Dreaming About a New Cartridge

MylesBAstor

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Apr 20, 2010
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If you just hit the lotto, which cartridge would you buy and why? (assuming an arm and table that would accomodate ;) )
 

mep

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Probably the Goldfinger that I heard at RMAF with the Clearaudio Master Insider table that knocked my socks off. I'm not getting "that" sound at my house.
 

MylesBAstor

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Probably the Goldfinger that I heard at RMAF with the Clearaudio Master Insider table that knocked my socks off. I'm not getting "that" sound at my house.

What did you like about the Goldfinger Mark?
 

mep

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Apr 20, 2010
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What did you like about the Goldfinger Mark?

The black backgrounds (silence) the dynamic range, and the overall purity of the sound. I still remember the sounds of Lighten Hopkins’ guitar and how dynamic it sounded as the strings were struck. It sounded alive. I ran downstairs and bought the last sealed copy that was available at the show and was happy to snag it as it is now out of print. I didn’t get the same effect at home. Would I have it if I had the Goldfinger? I don’t know, but it damn sure couldn’t hurt.
 

rockitman

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Sep 20, 2011
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Yes, a Goldfinger Statement would be nice....along with a Koetsu Coralstone Platinum with Diamond cantilever. What's this Master Insider turntable ? You mean the Master Innovation ? :D
 

JackD201

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Of those that I've heard I think it would be the Miyabi Limited. Good luck getting one though the wait list is measured in years now so I've heard. It's an extremely expressive cartridge especially in the lower part of the midrange. Some say its competition along these lines are the Stone Bodied Koetsu Platinums (I would say so too having shot it out with a Blue Lace) and the Allnic Puritas, which I haven't heard yet but is getting great word of mouth from owners.

Of those I have never even seen in the flesh, I am very curious about all the fuss on the Kondo IO carts. I would love to hear one if not own one.

I'm also curious to see what Stig has come up with, with the Lyra Apollo. Another long wait list. Supposedly has all the strengths of the Olympos and then some. With the requisite, rarer than unicorn horn Parnassus carts as a prerequisite to getting an Olympos built, is this news too good to be true?

The A90 seems to be the measure these days. While I really, really like mine because it is such a great all-a-rounder, in the neutrality/faithful as well as dynamic contrast departments I still give the nod to Matsudaira-san's MY Sonic Labs Ultra Eminent BC (now replaced by a newer model I haven't heard). The only area where the A90 beats it in my system and room is in stage height where it is in turn beat by the XV-1t. So, the new MYSL cart would be on my list as well.
 

MylesBAstor

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Apr 20, 2010
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Of those that I've heard I think it would be the Miyabi Limited. Good luck getting one though the wait list is measured in years now so I've heard. It's an extremely expressive cartridge especially in the lower part of the midrange. Some say its competition along these lines are the Stone Bodied Koetsu Platinums (I would say so too having shot it out with a Blue Lace) and the Allnic Puritas, which I haven't heard yet but is getting great word of mouth from owners.

Of those I have never even seen in the flesh, I am very curious about all the fuss on the Kondo IO carts. I would love to hear one if not own one.

I'm also curious to see what Stig has come up with, with the Lyra Apollo. Another long wait list. Supposedly has all the strengths of the Olympos and then some. With the requisite, rarer than unicorn horn Parnassus carts as a prerequisite to getting an Olympos built, is this news too good to be true?

The A90 seems to be the measure these days. While I really, really like mine because it is such a great all-a-rounder, in the neutrality/faithful as well as dynamic contrast departments I still give the nod to Matsudaira-san's MY Sonic Labs Ultra Eminent BC (now replaced by a newer model I haven't heard). The only area where the A90 beats it in my system and room is in stage height where it is in turn beat by the XV-1t. So, the new MYSL cart would be on my list as well.

Some pretty good choices there! Haven't heard the Miyabi limited, just the 47 Labs Miyabi. Wouldn't get that if it was the best cartridge in the world because it's the biggest pain in the ass to set up. Who nowadays doesn't build a cartridge with tapped threads in the headshell? For that it, the Miyabi 47 Labs wins that award hands down.

I too am intrigued by the new Lyra. It's been on the board for quite a while and obviously Jonathan is still ironing out the manufacturing details. Now if only Jonanthan can eliminate that slight brightness/thinness in the Titan i and maintain its resolution, speed and low end performance.

Wish Albert would chime in :( I know he likes the Koetsu Coralstone immensely.

