AXPONA 2024

AXPONA Preview: Aidas Mammoth Gold Limited Edition Cartridge

Mike Mettler | Apr 9, 2024

One day closer to AXPONA means we still have time for at least one more product preview, and today’s subject is the noted Lithuanian company Aidas and their Mammoth Gold Tusk Limited Edition cartridge — a.k.a., the Tusk.

According to Aidas, the Mammoth Gold LE cart features “carefully selected” white, ultra-pure mammoth tusk material, and it employs an upgraded magnetic system featuring a larger Alnico-5 magnet that is said to ensure “stable and rich magnetic fields for enhanced performance.”

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A special Ogura Line Contact stylus is said to provide maximum vertical contact and minimal front-to-back contact, resulting in a “pristine” sound reproduction. The Tusk LE version of the Mammoth Gold cartridge is also said to offer improved resolution and clarity, smooth and delicate treble, and “lightning fast” transients.

Aidas isn’t kidding when they called this one a limited edition, as the Lithuanian company confirms that they will only build a total of 10 Mammoth Gold LE cartridges.

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For further context, specs for the core Mammoth Gold cart include a Namiki/Adamant boron cantilever, MicroRidge stylus, output of 0.28mV, tracking force of 1.9g, recommended load of 100 to 1,000ohms, coil impedance of 3ohms (DC), and a weight of 11.2g.

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As mentioned in yesterday’s preview of J.Sikora’s Standard Max 15th Anniversary turntable, Notable Audio Products will showcase the Aidas Mammoth Gold LE cartridge in a high-end system that will be on display in the Nirvana A room at AXPONA. In addition to both the J.Sikora table and Aidas cart, other gear in this system is set to include Doshi Audio’s EVO preamp, monoblock amps, and phono preamp; Berkeley Audio Design’s Alpha DAC Reference 3 and USB Series 2.0; Aurender’s N30SA music server; Joseph Audio Pearl Graphene Ultra speakers; Cardas’ Clear Beyond cables; and HRS’ EXR rack.

Finally, the SRP for the Aidas Mammoth Gold LE cartridge has yet to be announced, but we will be scoping it out when we experience it in action in that high-end playback system that’ll be set up in the above-noted Nirvana A room at AXPONA.

For more about Aidas, go here.
To find out how to purchase Aidas cartridges, go here.

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COMMENTS

That's enough!

Submitted by Tom L on Wed, 2024-04-10 08:59

We don't need any more April Fools stories!
Wait...this is a real thing.
Mammoth tusk. That's absolutely absurd. What's next, a cartridge made of C4 plastic explosive? "It'll blow you away!"

Mammoth tusk.

Submitted by Anton D on Wed, 2024-04-10 09:14

If we aren't careful, we could drive them extinct and get stuck with plain old elephant or walrus tusk, 'cause we'll never run low on those.

I was thinking about this this morning while I ate my last Dodo egg sprinkled with some Western Black Rhino horn seasoning.

Anyway, I checked the price. Right now, 8,650 bucks.

And, they have compared many different materials for cartridge bodies: "The cartridge’s body is made with the ivory from 21,000 year old Siberian wooly mammoth tusks.
Mammoth is the best and most unique material Aidas could ever find for his top cartridges. Better than stone, better than exotic wood or metals.
It has very unique properties, sound wise. It was even compared to other types of bone / horn ( deer) material and is far more superior. It is super strong and damps unwanted vibrations perfectly."

I can't make it to AXPONA, maybe Oligarch Audio will demo one closer to home.

Oli Oli Anton Free...

Submitted by Mike Mettler on Wed, 2024-04-10 10:31

We'll miss you at the show, Anton, but we'll try to make up for it by talking about all the cool gear we see, hear, and report on accordingly...

Hmm.

Submitted by rich d on Wed, 2024-04-10 11:11

I do hope the good folks at Aidas will be transparent with regard to sourcing, and to provide potential buyers with some assurance that the tusks were legally obtained (some aren't) and that it's not ivory (trade in which is widely proscribed).
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Re: Axpona - it has become a tradition amongst friends and former colleagues to meet in the ground floor bar for a swift pint before continuing on to dinner or other engagements. The first one is on me. I'm easy to find as I'm devastatingly handsome and modest to a fault.