Phasemation Cartridge

[Ammonite Audio]

I've just received a Phasemation PP-300 moving coil cartridge to evaluate, with a view to stocking Phasemation products alongside Miyajima and Ortofon SPUs.

This is the 'entry level' PP-300 cartridge which retails at a little under £1500, but that's to be confirmed. Specs are all here http://www.phasemation.com/product/pp-300.html. It's a resolutely low compliance design, in the Japanese high end fashion, so should be very much at home in the heavy Glanz arms, as well as my old FR-64S which Angus is currently fettling. Phasemation have been around for quite a while, previously called Phase Tech, so while they are not known much here in the UK, they do have quite an established pedigree.

https://i.imgur.com/1rSDhfV.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UrFm55K.jpg

[montesquieu]

Very interesting Hugo. They have a fantastic reputation.

[Mike Reed]

Interesting, Hugo. Can't say I've heard of Phase Tech either. That looks like a boron cantilever in the pic., too.

[Ammonite Audio]

I believe it is boron.


Interesting, Hugo. Can't say I've heard of Phase Tech either. That looks like a boron cantilever in the pic., too.

[Ammonite Audio]

I'm quite smitten by the Phasemation PP-300. Apart from being a thing of exquisite physical quality, it does play music rather well, and particularly as it gets more hours of running. My first impression was the almost complete lack of surface noise, which is also a characteristic of Miyajima stereo cartridges, but the PP-300 is very civilised indeed in this respect. Quiet running apart, it brings small details out most beautifully and delivers a wide and believable sound stage - the overriding feeling that I have towards the PP-300's sound is 'delicate and cultured' but that does not mean it's not musically involving because it very much is. I feel that the PP-300 performs well above its retail price point of £1450, and it does rather make my NOS Ortofon Kontrapunkt B sound a tad raucous in comparison. I'm looking forward to hearing the other Phasemation models. This PP-300 is available for home demonstrations, but only within the UK.

Here is a pic of the PP-300, mounted in a Timestep ebony headshell, on the end of a Glanz MH-94S tonearm on the Technics SL-1200GR.

https://i.imgur.com/LoLRhAv.jpg

Technical Specifications:

Coil Impedance: 4 ohm
Recommended Stylus Force (VTF): 2.0 g
Output Voltage: 0.28 mV or more (1 kHz, 50 mm/s, Horizontal direction)
Compliance: 8.10(e-6)cm/dyne @100 Hz, 14.10(e-6)cm/dyne @10Hz
Playable Frequency Range 10Hz to 30kHz
Separation: 30 dB or more (1 kHz)
Channel Balance: 1 dB or less (1 kHz)
Mass: 11.1 g
Stylus Tip: Diamond (Line contact. Curvature: 0.03 x 0.003 mm)

[Ammonite Audio]

The Phasemation PP-300 cartridge continues to impress; indeed as it's accumulated some more hours of playing time, it's definitely getting better. In particular, it has now taken on a deeper, more free-breathing character that builds on my initial impressions of it being a very 'cultured' thing, adding considerable freedom of expression. I still awed by the physical quality of the PP-300, which after all is the entry-level model in Phasemation's range. Downsides? Just that the tip and cantilever are difficult to see, so this is a cartridge where the straight body sides really are needed for alignment.

Here it is again, this time in an Oyaide HS-CF headshell, on the Glanz MH-94S tonearm:

https://i.imgur.com/SjE3n59.jpg

[montesquieu]

Teasing us again Hugo ... can’t wait to hear it!

[bonzo]

I compared the phasemation EA 500 phono to a twice priced Thrax phono. The PM phono was equally good. The top model EA 1000 is DHT and uses the same rectifier as the Allnic phono and the Lampi dac, and the output tubes are JJ. I would love to hear it because like Allnic it will give a tremendous upgrade work valve rolling. I used art 1000 and MSL ultra eminent for the compares. Superb phono.