Phono Cartridge Reviews

Ortofon Xpression pickup head

Jim Austin Aug 21, 2018 First Published: Aug 21, 2018

I listen to music in all formats, but my most ecstatic home listening experiences have always involved vinyl. It's probably something to do with the fact that, like most people my age and older, I grew up listening to LPsin my case, played on a Technics SL-210 turntable, and through an Aiwa receiver with beautiful green tuner lights and a pair of early Polk Audio studio monitors. I'm drawn, surely, to an improved version of the sound I heard back then. It's a powerful sentimental connection.

Art Dudley Listening Phono Cartridge Reviews Stand and Rack Reviews

Listening #186: Miyajima Saboten L phono cartridge

Art Dudley May 22, 2018 First Published: May 22, 2018

In the early 1960s, young people who were anxious see the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show had to first sit through a seeming eternity of bad comedians, bad puppet shows, and acrobats spinning dinner plates to the tune of Khachaturian's Sabre Dance. So it is here: Before I can get to the Miyajima Saboten L phono cartridge, I have to report on something I left out of my April 2018 column, which was devoted to Zu Audio's modification of the classic Denon DL-103 cartridge. And since this is information I've been holding on to for almost a year, I suppose I also left it out of my August 2017 column, which was devoted to the MusiKraft Audio's own modification of the Denon DL-103.

Art Dudley Listening Phono Cartridge Reviews

Listening #184: Zu DL-103 Mk.II phono cartridge

Art Dudley Mar 29, 2018 First Published: Mar 29, 2018

On at least one occasion that I can recallin 1996, in the early days of Listener magazinea US publicist for the Japanese manufacturing company Denon told me that they planned to discontinue their DL-103 moving-coil phono cartridge, an enduringly popular model that had been in production since 1962 (footnote 1). At the time, neither the DL-103 nor any of their other cartridge models appeared on Denon's US price lists, and neither English-language promotional materials nor even a basic spec sheet was available to American consumers or press.

Phono Cartridge Reviews

Monster Cable Alpha Genesis 500 phono cartridge

Thomas J. Norton Sep 05, 2017 First Published: Feb 01, 1989

The Genesis 500 ($650) is the baby brother of Monster Cable's top-of-the-line Genesis 1000 cartridge. It is almost identical in physical appearance, differing only in its use of green body trim (the 1000 sports red pinstripes). All of the functional differences appear to be in the stylus and cantilever. The cantilever of the 500 is a hollow sapphire rod tightly attached to an inner aluminum tube (the 1000 has a diamond-coated boron tube cantilever). Its stylus is a 6µm x 35µm line-contact (3µm x 60µm for the 1000). Monster claims a stylus life in excess of 600 hours for the Genesis 500, more than 1000 hours for its higher-priced sibling.

Art Dudley Listening Phono Cartridge Reviews Phono Preamp Reviews

Listening #176: MusiKraft Cartridge Bodies & EMIA Phono Transformer

Art Dudley Jul 27, 2017 First Published: Jul 27, 2017

How can you tell a classic product from the hi-fi hoi polloi? One sure sign is when third-party developers spring up around the thing, offering parts and service intended to maximize its performanceor just to keep it on the road. Thus regarded, a few true classics emerge: Quad's ESL and ESL-63 loudspeakers. Altec's 802 and 806 compression drivers. The Linn LP12 and Garrard 301/401 turntables. The Rega RB-300 tonearm and its direct descendants.

J. Gordon Holt Phono Cartridge Reviews

Three Pickups: Which is the Best?

J. Gordon Holt Jul 05, 2017 First Published: May 01, 1974

If you have read my reviews of the Ortofon M-15, the Shure V15-III, and the Decca Mark V, you have probably formed a pretty firm impression of which of the three contenders for the title "Best Pickup" is the winner. In case you haven't, though, here's a capsule wrap-up of our reactions to the three phono cartridges reviewed in May 1974.

J. Gordon Holt Phono Cartridge Reviews

Decca Mark V phono cartridge

J. Gordon Holt Jun 08, 2017 First Published: May 01, 1974

The Decca Mark V is the latest version of that English firm's unique "tip-sensing" stereo-matrix-ing pickups. The "matrixing" apellation refers to the fact that the Decca pickups do not use 45°45° sensing coils, but use instead a combination of vertical and lateral-sensing coils. There is a single coil for lateral sensing, with its pole pieces brought down next to the tip. This is the tip-sensing feature, whose major attribute is that the stylus motions don't have to be conveyed along the length of an armature before reaching the transducing pole pieces. Thus there is virtually no possibility of the stylus vibrations being modified through flexing of the armature prior to their transduction into audio signals.

J. Gordon Holt Phono Cartridge Reviews

Denon DL-103 phono cartridge

J. Gordon Holt, Others Jun 08, 2017 First Published: Sep 01, 1975

This low-output moving-coil cartridge can be fitted with different styli. The basic DL-103 has a 0.5-mil spherical tip, the DL-103S a Shibata tip. As of the spring of 1975, the '103S is being imported by American Audioport, Inc., in Columbia, MO. the '103 is being brought in directly from Japan by a few dealers. Our '103 was loaned by Music & Sound of California, the '103S came from Audioport.

They are not too similar in sound. The DL-103S is incredibly clean-tracking, with a light, airy high end, a subtle zizz on string tone, and a very slightly withdrawn quality similar to the sound of the Supex 900E, but not as overly rich-sounding as the Supex.

J. Gordon Holt Phono Cartridge Reviews

Ortofon M15 Super phono cartridge

J. Gordon Holt Jun 01, 2017 First Published: May 01, 1974

The M15 Super is the first high-output pickup to come from Ortofon. Previous ones required either step-up transformers or a booster preamp, and it is only fairly recently that either kind of step-up device was available with high-enough quality to avoid a noticeable degradation of the sound. Early step-up transformers muddied the bass, and previously-available booster preamps added noise or hardness or both to the sound. Now that there are excellent transformers available from Ortofon and other sources, and at least one extraordinarily good booster preamp (the Mark Levinson, at an extraordinarily high price$170), Ortofon's latest and best pickup doesn't require the use of either.

J. Gordon Holt Phono Cartridge Reviews

Shure V15-III phono cartridge

J. Gordon Holt May 09, 2017 First Published: May 01, 1974

The Shure V15-III is the latest of Shure's top-of-the-line "Super-track" pickups, earlier versions of which we scorned because of their dished-down response in the 6kHz range and their consequent "dead" sound. (We were unimpressed with Shure's suggestion that the pickup cable capacitance be increased to a total of around 300pF, since few audiophiles are equipped to measure either cable capacitance or frequency response).