Phono Cartridge Reviews

Manufacturer's Comment

Editor: We do not agree with your subjective evaluation of the M-15 Super's sound, but since there is no disputing personal taste, we are not going to argue the point.

There are however some misleading statements in the report that we must, in the interests of accuracy, take issue with.

You stated that it is likely that production quality control will be better (than it was for your sample) by the time this report gets into print, but expressed no such qualification for the rather poor response and separation curves you show. In fact, the deviations in the sample you measured represent the maximum limits of tolerance in channel balance and treble response of current-production M-15s.

We know what our competition is among critical audiophiles, and we have conducted exhaustive objective and subjective tests on those two pickups. We simply cannot go along with your findings. The Shure V15-III was found to measure exceedingly well—as well as the M-15 Super, in fact, except at the low end where the Ortofon has better tracking ability. The Decca, by contrast, does not measure up very well according to the performance standards we normally apply to modern pickups. And while it is well known that some components that measure well don't sound that way, we have never yet found one which sounded good despite poor measured performance. Perhaps we have just never heard a "good" Decca.

It is true that the Shure V15-III and the M-15 Super do not sound the same, and thus it is to be presumed that one of them, or possibly both, is "wrong." None of the three pickups in question has a frequency-response rise in the mid-treble range, yet both have been observed to have a hard "edge" to their sound, Such a quality, in the absence of a treble rise, nearly always indicates odd-harmonic distortion. Yet it appears you favor those other two over the Ortofon, which you describe as sounding "dark."

Perhaps, under the circumstances, it would be advisable for your readers to make their own listening comparisons between these three pickups, and decide for themselves which does the most musical justice to recordings.