There were many turning points in cartridge design that eventually resulted in what we have come to know as possibly the best crop of cartridges in the history of high-end audio such as those from Lyra, Clearaudio, Benz, Ortofon, Dynavector, ZYX, etc). Many audiophiles will remember the human outcry when Grado released a cartridge costing $600--an unheard of figure in those days-but close to entry level today! What in member's opinion was the turning point in the sound of MC (or MM/MI if ans) carttridges? The point in which they truly became less colored, more resolving and musical and without a significant flaw in one area would eliminate them immediately from consideration?
I have two-the first being the Monster Cable Alpha 2 cartridge. I really wonder how good this cartridge was since the arms of the day weren't half as good as they are today and we didn't have phono sections capaable of amplifying its low output without significant noise, loss of dynamics, etc. The MC Allpha 2 had speed and resolution like I'd never heard before in a cartridge. Guitars had soft shadings, yet maintained their microdynamics (who the hell kniew about mincrodynamics, a word I think more properly called dynamic attack, as musicians use the phrase) of the instrument. The Alpha 2 also has an ability, never surpassed I'd say until my present reference, of unraveling the complex layering of well recorded classical discs!
The second is the Lyra sourced AudioQuest 404 cartridge. At that time, my reference was a Grace F9E mounted in a JVC 7045 arm (with adjustable VTA, virtually unheard of in its day --and raved about by Peter Aczel; Peter later found his God in another world). Now for a little background. HP tallked about this cartridge, among others, in one of his famous cartridge surveys, back in the Golden days of TAS. I listened to the AQ at a local dealer, where it was set up in an ET1 tonearm mounted on a SOTA and run with Counterpoint electronics and Vandersteen 2a speakers. The AQ possessed a sound unlike anything I'd heard witih my Grace. The music had depth; it had resolution; it had low end. Instruments had a 3D body I wasn't getting as well as pinpoint imaging (the trumpet was outside the window I recall). Yes, it might by today's standards be colored and slightly edgy (or maybe not on today's tables!) but it was a tremendous advance IMHO in the sound of MC cartridges.
So what are others landmarks in the development of the present day analog transducer?
I have two-the first being the Monster Cable Alpha 2 cartridge. I really wonder how good this cartridge was since the arms of the day weren't half as good as they are today and we didn't have phono sections capaable of amplifying its low output without significant noise, loss of dynamics, etc. The MC Allpha 2 had speed and resolution like I'd never heard before in a cartridge. Guitars had soft shadings, yet maintained their microdynamics (who the hell kniew about mincrodynamics, a word I think more properly called dynamic attack, as musicians use the phrase) of the instrument. The Alpha 2 also has an ability, never surpassed I'd say until my present reference, of unraveling the complex layering of well recorded classical discs!
The second is the Lyra sourced AudioQuest 404 cartridge. At that time, my reference was a Grace F9E mounted in a JVC 7045 arm (with adjustable VTA, virtually unheard of in its day --and raved about by Peter Aczel; Peter later found his God in another world). Now for a little background. HP tallked about this cartridge, among others, in one of his famous cartridge surveys, back in the Golden days of TAS. I listened to the AQ at a local dealer, where it was set up in an ET1 tonearm mounted on a SOTA and run with Counterpoint electronics and Vandersteen 2a speakers. The AQ possessed a sound unlike anything I'd heard witih my Grace. The music had depth; it had resolution; it had low end. Instruments had a 3D body I wasn't getting as well as pinpoint imaging (the trumpet was outside the window I recall). Yes, it might by today's standards be colored and slightly edgy (or maybe not on today's tables!) but it was a tremendous advance IMHO in the sound of MC cartridges.
So what are others landmarks in the development of the present day analog transducer?
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