What innovative, unconventional cartridge designs can you recommend?

@pindac

The idea of Aluminium - Duraluminium - Titanium - Wood having a influence on the Optical Read make no sense to myself, how are shadows being read influenced for the better by different materials used as the Body of the structure housing the parts that receive the transferral of produced energy? 

This surely must be about vibrations from the stylus, and how they react with the body of the cartridge.  If the body of the cartridge vibrates relative to the stylus, there is a potential feedback loop which will amplify the differences.

DS Audio mentions three types of aluminium alloy in their cartridge bodies.  The tensile strength of A5052 is not much more than a third of "ultra duralumin" which I guess is probably Ultra-Super Duralumin - A7075. A5052 is mainly alloyed with magnesium, and is highly corrosion resistant. Duralumin is mainly alloyed with copper, and is normally faced with purer aluminium to minimise corrosion.

A5052 has better internal damping characteristics than A7075, which also has higher resonance frequencies.  My guess is that these do make a slight difference?

Now, when we come to other materials like titanium and a number of exotic woods, the internal damping and resonance patterns will change again.  Stone will also have different characteristics.

Notice that the DS Audio cartridges have rounded shapes, which probably help to minimise reflections.

Wilson Benesch has a titanium cartridge body which is laser fused from titanium powder into a complex structure designed to minimise resonances and channel what remains away from the stylus: TESSELLATE Ti Cartridge

I can see no reason whatsoever why ruby should sound better than sapphire - they are fundamentally the same material with different impurities.

Completely Misunderstood.

But Thank You for reiterating the close comparisons already stated for the Cart' that does not Optically Read Shadow.

I am not the Foe of the Optical Cartridge, I am simply a individual who having experienced them is use on a familiar system at the time. Ended Up not being impressed to the place the design become an item to pursue. I

I understand enough about fundamental requirements for the optimal function of Mechanical and Optical Sensors, to know the Optical Sensor Cartridge mimicking the traditional Cartridge Design, is easily questionable.

As stated, the Optical Sensor Cartridge is presented in a form where it is immediately familiar to those that see it. This assists with the not immediately understanding the design for processing a Signal to undergo other stages of adding gain. Which when better understood, leads to Shadow being read to create a conversion to electrical energy.

Someone will be much much better for explaining why Sputtered Titanium is seen to be the most optimal for creating a Form that will be beneficial to a Optical Read of a Shadow????   

The Net is Cast for Wiser Fish to share Input.

The DS Audio is no different to any other cartridge in that it measures the groove using a suspended cantilever/stylus mounted in a cartridge body. The only difference is that it uses an optical system to generate an output voltage instead of coils/magnets etc.

Therefore any change to housing, suspension, cantilever material or stylus profile that can improve rigidity, tracking ability, or reduce tracing distortion will be clearly audible.

This is not rocket science.

@dover Your statement is far from convincing and your usual, I am the authority demeanour is clearly missing from the context of your comments.

An Optical System on a modern design Optical Cartridge measures shadow. How does Materials, such as the use of a Diamond Cantilever effect the Shadow being read??

How does the Stylus form or Body Material effect the Electrons being released within the Photocell to a quantity that enables a charge to be sent as a Electrical Impulse??

A Transducer that is using electromagnetic induction principles with data received as adulterated in condition as can possibly be achieved is a design well known how certain material selected offer improved benefits on how the sent energy impacts on the Magnetic Field that is generated.

Ortofon are so on top of the importance of the function of the Magnet Field, they have designed the FSE to create a uniformity / a gathering of the parameters the Field works within.

Where is the evidence that suggests LED and Photo Cells reading 'Shadow' to produce a increased Electron Count resulting in a electrical impulse to be transported for adding gain. Is a technology that is Equipollent to a Mechanical Energy Transfer effecting a Transducer whilst producing an electrical impulse to be transferred for adding gain. 

I can't answer these inquiries, but there is somebody who can, definitely not the usual contributor to the Gons Analog Section. 

For myself, I have no willingness to accept descriptions that imply that the Typical Cart' design where electromagnetic fields are produced, has identical impact on each system.

@pindac If I understand you correctly, you are questioning whether stylus and cantilever can affect the sound of an optical cartridge?

From the tip of the stylus to the point on the cantilever where the transducer mechanism sits* all that we have are mechanical vibrations being transmitted with greater or lesser fidelity. Then the transducer creates an electrical signal from the mechanical vibration. Surely, whatever kind of transducer is used, the most complete, accurate and faithful representation of the groove will be desirable? So does it not seem correct that a stiffer, or lighter cantilever, a better suspension, and a stylus capable of tracking every little wiggle of the groove is going to make a difference to any of those transducer mechanisms?

*be it a coil, a magnet, a chunk of iron, a shade plate or a strain gauge