Cartridge Reviews

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Malachi’s First MC Cartridge: Ortofon’s Quintet Black S
Cartridge Reviews
Malachi Lui  |  Feb 04, 2019  |  43 comments
“The next piece you need to upgrade is your cartridge,” my editor repeatedly reminded me for months. After receiving my Rega Planar 3 from a generous AnalogPlanet reader, I felt perfectly content with the pre-mounted Rega Elys 2 MM cartridge, as my new system (complete with AudioQuest speaker cables) was already a large improvement from my Audio-Technica LP120 turntable connected to a Panasonic home theater system. However, I researched cartridge upgrades nonetheless and came up with three potential moving coil choices ranging from $524 to $795, but I eventually settled on the $999 Ortofon Quintet Black S.

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Is This Oyster Worth $300 Clams?
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 23, 2018  |  17 comments
Sumiko has been shucking these Oyster moving magnet cartridges for many years. They've mostly been entry level products aimed at getting one started in the analog world, placed on a budget turntable and priced accordingly. The least costly $79 Oyster sported a spherical stylus that didn't deliver much in the way of detail but made set up easy and got the job done.

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Looks Good Enough to E.A.T. JO Nº 5 Moving Coil Cartridge
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 16, 2018  |  13 comments
This revolutionary cartridge comes in two flavors: plain and peanut. When the stylus wears out instead of having the cartridge re-tipped, you eat it. It melts in your mouth, not in your hands. Best for “mint” LPs, etc.

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Which $10,000+ Cartridge Do You Prefer?
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 11, 2018  |  28 comments
In a recent issue of Stereophile, Analog Corner covered a number of products including two very expensive cartridges: the Transfiguration Proteus D ($10,500) and the Kuzma CAR-60 ($12,995). Both feature diamond cantilevers but that doesn't mean they sound at all alike.

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Which file is Hana SL and Which File is Ortofon Quintet Black "S"?
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 25, 2017  |  27 comments
File 1 is the Hana SL. File 2 is the Ortofon Quintet Black "S".

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The Hana SL MC ($750) Versus The Ortofon Quintet Black S MC ($999)
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 20, 2017  |  62 comments
Here are two great, "reasonably" priced, superbly built cartridges that I've chosen to review together while giving you the opportunity to "hear" both!

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Soundsmith’s new Zephyr MIMC Star Cartridge: Luxury You Can Afford
Analog Gear News, Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 28, 2016  |  26 comments
Soundsmith’s Peter Ledermann has been designing and building “fixed coil” cartridges for many years, beginning when he was asked by customers to “back engineer” a B&O design used in that company’s “plug in” cartridge tone arms.

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Triangle ART Zeus MC Cartridge: The Best For Less?
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 19, 2015  |  4 comments
California-based Triangle ART manufactures five gleaming chrome and gold plated high mass turntables as well as its own tone arm. The 'tables weigh from 40 to 850 pounds. Recently, Triangle ART introduced the Zeus MC phono cartridge, thus completing mechanical part of the analog playback.

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Ortofon Quintet Black Moving Coil Cartridge: Fast, Clean, Nimble and Detailed
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 01, 2014  |  36 comments
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Lyra Kleos MC Cartridge Still A Smoothy After All These Years
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 09, 2014  |  6 comments
The $2995 Lyra Kleos Cartridge was billed back in 2010 as a replacement for the Helikon. The Kleos is a much better sounding cartridge in every way. It maintains and actually ups the Helikon’s detail resolution, while adding the more expensive Skala’s smoothness and midband warmth.

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Can Putting a Jico V15xMR Stylus Replacement Turn a Shure M97xE Into a V15xMR?
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 07, 2014  |  47 comments
What happens when you install in a $70 M97xE a $179 Jico V15xMR stylus replacement?
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Transfiguration Phoenix MC Cartridge: Same Name, Different Game
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 20, 2014  |  7 comments
I reviewed the Transfiguration Phoenix for Stereophile five years ago. This is not really the same cartridge though it retains the same name. In 2012 the low output moving coil cartridge was updated to include larger gauge pure silver coil wire wound on the square permalloy core used on the now discontinued top of the line Transfiguration Orpheus. The revised Phoenix also shares the Orpheus's damping system and uses a variant of the Orpheus's yoke less, double ring magnet technology featuring a powerful neodymium ring in the rear and a samarium cobalt one in front.
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Gimme Shelter! 501 Mk III That Is
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 20, 2014  |  16 comments
I was lucky enough to see the St. Petersburg Philharmonic play Carnegie Hall recently. They did Prokofiev's Violin Concerto with Julia Fischer, who played wonderfully and then Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony. We get great seats courtesy Joe Kubala of Kubala-Sosna cables who had a scheduling conflict and kindly thought of me. We had to drive through a snow storm to get there but it was well worth it.

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The Kubotek Haniwa HCTR01 MkII-6T Green Marker Phono Cartridge
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 05, 2014  |  6 comments
The moving coil cartridge advantage comes in great part due to its far lower moving mass. A relatively light-weight coil moves and reacts faster than a far heavier magnet. The lighter the coil, the less the mass.

Over the past few years, thanks to improved magnets and coil and former materials as well as how they are implemented, designers have found ways to increase output efficiency. Thus fewer turns of wire are required to produce a given voltage output.

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Nine Cartridges Reviewed, Compared and File Identities Revealed!
Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 22, 2013  |  87 comments
First of all thanks to everyone who participated. More did than we initially expected. This is a learning experience for sure. Future such surveys will feature “normalized” files so levels will be equal. I’ll be far more careful about clipped files too.

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