DCAudioDIY.com

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Walt

That's an interesting review, SoundMods. There are a few things for me to consider!

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- Guy

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Walt

What about the cantilever suspension. I thought that rubber? donut was susceptible to aging...getting had and brittle.

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Walt

While this statement:



is 'true' (stylus "contact-point" wear is a factor in overall cartridge reliability) I think more attention needs to be paid to the role and aging of the elastomer [damper] in phono cartridges. The elastomer damper that is used in moving coils ( & MM + MI) is responsible for both the static and dynamic compliance of the cartridge and is involved in both the tracing of the groove walls (by providing enough restorative resistance to the stylus cantilever to bring it to the center again to be modulated) and the transduction, where it is what holds the coils in the area of maximum magnetic flux, with enough surface friction (via the tensioning wire) to prevent the coils from rotating. Material science has advanced in the last 40 years, but the elastomers used in cartridges are still (typically) butyl rubber derivatives, and are thus subject to oxidation-reduction and hardening - especially when exposed to alcohol - over time. To my mind, this elastomer element is the ultimate arbiter of a cartridge's “reliability.”

It is interesting to note that most “stylus retipping services” simply reuse the existing cantilever (cut short to the nib) and bond a new cantilever into the existing elastomer/coil base. Few (SoundSmith alone??) will tackle making a new coil and new elastomer bed for the cartridge.

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"We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Walt

Apologies, Walt - I had forgotten that this site is the forum of “declarative statements” (and no discussion -- much less general) where we need to just sit back and listen. But (for completeness) I think I will finish my thoughts and “rest” -- your personal experiences aside, the number of MC phono cartridges that do not have the “suspension contained in a protected area” is ‘staggering’ -- here are just a few pictures from lencoheaven that show 1.) Black butyl rubber is still a common elastomer 2.) The elastomer/damper is exposed -- if you add Sumiko, Lyra, Benz, and VDH to the numerous Japanese manufactures that make “open” suspensions, it is a pretty healthy number -- if the elastomer is black and slightly porous, it is likely a rubber derivative. Elastomers do age, and (as a result) change the compliance behavior over time (typically not for the better).

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"We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Apologies, Walt - I had forgotten that this site is the forum of “declarative statements” (and no discussion -- much less general) where we need to just sit back and listen. But (for completeness) I think I will finish my thoughts and “rest” -- your personal experiences aside, the number of MC phono cartridges that do not have the “suspension contained in a protected area” is ‘staggering’ -- here are just a few pictures from lencoheaven that show 1.) Black butyl rubber is still a common elastomer 2.) The elastomer/damper is exposed -- if you add Sumiko, Lyra, Benz, and VDH to the numerous Japanese manufactures that make “open” suspensions, it is a pretty healthy number -- if the elastomer is black and slightly porous, it is likely a rubber derivative. Elastomers do age, and (as a result) change the compliance behavior over time (typically not for the better).

Yet -- I have never had a cartridge deteriorate like you claim or expect and I ever so often try an old cartridge that was relegated to second string to see how it sounds in the here and now.

One particularly -- the grand father to the Clearaudio design -- a patented Japanese cartridge -- Dianex 1000 (ca. 1978) -- that to this day is still a musical gem. For clarity -- by cartridge "protected area" it is an area that those materials typically used for suspensions are not exposed to an industrial environment where exposure to chemical processing, weather extremes, UV, or other issues that can impact documented expected useful life.

Those days are over for me -- I am forever addicted to DS Audio optical cartridges. Their suspension elastomer is blue in color -- silicon? neoprene? Who knows?

And why did you lead off your response with an adversarial snide comment? Really!?

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Walt

This is all interesting, but the notion of paying $3000-$22,500 for a cartridge is just out of the question for many of us. While expensive equipment is the name of the game in hi-fi, and one can justify expenses for "durable" items like electronics, the reality is that cartridges do wear out, whether retipping or rebuilding is needed. I can appreciate spending tens of thousands for speakers or even for balls-to-the-wall electronics, that's a hard no for me anyway, as to cartridges.

If I have to give up on vinyl because one must have a $22,500 cartridge to really extract all the information from the grooves, then digital it is!

Stuart (the cheapster)