Awhile back there were a somewhat steady supply of Scantech or Spectral cartridges appearing on USAM or Audiogon. Those were always interesting, but they seem to have found owners who will not move them on. I was always interested in them.
Notice That There Are Not Many Survivors of the MC from the early 19080's or so?
Every once in awhile I will see an odd Audioquest 404 for sale. But otherwise not too many cartridges from this generation. I have always wondered about whatever happened to the Sumiko SHO cartridges. Were they the predecessor to the Blue Point or the Blackbird? Always wondered how they sounded, never got to hear one.
I wonder if it is the use of the hollow rod cantilevers that caused them to become lost cartridges. I don't think you could retip them, but the best you could do is trade them in for a discount.
The other cartridge I see from time to time are the Shinon, and every once in a great while I will see one come up for sale. Oh an odd Ortofon or two, and that is about all I remember for this era of moving coils ever coming available.
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Some years ago a friend who was a home-based dealer shut down his business because of health reasons. I got a deal I couldn't refuse on some of his demo cartridges. Fortunately all appeared to be in grate condition as he was very fastidious. I still have those but have not listened to most of them. Simply too many cartridges and I went through a period of minimal play time. But some are mentioned by others here so my curiosity is up.
@bonsey56 I appreciate that information. I don't recall the year but I bought a Shinon Red Boron and the suspension collapsed after a short time period. Now I know mine may have been one in that group. The importer was Canadian and they quickly handled a replacement. That became my favorite cartridge and it held up over the many years since. Admittedly I replaced it with others over the years but always came back to it. Finally I became concerned with stylus wear so retired it. Now I should probably have it examined by a re-tipper and also audition others I have, such as my original Kiseki Blackheart. |
@pryso We also had a version that sold in very low quantities called the Shinon Red Boron Improved. I would carefully remove the metal bottom plate and then syringe a drop of ferro fluid on suspension ring. The improvement in fine detail was startling but we didn’t put it into mass production because we were worried about how the ring would hold up long term. |
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