Many of the best reviewed and most expensive MC's are outmatched by a Shure V15 in the tracking department. It doesn't mean the Shure sounds better...
The Shure
Though it sure sounded more accurate (i.e., true to the master tape) than most of its contemporaneous MC competitors, at least according to sharp folks like Gordon Holt who actually did the comparison. Most MCs of its era had a common coloration, a slightly depressed upper midrange and a peaked high treble. I doubt I can hear the latter these days, but I sure remember this quality in many Koetsus, Supexes, Dynavectors, and Kisekeis that passed through my living room. That's one reason I kept coming back to the Technics EPC100...
By the time my last Troika came along, many of those demons had been exorcised, but still, the Troika never sang as sweetly as the Technics to my ears, despite being set up in an optimal arm (Ittok LVII). The Technics had a much more sophisticated cantilever, to which I attribute much of its great performance.
Though it sure sounded more accurate (i.e., true to the master tape) than most of its contemporaneous MC competitors, at least according to sharp folks like Gordon Holt who actually did the comparison. Most MCs of its era had a common coloration, a slightly depressed upper midrange and a peaked high treble. I doubt I can hear the latter these days, but I sure remember this quality in many Koetsus, Supexes, Dynavectors, and Kisekeis that passed through my living room. That's one reason I kept coming back to the Technics EPC100...
By the time my last Troika came along, many of those demons had been exorcised, but still, the Troika never sang as sweetly as the Technics to my ears, despite being set up in an optimal arm (Ittok LVII). The Technics had a much more sophisticated cantilever, to which I attribute much of its great performance.
The last octave peak is due to the tip mass on vinyl resonance. It varies in Q, centre, and amplitude between needle shapes, downforce, cantilever and its damping, ambient temp, actual vinyl mass / quality per record. As it is unmasked by the extended response due to low inductance, its there to measure. Few models overcome that. If mated with a trigger happy near there metallic tweeter's oil can resonance you are in for HF youth fountain.
Here is a measurement I made sometime ago between two ambient temps (dif 10c with hair dryer aid
). Its for Denon DL160 on Mission 774 at 1.6g VTF on Telarc Omnidisc wideband pink. 1/24 octave resolution.Attachments
Wow, I still have one in storage. Always looking for applicable (sealed, unpacked) replacement bearings. It just wasn't oddball enough so I swapped for a Grado tonearm.
Wow, I still have one in storage. Always looking for applicable (sealed, unpacked) replacement bearings. It just wasn't oddball enough so I swapped for a Grado tonearm.
Most suitable ULM arm to mount again those high compliance MMs for an RL/pF loading tune on FFT and give em a fresh ear on new gear. I expect its used vintage market price to keep on rising.
Attachments
The strain gauge wasn't elastomeric- I think it was silicon or a metallized bar. Source impedance was a few hundred ohms. It required a dedicated preamp because of the need to put the gauge in a bridge to measure delta R/R and because (as you have correctly surmised) it was not a velocity transducer, it was a displacement transducer.
Yes. The sg was one element in a bridge circuit. A diff amp was used to remove the offset and amplify the resistance change.
That would account for the tens of dollars that they command at auction.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge in cartridge development and the most recent work has been the perfection of moving coils with ultra low internal impedance - i.e. less than 3 ohms. Hearing the Airtight PC-1 for the first time was a revelation for me. A friend of mine has told me that the Kubotek at >1 ohm exceeds even the PC-1 and the Supreme.
John
Price is immaterial, or at least that what everyone has been saying in the wire threads.
If you see a Panasonic in good condition (aye, there's the rub! Damping deteriorates with time), pick it up for me and I'll make it worth your while. It's been nearly 30 years since I kissed mine goodbye and I miss it badly.
If you see a Panasonic in good condition (aye, there's the rub! Damping deteriorates with time), pick it up for me and I'll make it worth your while. It's been nearly 30 years since I kissed mine goodbye and I miss it badly.
Price is immaterial, or at least that what everyone has been saying in the wire threads.
If you see a Panasonic in good condition (aye, there's the rub! Damping deteriorates with time), pick it up for me and I'll make it worth your while. It's been nearly 30 years since I kissed mine goodbye and I miss it badly.
Which Panasonic?
John
They only made one strain gauge cartridge to the best of my knowledge. I got mine from a long-dead outfit in Colorado. If memory serves, it was called the EPC-460. Sao Win also sold one, but I never owned one, only heard it a couple of times in someone else's system.
edit: http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-EPC-4...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a4161bdc
Ouch! There's your "tens of dollars."
edit: http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-EPC-4...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a4161bdc
Ouch! There's your "tens of dollars."
Well, I have a friend who has bought several for tens of dollars off of eBay. Obviously an NOS sample will cost more, even though that seller doesn't seem to have had any luck getting $600 for his. He did accept a best offer of $425 for one. Why don't you try that? It's dirt cheap for "best-best".
By the way, I did a little research on the Technics EPC-100C MkIII cartridge and its only design feature that differed from contemporary MMs is that it had an internal impedance that was lower by an order of magnitude.
John
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