FS: Ikeda 9C III cartridge w headshell, cantileverless, like a Decca made in Japan!
https://i.imgur.com/BJAYR2y.jpg
Something interesting has come up and I need to raise cash … so it's with much reluctance that I'm offering this true classic of a cartridge.
The original 'Ikeda 9' series of cartridges, prior to 2011 when Isamu Ikeda (founder of Fidelity Research) retired, were each hand made personally by the master, and were built around a cantilever-less stylus assembly - the stylus fixes to a small bridge which attaches directly to the cartridge coils. Essentially this is the Decca principle, only in moving coil, done by one of the leading Japanese audio masters.
Post 2011 Ikeda cartridges, after Ikeda sold the business, reverted to a more standard cantilever arrangement - so no more of these classics are being made.
This cartridge was bought from Uesugi Ken (soundget.net) in Japan a few months back, for $1350 + postage, plus VAT and brokerage when it arrived in the UK - just over £1250 all up. It’s played maybe 50 sides since I got it so is in essentially the same wonderful condition it was in when I bought it http://soundgate.net/product/MTM..highend - there is a scratch on the headshell but the cartridge itself is in top order.
It’s quite a different presentation to my Miyajima Madake and Takumi, which are quite warm, perhaps sightly old fashioned, not without detail but definitely on the laid back side. The Ikeda is a more modern, detailed sound - it has a vividness and presence like nothing I’ve heard, yet at the same time it manages to avoid the flatness that you can get with Deccas - it’s wonderfully 3D. It’s also the most dynamic cartridge I’ve ever heard - Deccas included.
In the end though, my listening (heavily classically biased) does seem to favour the more laid back Miyajimas, and the arrival of a Takumi as my No.2 stereo cartridge has meant that its not getting used, except when visitors come to ooh and aah over. It really is very special.
I did start a thread about it when it arrived so some additional info here: http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...d-Ikeda-9C-III Also some broader discussion on Ikeda 9 cartridges over on the Lenco forum: https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/in...p?topic=5905.0
I suspect that the Decca fans around here would love this cartridge. Of course I’m down as a long-time Decca skeptic so perhaps the outcome of this experiment was not entirely unexpected.
Output is modestly healthy 0.18mV, 3 ohms coil impedance so a step-up or head amp suitable for an Ortofon SPU will work happily with it. Compliance is 6 x 10–6, which is low, so it would be at its best in a higher mass arm and the over 30g total weight of the cartridge plus headshell assembly requires an arm capable of balancing out a similar mass to an SPU.
I’m offering it for £975 collected or +£10 for RMSD in the UK which is very cheap for one of these, headshells alone generally go for around £250. Package comprises outer box, inner box, headshell, headshell wires, cartridge, stylus brush and stylus guard.
https://i.imgur.com/vEujvaX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/o9ErOtX.jpg
http://media.tas.zeitpress.com/artic...97262518-4.jpg
