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Audio Technica VMN760xSL Reveiw

I wrote this brief review of the subject cartridge for Amazon and thought it would be of interest here as well.

This cartridge performs well above expectations.  It is mounted in a Technics SL1200GAE turntable and it has been compared to an Ortofon 2M LVB, and an Audio Technica ART20 among others.  Two phono preamps were used for evaluation:  Conrad-Johnson ART Phono and PS Audio Stellar Phono.  All cartridges set up using AnalogMagik software.  By any criteria the 760xSL performed at an exceptionally high level.  Compared to the Ortofon, perhaps the nearest competitor, it offers slightly leaner bass, but in exchange is ever so slightly cleaner and better defined.  Both offer boron cantilevers, the LVB has a Shibata stylus, whereas the 760xSL has a fine line stylus. Which is better is a matter of taste.  To me perhaps the LVB might be the better choice for classical music, the 760xSL for jazz etc.  However, the differences are minor and given that the LVB costs almost twice as much.... The ART20, even costing over $3,000.00 is considered by many to be perhaps the best moving coil cartridge available for the money available in the world today.  It is a marvelous thing.  So how does Audio Technica's best Moving Magnet cartridge compare with it?  Moving Coil cartridges are recognized as having superior detail retrieval compared to Moving Magnet cartridges.  Is that so here?  Not really.  MC cartridges should also have greater sound stage, superior tracking ability and so on.  Again not so between these two.  So is there any difference?  Oh yes,  the ART20 has a richness of sound that is unmistakable.  With very high end sound systems the ART20 will be better, but the difference is one of nuance.   The 760xSL has all of the essentials covered.  It is quite simply astonishingly good.   It is perhaps the modern day equivalent of the Shure V15Vmr.  It hits way above it's weight.  Highest recommendation.

billstevenson
dynamiclinearity
363 posts
 

Comparing MM to MC cartridges and ultimate performance makes no sense. It is assumed MCs are superior. And the most costly cartridges are all MC(except the DS Audios). Who has tried to make a super MM, a $15,000 dollar one. Until someone does how can we know what's best?

Superior bandwidth is often cited for MCs. But what cartridge was specified as having the widest band width> It wasn't an MC. It was an MM, the Technics EPC 100MK4, which was flat to 80 kHz with a resonant peak at 100 kHz and back to flat at 120 kHz. I'd add that many of the great mastering engineers of the 80s used the Technics pick up.

I'm not claiming MM is better just that the comparison has never been on a level playing field and there are reasons to design an all out MM to compete with the super MCs. It could be interesting to hear the results.

I wish Technics would do a new EPC 100MK5 but both the new Audio Tecnica and the new Nagaoka(which I read had input from one of the Technics pick up designers). They seem to promise awfully good performance for sane, non 5 figure prices.

lewm
14,675 posts
 

Dynamic, you are not alone, but you leave out MI cartridges of which Nagaoka is but one example. Not everyone “assumes” MC cartridges are categorically superior to all other types.

westcoastaudiophile
819 posts
 

+1 to dynamic! 

moving coil carts are good, but good SQ has price of increased tracking force! increased tracking force accelerates stylus wear-out, almost in geometrical progression! after tuning arms, I am able to lower track force for AT ML180 to 0.8gf without noticeable change in sound, no MC can do that!

moving coils require three or four wires breakout from moving part, while MM has only damper between moving and static parts!

 

billstevenson OP
1,189 posts
 

@westcoastaudiophile have you compared an ML with the new 760?  I have not.  But a few years ago (3? 4?) I set up a turntable for a guy who had one.  I thought it was good, but not as good as my AT150ANV.  But again that was years ago.  I would value your thoughts.

lewm
14,675 posts
 

Tomic, Yes, I have the Grace Ruby with SS OCL, and I thought about bringing it up as a great MM example, but decided not to because it becomes great only after the SS modification.  I also own a totally original Grace Ruby, and it is excellent but not quite up there with the OCL retipped version.  I also thought about the Stanton 981LZS, a low output MM, which is also superb, and the Technics is up there too.  In another thread, I referenced the very very long thread started by Raul more than a decade ago on great MM and MI cartridges, a worthwhile reference for anyone interested.

Westcoast, the low tracking force of many MM cartridges is a byproduct of high compliance.  There are MC and MI cartridges which also have high compliance and can also track at low VTF.

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