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Miyajima MADAKE experience

I've noticed that many (if not all) Kansui users tryin' to sell their Miyajima Kansui to upgrade to new released Madake of the higher price. I have zero experience with Kansui or Madake, but i have checked all the rave reviews (there are not so many btw) and spoken to several distributors in Eupore and USA. Seems like Kansui is great even with aluminum cantilever and shibata stylus. Everybody talking about organic sound and musicality of Miyajima top of the line cartridges.

BAMBOO CANTILEVER of the MADAKE is def. exotic solution along with Miyajima-san's CROSS COIL / CROSS RING method.

Appart from the distributors and reviewers it's always important to ask real users (who paid full price) about their Madake experience.

I wonder how this cartridge perform against top of the line modern hi-end cartridges such as ZYX, Benz, Dynavector ... you name it.

Anyone who didn't like it and why ?

128x128chakster
mosin
410 posts
 
We used a 9.4" Schröder Reference SQ. If my memory serves me, it is 16 grams effective mass.
lewm
12,486 posts
 
I think I've been on that "mountain" in Kyoto, which is actually a hill, the climbing of which is very strenuous exercise, even though there are steps all the way to the top. On the top, there is a shrine and monks doing their thing. It was more a mystical experience than a musical one. I share the doubts that bamboo on that hill would be any different from bamboo on some other nearby hill that is subjected to the same weather. But then, I'm an agnostic in all things. If folks are selling their Kansui's in order to obtain the new model, I may be a buyer of a Kansui.
chakster's avatar
chakster OP
6,144 posts
 
There shouldn't be any crazy marketing tricks as US distributor sell Miyajima cartridges on trial and accept return for full refund! Can you imagine, i wish European distributors could do the same, but they are not. Also retipping by Miyajima-San in Japan via US distributor cost just $1100 (for Kansui) as far as i know (when the cartridge cost $3600 new).

However Madake cost $5895 in USA. Awaiting Fremer’s review.
lewm
12,486 posts
 
Doesn't SoundSmith make a cartridge with a cactus needle (serving as both cantilever and stylus?)? That interests me, too. But there has not been much word on the street about it, even though it's been in production for a while.
chakster's avatar
chakster OP
6,144 posts
 
Yes Lewm
The Hyperion, Soundsmith’s moving-iron phono cartridge with cactus needle cantilever.

"Superior cantilever designs, Ledermann explained, have traditionally been tapered—a technique that’s difficult to accomplish with aluminum and even more difficult with extremely hard and durable materials such as boron, ruby, and diamond. Cactus needles, however, are naturally tapered, stiff, and durable, while their stacked fibers provide natural dampening."

"The Hyperion moving-iron phono cartridge ($7000) is available with Soundsmith’s CL or OCL styli, has a recommended tracking force of 1.8 to 2.2 grams, an output of 0.3mV, and is compatible with MC phono preamps. It is also available in a linear-tracking version, the Hyperion LT. Soundsmith guarantees the Hyperion for 10 years, and Peter Ledermann will retip the cartridge for free if it wears out within that time."

Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/soundsmith’s-hyperion-phono-cartridge-cactus-needle-cantilever
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