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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
1,471 posts
 

@pindac 

the interest shown is from somebody having a roll of the dice on their next move for enabling a Vinyl Replay to occur in their system

I resemble that remark.  While I am proud to be an adopted Aussie most of the time, I regret that they are the biggest gamblers in the world, bar none.  I only gamble if I know the dice are loaded, whereas most Aussie will gamble on two flies crawling on a wall.

The biggest risk I took was buying the just-released SoulNote E-1  Ver2 Equalizer recommended by the DS Audio distributor.

I now find myself in the strange position of having everything I need to run a LOMC cartridge fully balanced through the SoulNote to my main power amplifier.  Everything except the cartridge.  Just a push of a button on the SoulNote to swap optical and LOMC, with a 5-second mute.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
8,175 posts
 

Musical Fidelity digital phono stage
 

@richardbrand what do you meant digital phono stage

dogberry
970 posts
 

Before anyone makes an embarrassing mistake, British police stations used to display a blue light. Brothels had a red one. Hoffnung probably was humorously misdirecting the American tourists.

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand OP
1,471 posts
 

@dogberry 

The colleague I mentioned on another thread actually was at the first Oxford Union debate with Hoffnung. His original telling of the bricklayer applying for sick leave is possibly the funniest thing on disk, ever.  It is on YouTube Gerard Hoffnung addressing the Oxford Union in 1958

 

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand OP
1,471 posts
 

@audphile1 

I remember myjostyn? and @lewm debating the advantages and disadvantages of phono stages. Myjostyn was all in favour of a stage that converted analogue to digital, did the emphasis digitally, and then converted back to analogue.

Having looked back at the Musical Fidelity stage, it is discrete, not digital.  I will claim a mistake by the salesman!  (Or a memory lapse on my part)

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