Hear my Cartridges....šŸŽ¶


Many Forums have a 'Show your Turntables' Thread or 'Show your Cartridges' Thread but that's just 'eye-candy'.... These days, it's possible to see and HEAR your turntables/arms and cartridges via YouTube videos.
Peter Breuninger does it on his AV Showrooms Site and Michael Fremer does it with high-res digital files made from his analogue front ends.
Now Fremer claims that the 'sound' on his high-res digital files captures the complex, ephemeral nuances and differences that he hears directly from the analogue equipment in his room.
That may well be....when he plays it through the rest of his high-end setup šŸ˜Ž
But when I play his files through my humble iMac speakers or even worse.....my iPad speakers.....they sound no more convincing than the YouTube videos produced by Breuninger.
Of course YouTube videos struggle to capture 'soundstage' (side to side and front to back) and obviously can't reproduce the effects of the lowest octaves out of subwoofers.....but.....they can sometimes give a reasonably accurate IMPRESSION of the overall sound of a system.

With that in mind.....see if any of you can distinguish the differences between some of my vintage (and modern) cartridges.
VICTOR X1
This cartridge is the pinnacle of the Victor MM designs and has a Shibata stylus on a beryllium cantilever. Almost impossible to find these days with its original Victor stylus assembly but if you are lucky enough to do so.....be prepared to pay over US$1000.....šŸ¤Ŗ
VICTOR 4MD-X1
This cartridge is down the ladder from the X1 but still has a Shibata stylus (don't know if the cantilever is beryllium?)
This cartridge was designed for 4-Channel reproduction and so has a wide frequency response 10Hz-60KHz.
Easier to find than the X1 but a lot cheaper (I got this one for US$130).
AUDIO TECHNICA AT ML180 OCC
Top of the line MM cartridge from Audio Technica with Microline Stylus on Gold-Plated Boron Tube cantilever.
Expensive if you can find one....think US$1000.

I will be interested if people can hear any differences in these three vintage MM cartridges....
Then I might post some vintage MMs against vintage and MODERN LOMC cartridges.....šŸ¤—
128x128halcro
I have been buying vintage cartridges (of all types) for over 10 years....
Not because I donā€™t like the prices of NEW ones....but because I have found the ā€™soundā€™ of cartridges made in ā€™The Golden Age of Analogueā€™ (70s to 90s) to be superior to ā€™modernā€™ ones.
Most Reviewers will have you believe that there have been advances (both in materials and technology) over the last 40 years but that is not true for cartridges IMO......nor for Tonearms or Turntables for that matter.
All the serious ā€™advancedā€™ styli profiles were developed decades ago and utilised consistently in MM designs as well as MCs.
All the cantilever materials such as diamond, sapphire, ruby, boron, carbon-fibre were also invented and used in the ā€™Golden Ageā€™.
But the ā€™Golden Ageā€™ had access to materials and technologies that are no longer available......
Beryllium cantilevers anyone.....?
Despite what some designers might tell you about the physical properties of boron that make it the ā€™bestā€™ material for cantilevers......the vast majority of my favourite cartridges have ā€™berylliumā€™ cantilevers which are no longer available.
Hollow-tube aluminium....? tapered tube.....? carbon-fibre/beryllium composites.....?
None of these is commercially available today......

If so many advances have been made over the last 40 years......it stands to reason that cartridges made today would ā€™wipe the floorā€™ with vintage models......?

The following ā€™Shoot-Outā€™ is between the top-of-the-line Audio Technica AT150ANV (made in ā€™Limited Editionā€™ a few years ago) and the 35 year old top-of-the-line Audio Technica AT180ML/OCC.
The AT150ANV famously beat out 8 other cartridges (including the $9000 Ortofon Anna LOMC) in a ā€™blindā€™ listening test conducted by Michael Fremer.

VINTAGE AUDIO TECHNICA AT-180ML/OCC MM Cartridge
Mounted in DV-507/II ToneArm on solid Bronze ArmPod surrounding Vintage Victor TT-101 DD Turntable

MODERN AUDIO TECHNICA AT-150ANV MM Cartridge



I'm going to be 100% honest here, Ortofon 2M Black is a much superior cartridge to either of the ATs. The midrange illumination and technicolor on the 2M Black is absolutely magic.Ā 
Quite believable Invictus.....
Iā€™m not the greatest fan of the AT sound (except in their US Signet guise)....agreeing that their midrange is typically lacking in your well-described ā€œillumination and technicolorā€ šŸ‘

This particular comparison is strictly for identical ā€˜modelā€™ cartridges by the same manufacturer....from different eras.....
I think theyā€™re pretty similar in frequency response....but what you canā€™t discern in the YouTube ā€˜soundā€™ is the slightly greater ā€˜magicā€™ in the 180ML.....
You DID notice how the 2M Black was handily outvoted by the 150ANV in Fremerā€™s ā€˜blindā€™ listening test......?šŸ§