearrange my components.  Part of the savings on shorter good XLR cables could go towards a second rack.  Does the expense ever stop?

I will reply more fully in the thread on XLR cables I started, to which you have made very valuable contributions.

By the way, it takes 28-Watts a long time to warm up nearly 10-kgs of phono stage.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,990 posts
 

By the way, it takes 28-Watts a long time to warm up nearly 10-kgs of phono stage.
 

Lol

Back to cables…shorter run = better cables for less. You’ll get a feel for the sonics even with cheap cables though. 

kennyc
2,975 posts
 

The W3 seems significantly higher design/performance than the 03, unfortunately its price is much higher out of budget. Looking at options of used DS equalizers, or try to buy in Japan during a tourist trip.  I have a variety of carts, but what’s unique about DS is its low noise floor, eliminating hysteresis in magnets/coil rebound, and neutral presentation.  

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