Miyajima Labs 1.0 mil Infinity Mono

mtemur · Apr 7, 2024

I have an EMT TD 25N mono cartridge for a long time. It has 1.0 mil stylus and no vertical compliance. There hasn’t been any problem or damage to my modern mono records cut by a stereo cutter head. Naturally there are no problems with old mono records either.

DetroitVinylRob · May 1, 2024

Yet again, though I’m not recommending inappropriate behavior, when poised with the question, “if I accidentally put a stereo LP under a Miyajima Labs 0.7mil Zero, will I most certainly damage the record?” Rob of Robyatt Audio (the importer) suggested at the time “definitely not, don’t worry about it”. Antidotally, I have put at least one stereo LP under the MZ, it sounded horrific, I would’ve imagined that I had absolutely destroyed the record, and yet, when playing it under a proper stereo cartridge, I thankfully could not identify any damage.

montesquieu · May 1, 2024

DetroitVinylRob said:
Yet again, though I’m not recommending inappropriate behavior, when poised with the question, “if I accidentally put a stereo LP under a Miyajima Labs 0.7mil Zero, will I most certainly damage the record?” Rob of Robyatt Audio (the importer) suggested at the time “definitely not, don’t worry about it”. Antidotally, I have put at least one stereo LP under the MZ, it sounded horrific, I would’ve imagined that I had absolutely destroyed the record, and yet, when playing it under a proper stereo cartridge, I thankfully could not identify any damage.

Rob is talking nonsense. Many of us here are old enough to remember the dire warnings about playing 'stereophonic records' with mono non-compliant cartridges - the Miyajima is simply one of these with modern MC output levels.

You were lucky. I got away with it a number of times. Other times I didn't. You can expect a sales and marketing dude to put the best possible spin on something but 'definitely not' is plain wrong and frankly irresponsible.

It's all about tracking force, overall mass/intertia, degree of panning on the record, and amplitude of the material. Sometimes you'll hear damage, sometimes you won't. Frankly at 4.0g tracking force (typical for a mono Miyahima), the intertia of a high-mass arm (30g in the case of my Glanz), and material on the record panned across the soundstage to varying levels, it's a game of Russian routlette.

This wasn't scaremongering then, and it's not scaremongering now with a (welcome, with caveats) return to the same technology:

DetroitVinylRob · May 1, 2024

montesquieu said:
Rob is talking nonsense. Many of us here are old enough to remember the dire warnings about playing 'stereophonic records' with mono non-compliant cartridges - the Miyajima is simply one of these with modern MC output levels.

You were lucky. I got away with it a number of times. Other times I didn't. You can expect a sales and marketing dude to put the best possible spin on something but 'definitely not' is plain wrong and frankly irresponsible.

It's all about tracking force, overall mass/intertia, degree of panning on the record, and amplitude of the material. Sometimes you'll hear damage, sometimes you won't. Frankly at 4.0g tracking force (typical for a mono Miyahima), the intertia of a high-mass arm (30g in the case of my Glanz), and material on the record panned across the soundstage to varying levels, it's a game of Russian routlette.

This wasn't scaremongering then, and it's not scaremongering now with a (welcome, with caveats) return to the same technology:

View attachment 130009 View attachment 130009

Thank you.

Well, for me, being somewhat of an amateur in mono reproduction, the information and concerns from many sources on which way to go were a bit confusing and Rob’s assurances at the time (unfortunately) relieved my concerns. Just to set the records straight, his remarks were not motivated to directly sell me the Miyajima Labs cartridge that I ultimately purchased. I don’t blame Rob. I do take full responsibility though for my lack of understanding.

Now of course the last thing I care to do is destroy a beloved pressing(.) So with this, in the future, I most likely will choose a nice monophonic cartridge that offers some vertical movement to be on the safe side.

And though I probably easily have four hundred plus mono records, and truly appreciate the mono playback differences in presentation, I’m questioning how much of a mono purist I am

BruceBW · Saturday at 12:39 AM

Sorry I did not read all 10 pages…. Anybody have a recommendation for loading the Infinity? A good starting point

Vinylshadow · Saturday at 4:30 PM

BruceBW said:
Sorry I did not read all 10 pages…. Anybody have a recommendation for loading the Infinity? A good starting point

From the website: Tracking force range: 3–4g (3.5g recommended)

I just received my Infinity. I may use an AudioMachina V8 shim with it. Was told by the dealer they work great together and he uses the same.

