@richardbrand Sweet Vinyl Sugar Cube is a digital phono stage. It removes pops and clicks.
https://sweetvinyl.com/products/sc-1-mini
For a second I thought Musical Fidelity ventured into this territory.
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?
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Godspeed @pindac Wish you much enjoyment with the custom components you commissioned. It is a great way to approach high end audio, in my opinion. I look forward to enjoying your posts again when you return.
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I did know he played the tuba, but did not know he played VW's concerto at the Festival Hall The tuba features heavily in his Hoffnung Music Festivals held at the Festival Hall, London. The first concert sold out in a record time of about an hour and a quarter. One of the pieces is a piano concerto in which the conductor and the soloist circle each other, trying to agree on which real concerto they are meant to play. The Concerto Popolare is now a regular part of the repertoire! At the beginning, there was a somewhat sombre announcement from Ernst Bean, the General Manager of the Festival Hall, that
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