"How Cartridges Fall Out Of Favor Over Time"
Lets go for a little trip into the Halcyon Days
The 12" Vinyl LP was to become a go to medium for replaying recorded music from the late 1940's and the 7" Vinyl Disc was to be in use not too long after.
This two options on replays created the Long Play and Singles Markets, hence whole Albums and individual Tracks released from Albums.
British Columbia had the patent for the 331/3 rpm long play and RCA had the patent for the 45 rpm Singles play.
The Phono Cartridge required to generate the Signal to be increased in gain to ultimately be converted to the End Sound has been an unchanging design. Only a few materials being exchanged to be the more popular design choice over time.
The Magnets used are born from similar eras as Vinyl being born and born for quite different reasons for the replay of Vinyl.
Cartridge designers adopted different types of Magnets for their Cartridge and brought in Magnet Types as they appeared in the Market Place.
Alnico Magnet (AlNiCO) is a Magnet Material that is approx' 100 years in use as the initial design. The Magnet shares its production process with the typical bearing bush. The Sintered Bronze Bearing which is born 10 years before ALNiCO, is the same production process for the ALNiCO Magnet and all other Magnets that superseded it in use for a Phono Cartridge is produced using a methodology that enable sintering to occur to produce the form.
ALNiCO 5 is a later development that has almost identical production methods, using Tech' that is approx' 60 years old, Two Magnet Types critical to the Phono Cartridge and one not really available when the Vinyl LP and Singles market was being developed.
Samarian Cobalt (SmCo) has been under development at the same time line as ALNiCO 5
Neodymium (NdFeB) is produced approx' 40 Years ago to overcome the instability of the markets that impact on the production of a (SmCo Magnet) .
Where these Magnets have noticeable differences for a Cartridge designer is their Anistropic / Isotropic Properties, which I am sure are not commonly declared by the Cart' Designers. It may be just the metallurgist and a few on the design team who has all the knowledge for the Magnet Alloy.
What Next in general, Coil Wire such as a Purity of a Wire or the Wire Alloys are all unchanging, and some of the most recent uber wires are not found as a coil winding, even though I and a friend have a plan in place for this to occur.
Pole, Armature and Cantilever, are all quite consistent as a material and are not changing much, even though the odd Cart' might end with a Gem the core material for the winding of the Coil.
The Cantilever is pretty much today a limited option, with Boron being a common selection for an MC.
The Stylus is nearly always diamond, and will be found in differing forms governed by the shaping and dimensions selected.
The Tension Wire is almost unchanging, only the Tension of the wire is the changing condition met.
The Damper is a compound that is changing in a design and evolving as a material throughout the duration of there being Vinyl LP's and Singles. The selection of the durometer readings for such a part/parts is one critical area for the voice of the Cartridge. The selection of the force of the armature applied to the Damper is another area where the Cartridge Voicing is created.
The Compound of the selected Damper Material/materials will also effect the compliance interface for the Cartridge.
The assembly and Final Selection for Body Materials, i.e Naked or Adding a Coat will effect the way the Cartridge is being influenced when in use. Most body materials used today will have been available as a material since the LP and Single Vinyl was first available.
The Cartridge is very very consistent as a design, which alters only, when a permutation for materials used for the assembly are changing.
The Cartridge as a tool to create a musical experience remains very popular.
When a person chooses to leave a Cartridge on the shelf that was once enjoyed at a earlier time, it has not lost favour, the assembly permutation is most likely creating something different to what the permutation of the later in use Cartridge is able to create.
I really like the Ortofon Kontrapunkt B, heard it in use in a variety of systems and it always delivers something worthwhile heaing.
The Kontrapunkt B with FGS is really liked, more than the original model.
The Kontrapunkt B with an added WRD and Beryllium Cantilever > Ogura Stylus is the most enjoyed model of all Kontrapunkts heard and other much more expensive Ortofon models.
I would not hesitate to have a standard Kb in use, even with what I know today about quality of the Coil Windings and how they compare as being less attractive to later Ortofon models. I know the 'Kb' and variants very well and through demonstrations also know that other siblings from the 'K' family are very very capable as well.
I'm sure there are a plentiful group across the Globe working out how their Koetsu's will be kept at a place where they are always usable in a way that represents the Koetsu range of Cartridges. I don't see a loss of favour here, only an increase in the savour the Koetsu is able to rouse.