I've only ever heard the MSL and Ortofon at shows. Have to say that I didn't hear the thinness that HP remarked about?
 

JackD201

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I don't hear it either Myles. Much as I love HP, that whole thing about tracking the XV-1s way above the manufacturer's prescribed VTF had me scratching my head. I tried it and yes the low end got more pronounced but it compressed everything else. It makes me think he likes "PHAT" carts. IIRC he didn't like the A90 much either. The thin sounding carts to me are the Grandeeza and the few I've heard from Allearts. Hammerhead Clearaudios and first generation "finger" models I found tipped up. I still have a first generation Titanium. To get rid of the zing I had to painstakingly adjust azimuth based on the cart in motion (Unipivot arm). The long cantilever has a tendency to twist when moving throwing it off. A Talea would come in handy with that I bet. On the fly, baby. It was a nightmare with my JMW on my Aries 2. Being sausage fingered you can guess I wasn't very good at fine adjustments of the drop weight I got later. Not much better luck with the Phantoms on both the HRX and TW AC-3. It might not have been a problem on a gimbal arm, I dunno. The TW arm is my first and that's what the MSL is on now.

Owners are telling me the V2 CA "fingers" are much more balanced sounding than the first generation. Jim has the Goldy Statement but I haven't heard it yet.

So the Miyabi's aren't threaded? I didn't know that.

Yeah, where's Albert been off to these days?
 

MylesBAstor

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Apr 20, 2010
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I don't hear it either Myles. Much as I love HP, that whole thing about tracking the XV-1s way above the manufacturer's prescribed VTF had me scratching my head. I tried it and yes the low end got more pronounced but it compressed everything else. It makes me think he likes "PHAT" carts. IIRC he didn't like the A90 much either. The thin sounding carts to me are the Grandeeza and the few I've heard from Allearts. Hammerhead Clearaudios and first generation "finger" models I found tipped up. I still have a first generation Titanium. To get rid of the zing I had to painstakingly adjust azimuth based on the cart in motion (Unipivot arm). The long cantilever has a tendency to twist when moving throwing it off. A Talea would come in handy with that I bet. On the fly, baby. It was a nightmare with my JMW on my Aries 2. Being sausage fingered you can guess I wasn't very good at fine adjustments of the drop weight I got later. Not much better luck with the Phantoms on both the HRX and TW AC-3. It might not have been a problem on a gimbal arm, I dunno. The TW arm is my first and that's what the MSL is on now.

Owners are telling me the V2 CA "fingers" are much more balanced sounding than the first generation. Jim has the Goldy Statement but I haven't heard it yet.

So the Miyabi's aren't threaded? I didn't know that.

Yeah, where's Albert been off to these days?

The new Soundsmith Counter-Intuitive solves the VPI issues quite nicely!
 

naturephoto1

Member
May 24, 2010
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I like my Soundsmith Strain Gauge; I use a Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp with it. A Soundsmith Phono Preamp is mandatory for this cartridge. The newest and least expensive Strain Gauge Phono Preamp is the SG-200 was not available when I purchased mine. The SG200 is a basic Phono preamp and should mate well with a Preamp, but it does not include all of the extras of the more expensive models. All of the Soundsmith Phono Preamps are supposed to sound the same but the cost is dependent upon the Phono Preamp features. By the way for the best performance by this cartridge proper adjustments are critical.

Rich
 

MylesBAstor

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Apr 20, 2010
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I like my Soundsmith Strain Gauge; I use a Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp with it. A Soundsmith Phono Preamp is mandatory for this cartridge. The newest and least expensive Strain Gauge Phono Preamp is the SG-200 was not available when I purchased mine. The SG200 is a basic Phono preamp and should mate well with a Preamp, but it does not include all of the extras of the more expensive models. All of the Soundsmith Phono Preamps are supposed to sound the same but the cost is dependent upon the Phono Preamp features. By the way for the best performance by this cartridge proper adjustments are critical.

Rich

I've always had a hankering to hear a strain gauge cartridge in my system. There are real cults who worship the old Iverson/Electroresearch and Technics strain gauge cartridges. Plus as I understand it, when it wears out, the assembly is user replaceable?

Do you know off the top of your head Rich, what the additional bells and whistles that come with the more expensive phono stages? :)

What do you like about the SG compared to a MC or MI cartridge?
 
Last edited:

naturephoto1

Member
May 24, 2010
820
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www.nelridge.com
I've always had a hankering to hear a strain gauge cartridge in my system. There are real cults who worship the olf Iverson/Electroresearch and Technics strain gauge cartridges. Plus as I understand it, when it wears out, the assembly is user replaceable?

