Jan Allaerts Cartridge Experience?


I've heard some good things about the Jan Allerts MC1B and MC1B Mk II cartridges . These seem pretty rare and there seems to be limited fedback on them.

Do any of you have direct experience? If so how do they compare to other top cartridges, e.g., Zyx, Lyra, Dynavector, Koetsu, Clearaudio?

Thanks for the feedback.
aoliviero
I own the JA MC1B. Its mounted on a Simon Yorke S7 arm/tt combination. I find it a wonderfully musical combination.

I've also heard a MC1B on another TT with a Moerch arm and it was superb in this system too.

I've never compared it to another cart on my TT/Arm. Since I've got this setup, I've had no desire to change anything in my vinyl setup.

Let me know if there is anything specific I can help you with regarding the JA MC1B.

Hope this helps.

Neville
Dear Aoliviero: ( I'm here Dan ). +++++ " Since I've got this setup, I've had no desire to change anything in my vinyl setup. " +++++

This is what Neville posted. I don't know about the whole audio system of Neville, but the fact that he owns a Simon Yorke TT/tonearm ( one of the best/great TT out there: second to none. ) tell me a lot of him and in his statement he is right on target. Btw, the MC1B mates good with your phonopreamp.

Unfortunatelly for you my MC2 Finish has nothing to do with your today electronics.

The Allaerts MC2 Finish is several steps a head not only over the MC1B but a head any other cartridges that I know/heard in my own system ( all the ones you named here ) or in a friend/dealer system.
When this cartridge is right set up your audio system disappears and you have nothing but the MUSIC it self. When you put the stylus on the record and you hear the very first musical notes you know everything is settled and like Neville said: you don't need to change nothing and you don't want to change nothing, you only want to enjoy what you are hearing.
It is a great natural balance cartridge from top to bootom: do you want the best low bass?: you have it, do you want to have the best midrange?: you have it, do you want the best soundstage?: you have it, do you want the best natural musical agressive high frequencies?: you have it. All what you want: you have it. When you are hearing to the MC2 Finish you forgot about it, you forgot about your electronics or anything else: you will be deep inmerse on the full/whole music: MUSIC and nothing but the MUSIC!!!!!!!

Is there any down side with the MC2 Finish?, yes: it is a very low output cartridge and needs a lot of clean gain and an accurate RIAA eq, nothing less. You have to mate it only with the best or almost the best audio devices ( no SUTs here or bad tube designs ): if not " she " will tell you that your system ( some links ) is not up to the musical reproduction task. Here there are no " greys ": only black or white. This is a cartridge for the music experienced people and for the experienced audiophile that loves the music and take care about it and take care about the quality sound reproduction. Yes, this cartridge is in another " league ": I loved it!!!!!!!!! Who don't?

From the objective point of view this cartridge had some incredible specs:

- tracking capacity: 400 umm
- frequency range: from 3 to 100 Khz
- channel separation: 70 db at 20 Khz!!!!
- Total THD%: 0.1%!!!!!!

These cartridges were build 100% by hand by Jan Allaerts it self ( his company is " one man company " ) and it comes with a life warranty and he told me that the stylus is for at least 10,000 hours.
Allaerts is the first cartridge company, that I know, that gives exactly the load impedance that needs their cartridges ( he don't left these parameters to our ears ) and the exactly VTF too: no VTF/load impedance ranges here, this is a serious and profesional people : Jan.

If you want one MC2 Finish you can buy it and have to wait betwenn 4 to 6 months to have at home.

Highly recomended!!!!!!!

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
Raul,

Thank you for your very detailed and passionate response. Seems like this is a good one.

With respect to your comment:

"Unfortunatelly for you my MC2 Finish has nothing to do with your today electronics.",

do you mean that the output voltage of the MC Finish of ~0.2mv is too low for my CAT Ultimate preamp?

When you said "Btw, the MC1B mates good with your phonopreamp.", once again are you referring to output voltage and/or sonic signature?

Finally, does the MC1B have a similar sonic signature to the Finish? How does the MC1B compare to the cartridges/brands I listed, e.g., Lyra Helikon; Zys Airy 2, 3; .

Thanks Raul.
Dear Andrew: Yes, for the output voltage: both.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
Dear Andrew: Yes, it has a similar signature than the MC2.

Btw, the MC2 Finish is not the top of the line in the Allaerts catalog, the one on top is the Formula One!!!!!, the MC2 is very near it.

Can you imagine the performance on the Formula One? WOW!!!!!

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.