I have a Victor (Japan) MC1 cartridge.
It has gone open circuit in one side.
It seems to come apart quite nicely, such that I have been able to ascertain that it's not the thick wires!
Is there any point in continuing? Is it a reasonable cartridge?
It used to sound good to me.
Shall I chuck it?
TIA,
It has gone open circuit in one side.
It seems to come apart quite nicely, such that I have been able to ascertain that it's not the thick wires!
Is there any point in continuing? Is it a reasonable cartridge?
It used to sound good to me.
Shall I chuck it?
TIA,
JVC MC-1
dhaen,
Do you like the sound of the first JVC direct-couple phono cartridge?
Well I have listened it more than 20 years ago at the
audio store in the US, and it did sound good,
but I never listened it with our system.
As you know, the coil of the MC-1 is printed micro-coil
made by IC lithography process, and sitting near the
stylus ( I think the distance between the coil and
stylus is about 2.5mm if I remember it correctly)
to maintain phase coherency.
I do have a MC-L10 (which is the direct successor of
MC-1, the main difference is the damping system,
MC-L10 is rubber, MC-1 uses liquid ? if I remember correctly)
and the MC-L1000(I guess this was not exported outside Japan)
which the micro-coil is sitting right-on-top of the stylus !
The biggest problem with these JVC direct-coupled MC cartridges
(especially with the MC-L1000) are the reliability issue.
It was very fragile, doesn?ft allow any mishandling.
Suspension was weak, and sound may change day by day.
The average life of MC-L1000 was about 1 year,
with my experience and always be ended by open circuit.
Sonically, it was very good, especially the MC-L1000,
but there seems to have some emphasis at the top-end
(you can see rising top-end from the actual frequency response chart which was included in every cartridge).
The MC-L10 do have more of this top end emphasis than
the MC-L1000.
I think the JVC in Japan cannot replace any of these cartridges
any more and will be difficult to fix it by a third party because
of the unique design.
If you are interested with the sound that those direct-coupled cartridges produce,
you may like a short jeweled cantilever phono
cartridges like Dynavector 17D2MKII.
The distance between the stylus and the coil is 1.7mm.
This cartridge is reasonably priced and uses a solid diamond
cantilever.
If you are going to try 17D2MKII, your arm must have anti-skating.
Air bearing liner tracking arm is ideal.
The reason is that this cartridge does have rubber
but it is not used to damp high frequency resonance as usual,
so the rubber is loose, thus it is weak to continuous side force.
The frequency response is "ruler flat" to 20KHz, no
top end emphasis and no 2-5KHz dip at all.
Some of the super expensive "long" cantilever cartridge may sound "pleasing"
with some sort of program source / speaker combination.
Some of the cartridge designer of these expensive regular designs seems
to take time and effort "balance" the sound of the cartridge,
in spite of the steady-state frequency response is not flat.
But with my experience using 1500USD, 3000USD phono cartridge
(which doesn?ft sound good with the accurate speaker)
it is my opinion that the ruler-flat steady-state frequency response of the cartridge is mandatory.
And if you want "focus" on sound, short distance between the
stylus and the coil is the way to go, which analog seems to
excel 44.1KHz chopped digital format, and with the speaker
like Beveridge electrostatic, which has flat response and superb
phase coherency, the merit of these aggressive cartridge design
is apparent, which listener could involve to music further.
Regards,
dhaen,
Do you like the sound of the first JVC direct-couple phono cartridge?
Well I have listened it more than 20 years ago at the
audio store in the US, and it did sound good,
but I never listened it with our system.
As you know, the coil of the MC-1 is printed micro-coil
made by IC lithography process, and sitting near the
stylus ( I think the distance between the coil and
stylus is about 2.5mm if I remember it correctly)
to maintain phase coherency.
I do have a MC-L10 (which is the direct successor of
MC-1, the main difference is the damping system,
MC-L10 is rubber, MC-1 uses liquid ? if I remember correctly)
and the MC-L1000(I guess this was not exported outside Japan)
which the micro-coil is sitting right-on-top of the stylus !
The biggest problem with these JVC direct-coupled MC cartridges
(especially with the MC-L1000) are the reliability issue.
It was very fragile, doesn?ft allow any mishandling.
Suspension was weak, and sound may change day by day.
The average life of MC-L1000 was about 1 year,
with my experience and always be ended by open circuit.
Sonically, it was very good, especially the MC-L1000,
but there seems to have some emphasis at the top-end
(you can see rising top-end from the actual frequency response chart which was included in every cartridge).
The MC-L10 do have more of this top end emphasis than
the MC-L1000.
