Just arrived .. Ikeda 9C III

[Audio Al]

Visually it looks very nice with the head shell

[montesquieu]

Just to follow on with a theme of low compliance MC cartridges, bought this on something of a whim from Hong Hong.

SAEC C3 - has almost zero online profile, but it's a super little performer. Compliance of 9 which is getting towards the upper end of what works well in my setup (I tend to avoid anything over about 12), but I'm happy with the results. A bit less full bodied than the SPU and Miyajima but it makes up for things with a lovely neutral presentation and nice articulation not least in the lower registers. Detail is all there but presented organically, 3D presentation is pretty good with vocals and solos presented nicely in space. Timbre is accurate and frequency range is all there with no notable treble uplift. Punchy too where the music demands.

I'd put this on a par with mid to high end Ortofon and Shelter MCs - this would slot in nicely around upper Kontrapunkt/Cadenza sort of area. In terms of character it most reminded me of an Ortofon Jubilee (that's strong praise BTW as I think that's a great cartridge when properly matched and set up).

A healthy 0.5mV output, beryllium cantilever, line contact stylus (which has proved highly efficient so far dragging out dust from previously cleaned records - as they do). Quite the bargain for $450.

Sorry for the crap pic I had to use the digital zoom on the iPhone to get a close enough shot.

[Mike Reed]

Tom, I read your occasional written forays into the moving coil world with great interest and I know you are in contact with Hugo now and again. I could be wrong here, but believe you had a Shilabe before opting for the Madake. Can you comment on the sonic differences between the two and possibly comment on the Madake's better abilty to cope with tone-arms of less mass than the Shilabe needs, as Hugo thinks to be the case?

[montesquieu]

Tom, I read your occasional written forays into the moving coil world with great interest and I know you are in contact with Hugo now and again. I could be wrong here, but believe you had a Shilabe before opting for the Madake. Can you comment on the sonic differences between the two and possibly comment on the Madake's better abilty to cope with tone-arms of less mass than the Shilabe needs, as Hugo thinks to be the case?

The Madake is very slightly more compliant than the Shilabe and tracks lighter, both of which would suggest more flexibility in terms of being suitable for less massy arms, though both remain resolutely low compliance cartridges. The Madake I think is like a fusion of the Kansui and the Shilable, having the former's strengths with timbre especially in the upper registers along with the latter's stronger bass response. Though they are all more alike than they are different I'm not sure I could confidently pick one from the other in a blind test!

[Mike Reed]

Thanks for that, Tom. H. is quite intrigued by the Phasemation he has. They (Phasemation) may be unheard of here but the line-up and spec's are pretty impressive at first read. Def. worth an audition, methinks, on my unipivot.

[montesquieu]

Thanks for that, Tom. H. is quite intrigued by the Phasemation he has. They (Phasemation) may be unheard of here but the line-up and spec's are pretty impressive at first read. Def. worth an audition, methinks, on my unipivot.

Phasemation (Phase Tech) have been on my hit list for a while never quite managed it. Hoping to hear Hugo's at some point soon.

[WESTLOWER]

A gloomy, rainy Sunday was brightened up with some sounds from Tom's wonderful system.

Whilst there to evaluate something different, we got inevitably into the Vinyl side of things, pretty quickly.

Mounted on his Thorens TD-124 turntable, was Tom's new Timestep T-612 12" 'banana' tonearm. After a few sides with the lovely and punchy Ortofon Royal N SPU, Tom changed over, to the Ikeda 9C III cartridge.

What a curious looking cartridge the Ikeda 9C III is! As Tom describes earlier in the tread, a cartridge without a cantilever! It's my first encounter with such a design. It scared me!
It looks, at first glance, as if the whole cartridge just skates away on top of the vinyl. I'm so used to seeing the cantilever.

Well, from the first needle drop this cartridge exhibits real dynamics, not at all forced, it had a beautiful fluidity across the frequencies, though it was hard to ignore it's extension into the extremes. The symbols had colour and weight, the Kick drum sounded like a kick drum and not just a thud and the skin of the drum, you could feel the texture.

This is a very special sounding cartridge, one you would simply miss when swapping out to any other. A Very addictive sound indeed. The Timestep T-612 tonearm, did an incredible job of controlling it with authority and bringing out it's A game.

We did an interesting experiment with some speaker cables. Out came the WE vintage and in went some Kimber cables, this had an instant change in presentation. Now instead of the slight emphasis on the dynamics, the attention was moved to the tonality and ambiance the middle band was revealing. It was beautiful. And was a reminder that most things in the chain have an influence on the way we hear our systems.

The Ikeda 9C III is stunning performer, in the Banana arm, addictive.
It quite literally left the CD version of the same material played, for dust.

It takes some bottle to go slightly off-piste, well done Tom.
10 out of 10.