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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
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,852 posts
 

@richardbrand hahaha no not McIntosh. They’re quite. 
As a matter of fact my friend who just got the Umami Blue that I heard over the weekend is using McIntosh MP100 phono stage. I had this little phono in my system as well. It’s really nice. Very sweet sounding and musical. Not as quiet as my Whest but you would only know that by a direct A/B. 
Mcintosh integrated and power amps are quiet as well. 
It’s the musical fidelity most likely. 

rajugsw
246 posts
 

@devinplombier & @richardbrand I have some posts on https://www.audionirvana.org/forum/the-audio-vault/analog-playback/cartridges/159251-ds-audio-ds-003-system

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand OP
1,374 posts
 

@rajugsw 

Thanks for the link.  Your Equalizer looks extremely well made from the photograph. Are you an electronics professional?

For others, the MC cartridges traded in were an Ortofon Quintet Black, and a 35 year old wood bodied Benz Micro.

Surface noise is a thing of the past. Clarity, Bass extension, soundstage, imaging, and phantom center are greatly inmproved over any MM or MC Cartridge I've used in the past.

 

 

dogberry
957 posts
 

Probably depends which Musical Fidelity phono stage was used! The NuVista Vinyl is not noisy at all.

maxson
99 posts
 

I had heard before that the DS system supressed surface noise. I'm not talking about noise floor of the system with the cart off the LP. But I found the 003 cart/equalizer to be just as noisy as comparable magnetic carts. In fact, the sound of pops and clicks was a little more prominent, with less definition (OK I know that sounds crazy, but the DS made me realize that a click has an attack and sustain--just like all sounds--and the DS didn't differentiate those aspects as well as my MCs or MMs).

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