Introducing the Phono Cartridge Measurement Library

[oliviabrandon361]

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How Our Results Compare to Official Laboratory and Professional Review Measurements
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Sony XL-30
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When possible, my posts will include official measurements for comparison. Here I am providing a single channel measurement to make the introduction easier to understand. You can see that the 2nd and 3rd harmonic distortion results set our measurements apart from most others (the distortion axis is on the right). Note that the B&K QR 2009 and Victor (JVC) TRS-1005 Sony used both show a frequency response dip between 2-10kHz when compared to the more accurate JVC TRS-1007 and CA TRS-1007. For our purposes, assuming correction, these results match almost perfectly. Not bad considering the 45+ years separating the measurements!


Audio-Technica VM540ML
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The first measurements are from Low Beats and were taken with JVC TRS-1007. The second are from Home Theater Hi-Fi using CBS STR-100. Note that measurements from the latter are generally not reliable. The reasons become clear when you consider every other example.
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The first is a single channel measurement made by @Digital1955 for an early version of the script. I adjusted the frequency response to match CA TRS-1007. There is no crosstalk information available with a mono recording.

The second was made by @mackat. Again, FR was adjusted to match CA TRS-1007. Total capacitance is unknown but likely high. The limitations of the CBS STR-100 test record remain with respect to the other variables and can be seen clearly in the crosstalk results, which are here limited to around -20 dB at 1kHz (use phantom center point).
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And here are two more recent measurements. The first is from @dougi. The final one is my own measurement. Note the graph style is slightly different from the two above, with the distortion axis located on the right side.

This might be the most measured cartridge out there! All things considered (including the different loading settings and phono stages), the results are very consistent. So much for turntables having a unique sound signature of their own. Readers can have confidence in the measurements, compare the frequency response to that of other cartridges, determine best or preferred loading settings, and even figure out if a cartridge is incompatible with their set-up (e.g. total capacitance afforded by phono stage does not produce optimal results).

GREAT ANALYSIS....

 

[mackat]

Nagaoka MP-200

I was hoping that this one would be as flat as the MP-500, but alas, it isn't so. I'll have to do a test with lower capacitance, but I doubt it will affect much.

Still a nice sounding cartridge

EDIT: It does look like it prefers less capacitance!

 

[Balle Clorin]

Where du you get that low capacitance?

 

[morillon]

Where du you get that low capacitance?

just the cable ? ;-)

 

[Thomas_A]

Nagaoka MP-200

I was hoping that this one would be as flat as the MP-500, but alas, it isn't so. I'll have to do a test with lower capacitance, but I doubt it will affect much.

Still a nice sounding cartridge

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EDIT: It does look like it prefers less capacitance!

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Try reduce the 47l to 35-40k if you have the possibility.

 

[mackat]

Where du you get that low capacitance?

Blue Jeans LC-1 interconnect and Sutherland phono stage that doesn’t have added capacitance

 

[morillon]

Blue Jeans LC-1 interconnect and Sutherland phono stage that doesn’t have added capacitance

12.2 pF/ft

 

[dlaloum]

Blue Jeans LC-1 interconnect and Sutherland phono stage that doesn’t have added capacitance

I use the LC1 too (and cut it short, to get the C even lower)... I'm down at 60pf (but that requires the phono stage be placed right next to the TT...)

 

[Balle Clorin]

But the phonostage must have som pF, it cannot be zero, my meter fluctuates strangely when I try to measure input C, and the arm cable in my SME adds15pF too..

 

[dlaloum]

But the phonostage must have som pF, it cannot be zero, my meter fluctuates strangely when I try to measure input C, and the arm cable in my SME adds15pF too..

On my setup, the C measurement (60pf) includes the arm cabling.

BUT - I simply have no idea how I could go about measuring the C of the phono stage - yes it has no "additional" C loading (unless I add it via plugs) - but how to measure the base preamp capacitance?

 

[Balle Clorin]

Hard do do correctly, we probably have to trust whatever the manufacturer state. Why it is difficult I do not understand

 

[mackat]

Here is the MP-200 at 34k Ω. I'm guessing somewhere around 40k would be optimal.

Normalized version of the graph:

MP-500 at the same loading (not sure what's up with the LCH 2H distortion. It seems to randomly go pretty high on some tests with this cartridge)

 

[Balle Clorin]

How do they sound?
Any photos of the stylus on record for SRA check

 

[mackat]

How do they sound?
Any photos of the stylus on record for SRA check

The MP-200 sounds good at both loadings. I didn't listen to the MP-500 at 34k due to the obvious downward slope in the response.

I'll have to work on the SRA stuff. The MP-200 was very slightly tail down, while the MP-500 was slightly tail up, possibly due to small manufacturing variations in the arm wands.

I try to level the arm wands themselves, which can be a bit tricky as they are tapered.

 

[mackat]

Dynavector DV-50A

This is an NOS cartridge that I acquired a couple weeks back.

It's a good thing it has a strong stylus protector, as one of the mounting screws had come slightly loose in shipping and it was rattling around when I opened the box

Not bad at all! It sounds quite nice.

 

[Balle Clorin]

The top end distortion looks a bit high to be NOS..?Maybe running in will help

 

[mackat]

The top end distortion looks a bit high to be NOS..?Maybe running in will help

I’m not sure that you can really predict wear based on distortion by comparing cartridges by different manufacturers.

Certain MC’s just seem to have higher distortion in general.

 

[USER]

I've seen that distortion trend a lot in 1970s-early 1980s cartridges.

Great measurement and wonderful, rare cartridge @mackat.

 

[mackat]

Thank you @USER!

I’d love to measure a Karat, but they’re so pricey

 

[Thomas_A]

Have not done it systematically but checking the level at 5 kHz, low distortion (< -30 dB) seems to correlate to:

- fine-line or micro-ridge stylii
- new stylii