What innovative, unconventional cartridge designs can you recommend?

A great shame that Hoffnung died so young (aet.34). Did you know he played the tuba well enough to perform V-W's Tuba Concert at the Festival Hall?

@dogberry 

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

“Owing to circumstances over which the London County Council and the management of the hall have no control, tonight’s concert will take place exactly as advertised.”

Very much of a piece with Flanders & Swann and the great radio comedies of the era like Round the Horne. Humour was more sophisticated then.

Dear @richardbrand   The main issue in the Mijostyn room/system is that him controls everything through a Digital Processor because he likes that way but in reality and in specific to phono stage that " move " goes against the analog/LP alternative where almost all of us like because is Analog with no digital inside manipulation.

I'm not against digital tha's a great MUSIC reproduction alternative but I like to listen my LPs in the 100% analog domain

Analog or digital he is always manipulating the recording signal using that digital processor as and " equalizer ", nothing wrong with that because that's what makes and fulfill his targets and MUSIC/sound priorities.

The today Digital whole processors are really great and in the years to comes maybe some of us ( including me ) will be using it but for now and in my case I stay with fully analog alternative when talking  on LP reproduction.

Yes, everything changes almost every day and the future is with out doubt those room/system digital fully processors.

Good that you are enjoying your DS Audio cartridge.

If you made it that kind of inve$tment then could means you own maybe thousands or at least several hundreds of LPs. Rigth?

R.

@rauliruegas 

If you made it that kind of inve$tment then could means you own maybe thousands or at least several hundreds of LPs. Rigth?

No, far from it!  When I first arrived in Australia, my local library had a huge range of classical records that they lent out, free-of-charge, so I did not need to buy classical records. Wollongong, an industrial 'steel city' on the coast south of Sydney, was not noted for culture. As compensation it offers 25 patrolled surf beaches.

It did spawn Richard Tognetti who leads the Australian Chamber Orchestra when he is not surfing.  Notably, the ensemble stands when playing (except the cellists).  World class.

Since I bought my Holbo turntable, I have more than doubled my record collection, some new and many second-hand.  My buying rule now for performances I want is SACD if available, otherwise vinyl, otherwise CD.  Sometimes I buy vinyl and CD versions simultaneously.

The only exception so far is Shostakovich's Piano Concertos on Hyperion, with Marc-Andre Hamelin.  I use the slow movement of the Second Concerto on SACD when assessing components.  It was that track that almost instantaneously indicated that my Reavon universal disk player had a problem with its dacs on SACD (Sadly, the SACD is no longer available). I bought the vinyl to see if @lewm was right that vinyl is better than CD.  With the DS Audio cartridge, I think it is, but I have not had time to compare the 2-channel SACD with vinyl yet.

As far as the use of digital in phono stages, I have no opinion.  But I do note that many vinyl records have gone through a digital stage, whether acknowledged or not!  My whole vinyl quest could have been built on a con ... but I am loving the journey