I think the JVC in Japan cannot replace any of these cartridges
any more and will be difficult to fix it by a third party because
of the unique design.
If you are interested with the sound that those direct-coupled cartridges produce,
you may like a short jeweled cantilever phono
cartridges like Dynavector 17D2MKII.
The distance between the stylus and the coil is 1.7mm.
This cartridge is reasonably priced and uses a solid diamond
cantilever.
If you are going to try 17D2MKII, your arm must have anti-skating.
Air bearing liner tracking arm is ideal.
The reason is that this cartridge does have rubber
but it is not used to damp high frequency resonance as usual,
so the rubber is loose, thus it is weak to continuous side force.
The frequency response is "ruler flat" to 20KHz, no
top end emphasis and no 2-5KHz dip at all.
Some of the super expensive "long" cantilever cartridge may sound "pleasing"
with some sort of program source / speaker combination.
Some of the cartridge designer of these expensive regular designs seems
to take time and effort "balance" the sound of the cartridge,
in spite of the steady-state frequency response is not flat.
But with my experience using 1500USD, 3000USD phono cartridge
(which doesn?ft sound good with the accurate speaker)
it is my opinion that the ruler-flat steady-state frequency response of the cartridge is mandatory.
And if you want "focus" on sound, short distance between the
stylus and the coil is the way to go, which analog seems to
excel 44.1KHz chopped digital format, and with the speaker
like Beveridge electrostatic, which has flat response and superb
phase coherency, the merit of these aggressive cartridge design
is apparent, which listener could involve to music further.
Regards,
Jun,
Wow, thank you for your detailed reply. I had not really expected anyone to know this cartridge. As you say, it is more than 20 years old (actually, this one was last in use 22 years ago. It was a reference sample used for speaker evaluation. At the end of the speaker tests I "won" it, and used it until it failed. It has been in storage for over 20 years, and I had just wondered whether it was serviceable.
I did like it at the time, although I did not have any high-end cartridges to compare it with.
From what you say, the unique construction means that it is not serviceable - never mind🙁
Thank you for taking the time to give your knowledgeable reply.
I notice this is your first post to the forum: Welcome🙂
Regards,
Wow, thank you for your detailed reply. I had not really expected anyone to know this cartridge. As you say, it is more than 20 years old (actually, this one was last in use 22 years ago. It was a reference sample used for speaker evaluation. At the end of the speaker tests I "won" it, and used it until it failed. It has been in storage for over 20 years, and I had just wondered whether it was serviceable.
I did like it at the time, although I did not have any high-end cartridges to compare it with.
From what you say, the unique construction means that it is not serviceable - never mind🙁
Thank you for taking the time to give your knowledgeable reply.
I notice this is your first post to the forum: Welcome🙂
Regards,
Can you give me the Victor MC1 's schematic?
Thank you very mach ..
good luck everyday ...
my E-mail:mc_wilson@21cn.com
Thank you very mach ..
good luck everyday ...
my E-mail:mc_wilson@21cn.com
Picked up one these knowing it was nuked
In the slot there was wafer coils and it was attached to the cantilever about 2mm behind the diamond
You can see the wires that led to the (absent !) wafer glued under the cantilever
They claimed signicant less moving mass than lomc,s
Early SOTA design
Enjoy !
Regards
David
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My MC-L1000 is probably 30 years old. It still sounds well after 20 years sleep from 1995 to 2015. When my cartridge is in sleep, I had no time to listen to music because I needed to make my living. After retiring, I have come back to DIY world. In spite of long absence, MC-L1000 has almost the same sound as in my memory. Total running time is about 700 hours.
MC -1, MC-L10, and MC-L1000 are still popular in Japan. You can find several items in Japanese auction. This is MC-1 which condition is great. The final price is $300. I would say it's reasonable.
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c657661159?wr=1&iref=wlr_6
MC -1, MC-L10, and MC-L1000 are still popular in Japan. You can find several items in Japanese auction. This is MC-1 which condition is great. The final price is $300. I would say it's reasonable.
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c657661159?wr=1&iref=wlr_6
The new Ortofon ART 1000 is nothing more than an expensive rehash of this same principal
Brought back to like.
Like was mentioned, trying to keep the slot clean without damaging the coils is an issue.
Brought back to like.
Like was mentioned, trying to keep the slot clean without damaging the coils is an issue.
Jvc
They made a few different models
No retippers on this one. You would need a new cart.
Jcarr thought it sounded wonderful
They made a few different models
No retippers on this one. You would need a new cart.
Jcarr thought it sounded wonderful
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