Dynavector cartridges, old and new

The 13D was made for US market only, it was a special development of the 17D according to the interview with its designer (Tominari-San):

" At first when I tried short cantilevers I worked in sapphire or ruby and their resonance dictates a length of 2.5mm. But in Diamond, it is possible to use 1.7mm. We even made a very special product for the US high end market with a cantilever only 1.3mm long, and called the Karat 13D. It was our flagship model and sold nearly 60 pieces in America. The 17D was the first diamond cantilevered cartridge that we made, and the 13D was a very special development of it, using a special body and headshell arrangement. " - Dr. Tominari (Dynavector Systems)

Dyna cartridges such as XX1 (first) with Flux-Damper and later all Dynavectors cartridges "involves winding a wire around the front yoke of the cartridge. Experiments showed that movement of the coils was generating a voltage in the yoke which in turn effects the linearity of the magnetic flux. It is this that makes many poor movingcoil designs sound thin and irritating. By short circuiting the yoke we prevent this happening, which leads to a much smoother and more natural high frequency balance. The effect is quite noticeable, which is why we put a switch on the XX1, so that people could hear the effect." - Dr. Tominari (Dynavector Systems)

Speaking of the further development of the mighty Dynavectors such as XV1 and Te-Kaitora i would say that the long boron cantilever looks unprotected and extremely fragile. I would avoid using such cartridges for practical reason, but it’s just me.

^ Very interesting ....
Gentlemen and Ladies ... I would like to take this opportunity and introduce you another quite rare Dynavector cartridge: I have this a very limited edition Dynavector Nova Karat modified solely for the Japanese audiophile community, approx. 60 cartridges were made. The cantilever is short made of boron w/ Micro-Ridge stylus, the body is made of wood and it´s an integrated design w/ aluminium headshell. I bought this from Hart Audio, UK two and half years ago. They said this rare Dynavector cartridge is from the first production line for demonstrating the new Karat Nova Series so this sample is very rare and seldom comes for sale. They said they played app. 10 hours at most, it was practically like new then. This differs from the famous Karat Nova 13D integrated design, the boron cantilever is not as short and the wooden body is much longer and thus heavier. There is no DV plate/labeling in front of the body. This really may be the prototype for the Karat Nova. I would very much appreciate your input and hopefully for further information of my sample.

@harold-not-the-barrel actually Tominari-San has mentioned 60 samples of Karat Nova 13D made for US market, but is there any model number on your cartridge? You should know that "13" in the model number is for the 1.3 length of the cantilever. I hope your sample is not re-cantilevered Karat Nova 13D ?

"KARAT" is for gemstone cantilever, never heard about any KARAT with Boron cantilever.

Any chance that your sample is not the original, but a refurbished (re-cantilevered) one ?

When it comes to diamond cantilever for re-tipper it is impossible to find anything like the original short dyna gemstone cantilever. Those special gemstone cantilever were made for dynavector by Namiki.

Dear @harold-not-the-barrel : Everything the same the XV1s outperforms the 13D as the XV1t too ( and other today cartridges. ) and here we can see that Dynavector  choosed a longer cantilever for its top of the line cartridges and not the the short ones like the 13 or 17D.

As I said a cartridge is the sum of its parts where cantilever length and build material and its shape are only parts of that overall cartridge design.


R.