18db tracking

[Daniel Quinn]

My interest as been piqued by this months Hif World letters page .

Now my TT/Arm/Cartridge will not track 18db on the hif sound test record. It will for 10 seconds , switches to the high pitched noise and then jumps to the end .

I've never worried about this and any increase in tracking weight was counter productive sound wise . ? NK in the magazine does'nt really offer an explanation and tells the writer not to worry. So , is this irrelevant or an issue effecting sound quality .

for info - PT anni/roksan tabriz zi and benz micro S L .

P.s - Dom/Nat if your reading this then I would advise the Benz is not the one you re-tipped , alas within sixteen hours of collecting my re-tipped, 4 week old benz , I snapped the cantilever:steam::steam::doh::doh::lol:

. So this benz is new as of January , additionally I now have the worlds most expensive vta and azimuth set up devise.

[YNWaN]

In my experience, test records are of little value other than to induce paranoia in their owners.

[sq225917]

and very few records have 18db of dynamic range anyway apart from that 1812 cut. The max I've seen reported other than that is 14db.

[DSJR]

The high level test tones are of value if you listen to choral or piano music I reckon. Cartridges of old that were fine on pop but didn't track these test tones well didn't like the former kind of music at all and all but dictated your musical listening I found...

[Dominic Harper]

Dennis, you are fast approaching my top of the list for cartridge manglers!
If you still have the Benz and damaged cantilever let me know and I may be able to resurrect it.

[YNWaN]

The high level test tones are of value if you listen to choral or piano music I reckon.

But you don't need a test tone to tell you a cartridge cannot track a piece of music - listening to said music will do that for you.

[daytona600]

Dennis, you are fast approaching my top of the list for cartridge manglers!
If you still have the Benz and damaged cantilever let me know and I may be able to resurrect it.



i have a benz micro ace L while changing arms the red plastic body fell off
then the girlfriend tidied up and i lost it , thought i,d just click it back into place or glue it in , emailed importers they said it would have to go back to factory at £200-300 robbing bastards any advice

[Dominic Harper]

Use it without the body. The body only serves to protect the internals, so if you are very careful the cart can still be used successfully.

[YNWaN]

Yes, use it without the body - it wont sound any worse and may even sound better.

[Spectral Morn]

Use it without the body. The body only serves to protect the internals, so if you are very careful the cart can still be used successfully.

and may well sound better too. I recall the first time I removed the body of my VDH MC10 the jump in sound quality was large as was taking the body of my Lyra Clavis. However I got nervous about it and reinstalled their bodies. If the body is gone go for it you don't have anything to lose.

[daytona600]

cheers guys thought as much , bloody robbing importers & dealers just want your money , tried it sans body and it sounds the same to my ears at least , cheers for your honestly dominic
BTW love the look of your slate racks

Re 18db tracking i assume you mean the hifi news test desk
never tried 18db cut as mentioned above does not exist on real records except maybe 1812 by telrac with the cannons
will try it with my cartridgeman musicmaker LE designed by len gregory the voice on the test disc this tracks everything i,ve ever played on it even dubstep/techo/trance 12inches with very powerful low end cuts

[Dominic Harper]

No probs. What you have now is effectively a Benz glider!
Thank you also for the kind words about the slate racks!

[Daniel Quinn]

For obvious reasons I havnt tried mine sans body , but I do recall a number of articles saying it damped its frequency response so it may alter the sound .

Now Ive managed to own my 6 months without breaking it :lol: , I may just try.

I did remove the body from a Ortofon MC 30 Supreme and it sounded way better.

daytona - you can email benz direct and they always come back to you . For instance I asked them about wet cleaning the dimond/cantilever and they said it was not recommended , only use supplied brush they said.

P.s - it seems to me you have a reasonable case to sue your girlfriend for compensation :lol:

[DSJR]

But you don't need a test tone to tell you a cartridge cannot track a piece of music - listening to said music will do that for you.

But you may permanently damage said music in the process and replacing the vinyl may not be easy...

Anyway, it's sibilance which gets me with some cartridges, but modern tip profiles and manufacture seem to have cured a lot of this these days I think.

[YNWaN]

True, true