Most of these cartridges are unfortunately out of my league, but since you guys seem to have a significant amount of knowledge on this issue, I wonder if I might ask your opinion about something. I've always been a huge fan of Grados offerings, and have owned several including the Ref Platinum. I would love to try a Reference Sonato, but the Ortofon 2M Black is also grabbing my attention. Is there one you prefer? And if so, why?
I know the Decca´s and they can be very dynamic ,but rather rattly compared to the much more refined Ikeda, which is a mc as well
I´m not sure I approve of the term CD like large scale dynamics; in my world cd dynamics are inferior to LP dynamics
just my 2 cents...??
best
lLeif
yeah you´re right to read it that way It was easy to misunderstand; I wrote "as well", incorrectly put/badly phrased
I know the Decca is a MM cartridge and by rattly I mean the mechanical sound that originated from the "string suspended" needle/combined cantilever assy
typical british;
much like Lucas car electrics; "the company that invented darkness"
smart principles of engineering, poorly executed
best
Leif
Alright boys and girls, I have a question for you. There is someone in the Netherlands who sells new Van den Hul Colibri XGP cartridges for around $2500. Does anyone know of a better value/better sounding cartridge that can be bought for $2500 or less? MikeL has written about these cartridges several times in both their glories and their ability to drive you wacky if you let them. If anyone knows of a better sounding MC cartridge than the XGP for the same price, I would love to know. If you are someone who has contacts and wants to tell me about great cartridges at great prices, please PM me.
Alright boys and girls, I have a question for you. There is someone in the Netherlands who sells new Van den Hul Colibri XGP cartridges for around $2500. Does anyone know of a better value/better sounding cartridge that can be bought for $2500 or less? MikeL has written about these cartridges several times in both their glories and their ability to drive you wacky if you let them. If anyone knows of a better sounding MC cartridge than the XGP for the same price, I would love to know. If you are someone who has contacts and wants to tell me about great cartridges at great prices, please PM me.
Please let us know what you think of it. I have been very happy with my Glider SL so I know that Benz designs and builds good cartridges. I just did some quick calculations and it looks like the Benz SLR Gullwing with my SME 312s arm would have a resonance of around 7.95 Hz which is on the low side.
Alright boys and girls, I have a question for you. There is someone in the Netherlands who sells new Van den Hul Colibri XGP cartridges for around $2500. Does anyone know of a better value/better sounding cartridge that can be bought for $2500 or less? MikeL has written about these cartridges several times in both their glories and their ability to drive you wacky if you let them. If anyone knows of a better sounding MC cartridge than the XGP for the same price, I would love to know. If you are someone who has contacts and wants to tell me about great cartridges at great prices, please PM me.
Ever put your car in reverse and the horn sounded ?That's Lucas. Switch on the windscreen wipers in a rainstorm and the sunroof opens? That's Lucas. Drive through the desert at night and all lights fail? That's Lucas.
Lucas was the single most important company causing the death of the British Motor Industry and indeed the Empire.Supplier of innovative, illogically designed and exceptionally unreliable electrical systems to the entire British motor industry. From the horrible flimsy switches in all Jaguars to the 1 candlelight headlamps fitted to high speed sportscars.
Ever put your car in reverse and the horn sounded ?That's Lucas. Switch on the windscreen wipers in a rainstorm and the sunroof opens? That's Lucas. Drive through the desert at night and all lights fail? That's Lucas.
Lucas was the single most important company causing the death of the British Motor Industry and indeed the Empire.Supplier of innovative, illogically designed and exceptionally unreliable electrical systems to the entire British motor industry. From the horrible flimsy switches in all Jaguars to the 1 candlelight headlamps fitted to high speed sportscars.
Ever put your car in reverse and the horn sounded ?That's Lucas. Switch on the windscreen wipers in a rainstorm and the sunroof opens? That's Lucas. Drive through the desert at night and all lights fail? That's Lucas.
Lucas was the single most important company causing the death of the British Motor Industry and indeed the Empire.Supplier of innovative, illogically designed and exceptionally unreliable electrical systems to the entire British motor industry. From the horrible flimsy switches in all Jaguars to the 1 candlelight headlamps fitted to high speed sportscars.
you might notice that was 40 years ago. i was going to college and these cars were cheap. except for the Jag all the rest cost me around $500 each. and the Jag only cost me $1600.
HI Mike,
You definitely had some cars that I admired from afar. The XKE - well, what can I say! I've only had one experience with the Brits. I had a 1957 TR-3. It the was the first year for the 3. It actually had the 2 body (narrow air intake) but with the 3 running gear. I had no electrical failures. All the things that could be burned out were already burned out. It was a fun car as long as it didn't rain. Since I was in Houston at the time a no rain situation was asking for a lot.
My years tooling about Europe in an XKE II 4.2 from 1970 were mechanically uneventful (beyond the sheer joy), but electrically interesting, thanks to Lucas. The car was in near NOS-condition, having been in a museum before I got it, and we gave it a thorough check-out before I started using it. But there would be electrical events - the most memorable being a complete electrical failure at a busy intersection, after a light drizzle. A fault that could not be analyzed, no matter how much we tried - and therefore it became Russian roulette waiting for it to possibly happen again when I drove about.
Ah, Lucas. The memories. But I find little reason to believe that London Decca picked Lucas demonics as their guiding light, or broken beacon.