BruceBW · Saturday at 7:38 PM

Vinylshadow said:
From the website: Tracking force range: 3–4g (3.5g recommended)

I just received my Infinity. I may use an AudioMachina V8 shim with it. Was told by the dealer they work great together and he uses the same.

Thanks for the response, but I was looking for loading, not tracking force. I did find one site that recommended 100 Ω . and 10X internal is 60 Ω so I'll start in that range.

BTW Robin recommends playing it for a while at 4 grams then going back to 3.5.

Concerning the V8 shim. I do need to shim it to get it to mount properly on my Moerch arm. The back end is so long I can't get the overhang right without the orange shim. The back end hits the tapered tube before it goes back far enough. The yellow line follows the profile of the arm. Without the orange shim it would only go back to the red line before it hit. By dropping it down it can now go back to the green line.

The V8 shim looks interesting but I have 3 concerns.

1. it adds almost another 4 grams and this cartridge is massive as is. Not sure I could balance it
2. The explanation of how it works talks about being tuned to optimize a stereo cartridge, not a mono. If it operates in exactly the same planes that the stereo cartridge does, how does it help a mono?
3. $400

Because a stereo phono cartridge operates in two orthogonal planes for the two channels, and the two channels on a vinyl record are recorded and played back at 90 degrees to one another, so too does the V8 operate in precisely these two orthogonal planes.

Vinylshadow · Saturday at 8:00 PM

BruceBW said:
Thanks for the response, but I was looking for loading, not tracking force. I did find one site that recommended 100 Ω . and 10X internal is 60 Ω so I'll start in that range.

BTW Robin recommends playing it for a while at 4 grams then going back to 3.5.

Concerning the V8 shim. I do need to shim it to get it to mount properly on my Moerch arm. The back end is so long I can't get the overhang right without the orange shim. The back end hits the tapered tube before it goes back far enough. The yellow line follows the profile of the arm. Without the orange shim it would only go back to the red line before it hit. By dropping it down it can now go back to the green line.

The V8 shim looks interesting but I have 3 concerns.

1. it adds almost another 4 grams and this cartridge is massive as is. Not sure I could balance it
2. The explanation of how it works talks about being tuned to optimize a stereo cartridge, not a mono. If it operates in exactly the planes that the stereo cartridge does, how does it help a mono?
3. $400

Because a stereo phono cartridge operates in two orthogonal planes for the two channels, and the two channels on a vinyl record are recorded and played back at 90 degrees to one another, so too does the V8 operate in precisely these two orthogonal planes.

View attachment 132040

View attachment 132041

View attachment 132042

Robin told me he uses 1k ohm for Miyajima's. I have not set up the Infinity/Shim yet but Robin says they work great together and he uses them. I have a Destiny but won't use a shim.

mtemur · Sunday at 8:33 AM

BruceBW said:
The V8 shim looks interesting but I have 3 concerns.

1. it adds almost another 4 grams and this cartridge is massive as is. Not sure I could balance it
2. The explanation of how it works talks about being tuned to optimize a stereo cartridge, not a mono. If it operates in exactly the planes that the stereo cartridge does, how does it help a mono?
3. $400

Let me add the fourth concern:
It will alter the sound of the cartridge/tonearm and most probably in a bad way.

Vinylshadow · Sunday at 9:16 AM

mtemur said:
Let me add the fourth concern:
It will alter the sound of the cartridge/tonearm and most probably in a bad way.

I have not used it yet. I will ask Robin about it again but may not use it.

Search

Search

Miyajima Labs 1.0 mil Infinity Mono

mtemur

Well-Known Member

DetroitVinylRob

VIP/Donor

montesquieu

Well-Known Member

DetroitVinylRob

VIP/Donor

BruceBW

Member

Vinylshadow

Well-Known Member

BruceBW

Member

Vinylshadow

Well-Known Member

mtemur

Well-Known Member

Vinylshadow

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Members online