Miyajima Labs 1.0 mil Infinity Mono

[mtemur]

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]

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]

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]

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 130009View 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