The Cartridgeman Isolater.

There are several principles at work. IMO most of them are flawed.

A loose connection between cartridge and headshell will allow unnecessary movement. This will sap bass strength, reduce peak amplitudes, slow transient responses and generally suck the life and dynamics from the music.

Putting a lossy compound next to a cartridge doesn't eliminate stray energy. It simply stores it and feeds it back, out of phase, at unknowable frequencies. Result: sonic mud.

Glueing my cartridge to *anything* - well - that ain't ever gonna happen.

I haven't heard the "real" Isolator but I've demoed a friend's DIY version (attached with headshell screws, not glue.) The results were as predicted above. Two VA inmates demoed the real Isolator last year (kindly provided by a dealer). They used lower resolution systems than mine, but reported similar results. Neither kept the Isolator even though it was offered as a freebie.

If a cartridge, tonearm or TT do not handle stray mechanical energies properly, the solution is to replace the faulty component(s). Band-aids are not the path to high resolution, accuracy or a lower noise floor.

My $.0002 - fire away!!! ;-)

Doug

I would fire away Doug, but I would only shoot myself. I agree with everything you've posted.

A strong, stiff mechanical connection between the cartridge and headshell is an absolute necessity to achieve the ultimate in analog performance.

In fact, It would probably improve performance even more to super glue the cartridge to the headshell prior to torquing the mount screws. This process would prove ugly when the cartridge needed to be removed, but I'm making a point of extremes.

I remember a test some years ago where our audio group experimented with removing the clear plastic washers out from under the cartridge mounting screws in our (then) pivot design arm. Everyone in attendance was surprised at the improvement.

The only downside is the headshell is gouged pretty good by the screw heads, particularly if you torque them down tight enough to achieve maximum performance.

Ever since that test, I've never installed another washer. I simply close my eyes to avoid seeing the scars and enjoy the music :^).

Still around Dougdeacon........that's good news,....it was
always interesting to read what you had to say when I used to come to this forum more than a year ago......nice to see that you are still coming here shipping out those 2 cents of yours around.
The points you are making conscerning the Isolator are instructive and reasonable yet for now I still believe that the product could have some merits and that someone might come and report some positive experiences with it.
Of course two audio writers have already done so in Stereotimes and 6moons......this allied with
my impression that the Cartridgeman wouldn' t just put out a silly product out there,... makes me think that there might be more to it than just '' sonic mud ''.........well...we shall see.

i have tried it and it was mounted on my kuzma airline airey 3 for less than an hour, it robbed the life out of the music , dynamics etc were robbed, also it looks like a DIY job, piece of junk !!

I'm about to send a 2" x 2" x 3/4" block of non resonant, Caribbean Moca wood to a moderator in another audio forum. He's going to cut 1/8" thick pieces and install them between headshell and cartridges. That's going to be real interesting. Four of those blocks improve the performance of an amplifier, a whole 11" x 19" slab is simply amazing under a transport, turntable or my Clear Image T4 isolation transformer/filter array. A 1/8" thick board coupled to a small mechanical device like a cartridge should provide stunning improvements in clarity and dynamics. Moisture absorption would be my only concern.

Another of these small Moca blocks is shipping to Europe. This particular audiophile makes his own wood cartridge bodies and will try Moca with a high performance, low output MC.

No Voodoo here, just plain ol' mother nature...

Maybe Albert and Doug could give this wood a try later on.

With psychic power and primal intensity,