Do you know off the top of your head Rich, what the additional bells and whistles that come with the more expensive phono stages? :)

What do you like about the SG compared to a MC or MI cartridge?

Hi Myles,

The best performance of the Strain Gauge cartridge is with the most expensive of all of the styli which can all be user replaced. I know that Peter Ledermann of Soundsmith really wants to check each cartridge with the associated styli. The cartridge comes standardly with their 2nd best stylus. The best stylus is not forgiving to the recording or noise in the grooves of the vinyl. But for really well recorded quiet vinyl...

Look at this link from the Soundsmith site for description, information, and cost of all of the models: they all come with the stylus, but you select the model Phono Preamp to go with the stylus; also the different user replaceable styli and pricing are included:

http://www.sound-smith.com/cartridges/sg.html

This is one of several of the reviews of the cartridge from The Absolute Sound and a reviewer that Peter really respects:

http://www.sound-smith.com/cartridges/TAS_Strain_Gauge.pdf

I haven't really listened to enough high end MC or MI cartridges to comment.

When I was deciding on my cartridge I listened very carefully to Chris Brady of Teres when we were building my Teres Certus 450 TT and the Teres Illius Tonearm. Chris had had several opportunities to previously to listen to many of the best at the time $5,000 to $10.000 cartridges including the Strain Gauge. Chris thought the Strain Gauge was one of the best cartridges in the world and it was a good deal since it came with at the time the 400 or 410 Preamp. That is also the opinion of Jonathan Weiss of Oswalds Mill Audio.

Chris Brady had shared the room with Soundsmith at RMAF for several years and he uses the The Voice as his demo cartridge for many things though he feels the Strain Gauge is a better cartridge. As to the cartridge such as the Sussurro (Inspired by Frank Schröder of Schröder toneams) which was also demoed in the RMAF room, Chris said both are wonderful, but you have to decide your preference of 1 versus the other.

I know that when we installed my Teres System into my home with the Soundsmith Strain Gauge he felt that this was one of the best combinations that he had ever heard with my Teres TT.

Rich
 

DEV

New Member
Oct 19, 2011
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The black backgrounds (silence) the dynamic range, and the overall purity of the sound. I still remember the sounds of Lighten Hopkins’ guitar and how dynamic it sounded as the strings were struck. It sounded alive. I ran downstairs and bought the last sealed copy that was available at the show and was happy to snag it as it is now out of print. I didn’t get the same effect at home. Would I have it if I had the Goldfinger? I don’t know, but it damn sure couldn’t hurt.

Hi mep,

which Lighten Hopkin's pce are you referring to?
 

vinylphilemag

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Apr 30, 2010
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I'm also curious to see what Stig has come up with, with the Lyra Apollo. Another long wait list. Supposedly has all the strengths of the Olympos and then some. With the requisite, rarer than unicorn horn Parnassus carts as a prerequisite to getting an Olympos built, is this news too good to be true?

Funny you should mention this. I'm close to starting the process (3 - 5 MONTHS apparently!) of transforming my Parnassus into an Olympos SL... :)
 

mep

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Apr 20, 2010
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Hi mep,

which Lighten Hopkin's pce are you referring to?



"Going Away" is the name of the LP and the cut is "Don't Embarass Me, Baby."
 

DEV

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Oct 19, 2011
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"Going Away" is the name of the LP and the cut is "Don't Embarass Me, Baby."

Thx :)

Which pressing did you get, I have heard this before and just wasn't sure which album it was from.

I see there seems to be a few and price vairies.

Limited Collector's Edition, Original recording remastered, Special Limited Edition $100

OR

Analogue Productions (Fantasy) 45 RPM $95
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
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New York City
Thx :)

Which pressing did you get, I have heard this before and just wasn't sure which album it was from.

I see there seems to be a few and price vairies.

Limited Collector's Edition, Original recording remastered, Special Limited Edition $100

OR

Analogue Productions (Fantasy) 45 RPM $95

If nothing else, get the 33 rpm version from AP.
 

jadis

Well-Known Member
Apr 28, 2010
12,347
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Manila, Philippines
Any of the Platinum stone models, Jade, Tiger Eye, Coralstone, Blue Lace. Being a Koetsu lover for years, that is the house sound I have gotten accustomed to. Also, a second one brand with be My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent. Also very lovely sounding.
 

flez007

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I would like to get a stoned Koetsu, maybe the Urushi Blue Skyl...
 

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