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. 

neonknight
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Dear @neonknight   : Scan-Tech manufactured Lyra cartridges under specs/voicing of Lyra designer.

I understand that that manufacturer is out of production but only @jcarr  can confirm and can chime here about.

Btw, I owned Spectral and are very good carrtridges.

 

R.

 

R.

I thought you were asking about the disappearing Middle Class.

Our 'trickle-up' tax structure is why we now have million $$ stereo systems.

Like some other members here, most of my cartridges are of the 'vintage' variety, including MCs.  Below are the notable ones.

  • Coral MC-8X series - mine have the Beryllium cantilevers
  • Dynavector Karat23'C' - which in my case has a cactus cantilever 'C', that was a replacement for a broken 'R' ruby cantilever
  • Fidelity Research FR-1/Mk3 - sadly, not an 'F'
  • Fidelity Research MCX-3
  • Fidelity Research PMC-1
  • GAS Sleeping Beauty - regular, and the 'B' (Shibata) version
  • Klipsch/Zenn MCZ series
  • Lyra Clavis Evolve 99 - retipped by VAS
  • Micro Seiki LC-40
  • Ortofon MC-20/II
  • Signet MK111E
  • Yamaha MC-101
  • And arriving tomorrow, Technics EPC-300MC

There are still some vintage gems out there, but potential buyers need to be cautious, educated, and ask the right questions before purchasing.