Alternative names for "ZYX UNIverse" cartridge

Dougdeacon, I just got the same ZYX mark 2 like you. How many hours did it take to open up the sound of this cartridge? I am at 1.85 grams and find right now that my VTA is much higher than parallel to sound good. I have owned other ZYX and they too needed time to open up. Thanks, Jeff

Lewm- I don't have nearly your experience or expertise in analog in general or carts in particular, but aren't most of the metrics that Doug was talking about (speed, micro-dynamics, clean leading and trailing edges) have more to w responsiveness to the groove modulations than to the the amplitude of the cart's output, so from the standpoint of pure physics, I am going w Doug's theory about less mass and thus lower inertia. Of course, that might not apply to macro-dynamics. Maybe a cart designer like Jcarr or someone w experience cutting record masters like Atmasphere will chime in.

Regards, Swampwalker: http://www.bostonaudiosociety.org/pdf/bass/BASS-04-08-7605b.pdf

Scroll down to pg. 9, notes relating to a 1976 address by Peter Prichard to the Boston Audio Society.

Peace,

Dear Swampwalker, Thanks for the compliment, but I really don't deserve any such. Who could deny your central thesis: "less mass and thus lower inertia"? And it is very appealing to use Newton's Laws thusly to explain Doug's hands-on experience of the performance of the two different forms of the UNI. All I am saying is that this is only a correlation. We do not really know cause and effect. Moreover, I was also saying that I am not at all sure that a silver coil in an MC with 0.24mV output would indeed have any more mass than a copper coil in an MC with 0.24mV output, because the superior conductivity of silver might ameliorate the slightly higher density of silver, vs copper. And then I pointed out that IM cartridges have the lowest moving mass of all, so if moving mass is the major player in detail retrieval, shouldn't we all agree that IM cartridges are best for that? Needless to say, we don't.

Don't yet know what Peter Pritchard said, but he was the designer of the ADC XLM series, IIRC.

Yup, and I still have one. Originally bought it in the 70s for a Dual 1229. Moved it to my
H-K/Rabco ST-7 in the 80s, where it still lives.

I used to entertain visitors by swapping cartridges between that setup and the Teres/TriPlanar/UNIverse. Until they hear it, many people don't appreciate how putting a fancy cartridge on a cheap rig can be a waste of money, while putting a good rig beneath a cheap cartridge can let it boogie like nobody's business.

***
Jwm,

Ours opened up in 30-50 hours IIRC.

I've never known any ZYX to play its best significantly nose down. Rather than that, I'd suggest re-levelling and then reducing VTF. From your brief description I'd guess yours may be too high.

Try my method of reducing VTF in ~.05g increments until you get mistracking on tough-to-track passages. Then scootch it back up just .01-.03g.

Oh... disengage anti-skating while doing this. You can add some back later if necessary but base VTF should be set with A/S at zero.