Cartridge review web site

[Lee Henley]

Not sure if this has been posted before but came across this site recently and being a newbie to the world of carts and given the vast experience of the guys on here does this guy make sense in what he's saying, could the site be reliable for the info displayed?

Cheers

Lee

http://daveyw.edsstuff.org/vinyl/cartridges/mm-cartridges/

[Barry]

Hello Lee,

Thanks for the link. I can't really comment on it's usefulness, since all the cartridges discussed are fixed coil designs, and of them, the only one I ever owned was the Shure V15 III (in 1977).

I enjoyed the using V15 III, but it was the last Shure I used; having by that time discovered, and changed my alligence to, the Ortofon MCs, to ADC, AKG and to Decca.

Regards

[Lee Henley]

Hello Lee,

Thanks for the link. I can't really comment on it's usefulness, since all the cartridges discussed are fixed coil designs, and of them, the only one I ever owned was the Shure V15 III (in 1977).

I enjoyed the using V15 III, but it was the last Shure I used; having by that time discovered, and changed my alligence to, the Ortofon MCs, to ADC, AKG and to Decca.

Regards

Hi barry

Did you click on the links to the other carts he tested, ie the MC and the MI in the top left hand corner, he tested a Decca in the MI section?

Lee

[Barry]

Hi Lee,

No, I didn't see that. Unfortunately none of the MC's he reviews are known to me, nor is the Decca London Jubilee.

Regarding the Decca, based on my experience of the Mk IV, V and VI models (the 'Jubilee' was the VI fitted into a sensible non-resonant machined aluminium body), I'm surprised he finds the Jubilee bass dominant. My findings are exactly the opposite but, as I admit, I have no personal experience of the Decca Jubilee.

Regards

[morris_minor]

An interesting site, Lee. I was thinking of doing something similar for a small niche (p-mount cartridges), but not reviewing them, just making comparative downloads available.

The problem with any "review" is that you place certain attributes of the kit into the mind of the audience - in this case the listeners, and you try and hear what's been described rather than make up your own mind about what you hear.

Hopefully folk here who own these cartridges can verify if what's been written is accurate. I couldn't work out what TT or arm had been used, and I think he only mentions a phono stage once (a Pro-ject). To my mind, every file should have been recorded with the same kit (compliance notwithstanding) to make comparisons really meaningful.

But, generally, it is good to actually hear different cartridges. :)

[Lynn Olson]

The uncompressed 44.1/16 WAV 2-minute samples from each cartridge are fun. You have to admit when you read a cartridge review in a magazine or website they don't let you hear the cart for yourself - on this site you do. I connected my Sennheiser HD580 phones to my Mac Pro and the differences between them were pretty obvious.

Compare the Stanton to the Decca to the Audio-Technica OC9/ML - those are pretty big differences.

[freefallrob]

Yeah cheers, I've known about it for a while, but had forgotten! I burnt some of these to CD took them to my Dads place and asked him to put them into cost order/identify them!

Good fun and educational.

[Audioman]

Very usefull. Based on this the best cartridge is the Denon DLS1. Not available in UK I think. So necessary to import from states. (Approx £700 ex vat and any import duty). Also liked the DL304 which I prefered slightly over my OC9.

[griffo104]

I think he gets the DL304 pretty spot on with his description but I still berefer the DL301ii that I currently use. Still best value and best all round of the (many) Denons I've used over the years.

[gx502]

I think the link provided is a useful one. The findings of the person who put that stuff together matches with my impression.

In particular I agree with his descriptions of all the carts that I am familiar with, and they are:

2M Black
VMS30E MKII (owned)
Grado Gold (still own)
Goldring G1042 (very familar with many demos)
Nagaoka MP11 Boron
Linn K9 (had many demos back in the flat earth days)
AT OC9 ML (had many demos of on a LP12/Ittok)

I think I can safely say that the reviewer is essential "neutral" and free of any tonal biases ;)

(When comparing DL301MKII to a DL304, to my ears, the DL301 has fuller bass than the DL304. The DL301 is like a half-way house between the archetypal MM/MC sound. Whereas the DL304 is leaner faster, more airy with a greater variety of tonal shadings (more like a MC-archetype). Also I agree that the DL301 is very good VFM.)