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?
That's the exact opposite of my experience, compared with two MM cartridges. There are still audible pops and clicks, but far less noticeable. Records I rejected as unplayable because of noise have been redeemed, and even enjoyable. What is different between our set ups? |
@richardbrand pops and clicks are less audible with DS003 most likely due to the line contact stylus shape. Pops and clicks tend to live closer to the surface rather than in the groove, unless you have a record that was played way too many times or played on a bad set up that caused damage to the grooves. It might not have as much to do with type of cartridge being optical. Pretty sure the lower model DS audio with shibata stylus would be noisier than your ds003. |
That's exactly why I went one notch up the scale. My Micro-line styli are excellent at bridging wear gaps in the groove on my old records. But everything I read says the optical mechanism has a lot to do with noise reduction. Imagine driving down an Australian bush track with the occasional pothole or rock. Hit one of them, and there is a momentary jolt (rapid change of velocity) but not much change in position. Electromagnetic cartridges respond to velocity, whereas optical respond to position. Sooner or later, to continue this discussion sensibly, you are going to have to get your hands on an optical cartridge plus Equalizer, and I am going to have to get a Moving Coil. Who will be going backwards? |
No need to apologize for repetition in this thread! Are there Moving Iron designs other than Decca and its direct derivatives worth considering? Serious question. Prima facie, iron is a very dense material to attach to a stylus, compared with Beryllium, Boron, Carbon and even Aluminium. But it is slightly better than Copper |
