I also coated aluminum membranes with artificial diamond in the 80th. Build into tweeters the breakup went up by ca.15% so certainly some stiffening was achieved. I did not measure the diamond coated boron rods though. Mishama San says they sound different ( better ? ). He listens with a special Stax electrostatic headphone with very thin membranes. What is also important is the rubber damper. One problem is thermal stabilty. When Lyra started 20 yeras ago they had a double damper system with two different materials. The latest generation of the "new angle" models has the cantiler slightly sticking out too much and only when you apply the downpreasure does the coils sit in the optimum position where the magnetic field is most linear. There are also several ways to fix the boron cantilever to the body. Usually this is a thin wire. Lyra uses what they call a "direct mounting" but i have no knowlage how they actually do that. Johnathan Carr told be that the way the cantilever is fixed makes a big diffence in sound.
Thanks Joachim, for your input. It must be remembered that what is important here are the GENERAL ideas as to why there is such a range in MC phono cartridge cost and performance. Each time you contribute, I learn a little more about an area that I do not understand very well, but I can certainly hear the difference.
It's not so simple. A particular metal will employ one of several different vibration damping mechanisms and the effectiveness of some will depend on amplitude, which is obviously very small in a cartridge. Unfortunately, experimentation is probably the best way to determine which material will work best and that will be tedious to say the least. Considering the large variety of materials used in cartridge bodies, I'd say it hardly matters at all.
John
Yes, the deviation is VERY large while most hand match components to make it fractions of a dB.
If memory serves, a bit of EQ. All done with tubes, of course. The wooden arm was silicone damped, very far ahead of its time.
Here is an old article from Reto Luigi Andreoli about Pickups. It's written in a pretty aggressive style, but he may have a point. Unfortunately its in german, and I have no time to translate it....
But Joachim and other members with german language skills might be able to take something out of it:
http://www.rintelen.ch/konzept_und_text/download.php?file2download=Artikel_RLA.pdf
Tino
But Joachim and other members with german language skills might be able to take something out of it:
http://www.rintelen.ch/konzept_und_text/download.php?file2download=Artikel_RLA.pdf
Tino
WOW $500 for a full NOS table, cart, and amp. Just bought one, time for some fun.
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Two different things. The strain gauges were used in a "normal" bridge. The FM cartridges used variable capacitance to modulate the frequency of an RF oscillator.
You know I know that.
These folks are laboring under a misconception.
"This is a Paul Weathers design from the late 1950's. It was a late era mono machine. The original tonearm was a Weathers arm with their FM strain gauge cartridge which tracked at one gram. It used FM modulation and had a box with a FM discriminator output on it. This system sounded superb but was finicky in use. The discriminators needed frequent adjustment for best sound. Weathers never got it to work for Stereo at all well. So the owner modernized the table with the Empire tonearm so he could use it for Stereo. Your Stanton 681 appears to be an EE. Good combination. Interesting item with a pedigreed history. Empire later became Benz Micro of Moving Coil cartridge fame."
Yes, I do. But fortunately, I actually owned and used one. Borrowed a Panasonic strain gauge once- interesting and a lot of potential. But a groove buster.
The 1 gram figure is purely fictitious; this was a classic "penny taped on the headstock if it doesn't track" deal. If I had an extra $500 laying around, I would have grabbed one immediately; you'll have loads of fun with it.
Borrowed a Panasonic strain gauge once- interesting and a lot of potential. But a groove buster.The 1 gram figure is purely fictitious; this was a classic "penny taped on the headstock if it doesn't track" deal. If I had an extra $500 laying around, I would have grabbed one immediately; you'll have loads of fun with it.
well, the article talks about limitations of the vinyl record and goes so far that the analog master tape has to be compromised at mastering for example in dynamic range, frequency range and crosstalk to make cutting posible. The conclusion is that Analog High Fidelity from vinyl does not exist because it is not "an original". hmmmmm
The gist of all those pictures...
"articles by Reto Luigi Andreoli, in "HiFi Scene Schweiz" ("The Truth about Cartridge Sound" etc.), where, after a thorough analysis of the geometry/mechanics involved, a major conclusion is that a spherical stylus point of appropriate radius should result in lower distortion - and that in his opinion most of the fancy "audiophile" (VdH etc.) stylus profiles appear to sound more detailed and with better HF extension BECAUSE OF added non-linear distortion in the upper octaves. (Any non-spherical stylus will fail to track the groove at a constant depth due to groove amplitude and cantilever deflection, thus introduce non-recorded vertical distortion components to the signal - in proportion to lateral cantilever deflections. Quite obvious once one gets the whole picture.) The well known "pinch distortion" is part of the same issue, and opinions differ as to which practical approach results in the most "correct" reproduction - which may be a matter of choice between different evils."
I wish I had a translation, seems provocative.
"articles by Reto Luigi Andreoli, in "HiFi Scene Schweiz" ("The Truth about Cartridge Sound" etc.), where, after a thorough analysis of the geometry/mechanics involved, a major conclusion is that a spherical stylus point of appropriate radius should result in lower distortion - and that in his opinion most of the fancy "audiophile" (VdH etc.) stylus profiles appear to sound more detailed and with better HF extension BECAUSE OF added non-linear distortion in the upper octaves. (Any non-spherical stylus will fail to track the groove at a constant depth due to groove amplitude and cantilever deflection, thus introduce non-recorded vertical distortion components to the signal - in proportion to lateral cantilever deflections. Quite obvious once one gets the whole picture.) The well known "pinch distortion" is part of the same issue, and opinions differ as to which practical approach results in the most "correct" reproduction - which may be a matter of choice between different evils."
I wish I had a translation, seems provocative.
A link with partial translation and comments ref. this article
Denon 103 and conical styli (page 1) - Cartridges and styli - Lenco Heaven Turntable Forum
Regards
George
Denon 103 and conical styli (page 1) - Cartridges and styli - Lenco Heaven Turntable Forum
Regards
George
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