I'm considering purchasing this from someone else and waiting on pictures. What he sent me looks like the picture of the AQ B100MH or the AQ B100ML posted on the Vinyl Engine site with ONYX printed on the right side looking at the front of the cartridge. AQ printed on the front. Seller has no paperwork? I'm wondering if it was somehow relabeled for sale in the US? Said it came from Audio Advisor back in the 80's. I've tried to contact them...no luck. Maybe I should try Lyra, I was told they took over Scantech?
Many MC cartridges of this vintage are a risky purchase. I've had good luck with old Ortofon SPU, but the DL-103D I have despite perfect stylus and cantilever seems well past its prime, it dates from sometime in the 1980s.. The rubber in the suspension deteriorates with age and exposure to certain pollutants may accelerate this process.
I was thinking of sending it to SoundSmith for the ruby uprade. Do they replace the suspension (I will ask them, just thought you might know)? The Scantech MC assembly was supposed to be excellent (better than Denon). I have a peice of purple heart wood, that I was going to have machined (at work) to put it in when returned from SoundSmith. I was going to do surgery on a Blue Point I have that is broken.
You'd need to talk to Soundsmith about whether or not they could replace the suspension, it is likely to add considerably to the cost. There has been a lot of discussion about the effect of the mass of a ruby cantilever on the HF resonance of an MC cartridge lately, you might want to look further into this issue before committing to this route which sounds like it will be complex and expensive.
Note that all of this may be just fine, or not. I'm just expressing my opinion which may be realistic or unduly negative, not sure which..
I'm not sure of the budget you have allocated for this project, but there are some mighty fine MC cartridges from Shelter and Ortofon new or lightly used that might be in the same price range and are a surer bet IMHO..
Note that all of this may be just fine, or not. I'm just expressing my opinion which may be realistic or unduly negative, not sure which..
I'm not sure of the budget you have allocated for this project, but there are some mighty fine MC cartridges from Shelter and Ortofon new or lightly used that might be in the same price range and are a surer bet IMHO..
What arm and table are you planning to use the new cartridge on?
My recent experience is mostly with Ortofon SPUs of various flavors and vintages, along with a couple of Denon DL-103 variants including the ZU version of the 103 which is a remarkable improvement over a stock DL-103 in the plastic body.
My recent experience is mostly with Ortofon SPUs of various flavors and vintages, along with a couple of Denon DL-103 variants including the ZU version of the 103 which is a remarkable improvement over a stock DL-103 in the plastic body.
I'm thinking of going the Denon DL-103 and putting it in a wood body. I have heard that the heavier (denser) woods sound better. While Ebony seems to be the choice (a tone wood) I wonder what Purple Heart (very dense), or ever petrified wood would sound like? I know on my cello and guitar a bone nut is superior to Ebony...so bone? I think I saw where someone put one in Ivory?
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