Gramophonic
01-04-2022, 23:40
My fellow old cartridge fans,
Last week a friend who's 78s and cds I bought sent me a box of odds and ends, and in it was a jvc z1s cartridge with what I believe is it's original (unmarked) conical tip.
I got a bit excited about it, thinking it was something of a rarity (turns out I was thinkin of the x1 not the z1s) and so I tried it.
WOW! This thing is brilliant! It is even better than my shure v15 (iii) with original shure micro-ridge stylus in a lot of ways, the midrange is the best I have heard on any cartridge. It is just a great sounding cartridge all round, even my wife, who I didn't tell about it and didn't warn I was tryin it, said "what did you do just then so that it sounds so good?" and "this is the best sound I've ever heard on this system"
It does have it's downside which is it is a pretty noisy cartridge and picks up all surface noise, there is also a tiny bit of igd, but that is comparing it to the v15's micro-ridge vn35mr stylus which is noteably superb.
I am a big fan of the old goldring g800, and I am fortunate to have a g800 Super E in my collection which is very good indeed for lesser condition lps, but for top quality, mintish condition records or large scale orchestras especially the jvc/victor is very likely to be my go to cartridge.
The other thing this JVC does remarkably well is solo piano. The very best I have had for solo piano was a goldring g900IGC with it's original tip, but that didn't do anything else all that well in my opinion. This JVC gets 95% of the way there and is a better allrounder.
Firstly, any other fans of this cartridge out there? What do you think of yours especially comparing it to other carts?
secondly, what can I upgrade it with? a SAS from GICO perhaps, would that improve the surface noise?
Conicals do generally sound a it warmer and thicker than other tips to me and I kind of like that in this instance. Will I lose much of that warmth if I upgrade the stylus?
I am still in shock over how good this is, and it was free!
The fact that it has in my opinion beaten my shure v15 (iii) in all ways other than igc is just incredible!
Sorry for gushing, but as you can see I am really pleased!
Last week a friend who's 78s and cds I bought sent me a box of odds and ends, and in it was a jvc z1s cartridge with what I believe is it's original (unmarked) conical tip.
I got a bit excited about it, thinking it was something of a rarity (turns out I was thinkin of the x1 not the z1s) and so I tried it.
WOW! This thing is brilliant! It is even better than my shure v15 (iii) with original shure micro-ridge stylus in a lot of ways, the midrange is the best I have heard on any cartridge. It is just a great sounding cartridge all round, even my wife, who I didn't tell about it and didn't warn I was tryin it, said "what did you do just then so that it sounds so good?" and "this is the best sound I've ever heard on this system"
It does have it's downside which is it is a pretty noisy cartridge and picks up all surface noise, there is also a tiny bit of igd, but that is comparing it to the v15's micro-ridge vn35mr stylus which is noteably superb.
I am a big fan of the old goldring g800, and I am fortunate to have a g800 Super E in my collection which is very good indeed for lesser condition lps, but for top quality, mintish condition records or large scale orchestras especially the jvc/victor is very likely to be my go to cartridge.
The other thing this JVC does remarkably well is solo piano. The very best I have had for solo piano was a goldring g900IGC with it's original tip, but that didn't do anything else all that well in my opinion. This JVC gets 95% of the way there and is a better allrounder.
Firstly, any other fans of this cartridge out there? What do you think of yours especially comparing it to other carts?
secondly, what can I upgrade it with? a SAS from GICO perhaps, would that improve the surface noise?
Conicals do generally sound a it warmer and thicker than other tips to me and I kind of like that in this instance. Will I lose much of that warmth if I upgrade the stylus?
I am still in shock over how good this is, and it was free!
The fact that it has in my opinion beaten my shure v15 (iii) in all ways other than igc is just incredible!
Sorry for gushing, but as you can see I am really pleased!