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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
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richardbrand OP
1,394 posts
 

@lewm 

I don't think DS Audio uses optical attenuators ...

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand OP
1,394 posts
 

@pindac 

Stop being deliberately obscure.  What do the letters FSE mean to you in the context in which you are using them?

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand OP
1,394 posts
 

@pindac 

Surely if the Northern Irish (part of Great Britain) want to export millions of elvers to the European Union (EU), they only have to drive over the mainly unpatrolled border to southern Ireland, which is part of the EU and hence a free gateway to Europe

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand OP
1,394 posts
 

@dover 

Having chosen to leave Britain, my firm belief is that their biggest problem is the class system, especially the born-to-rule assumptions of the privileged few who are effortlessly channeled through Eton to Oxbridge and government, while the masses tug their forelocks in abject deference.

Despite this handicap, the British contributions to TV, music, comedy, science and IT have been outstanding.

But God Zone it isn't

lewm
14,692 posts
 

RB, you are missing my point, which was that optical attenuation and optical transduction are similar technologies, and there is a longer track record with the former. Both rely on a beam of light and a sensor. Period.

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