Interesting with the differing results vs Stereo Review. Official specs say 20-20.000 Hz +/- 1 db -
https://www.ortofon.com/mc-series-p-704
Sorry for a clueless question maybe, but can a cart somehow go 'out of spec'? Or are we only seeing differences due to measurement setup?
Those are different cartridges. The one measured by mackat is the MKII. The Stereo Review one is the original. I find Stereo Review dependable (they are the gold standard), though it helps to know about the CBS STR-100 that they use.
Edit: what is interesting to me is that they seem to have made a substantial and deliberate change. Quickly too as the MKII came out two years after the original. I wonder if it is related to the quote JP pulled from the Sterephile review a few posts ago. I don't know enough about MCs to know if there was an issue with recessed highs until that point. It would be great to see the original MC 20 on here. It looks like a historically important (i.e. collectible) cartridge. I kind of want one.
As far as official FR specs, those are the one spec I never trust. Others I do and am coming to think that crosstalk is generally underrated. Perhaps one can read plus minus 1 dB from the official graph I attached, but I can't say I can read it all that well. Certainly things such as suspension and dampening issues make cartridges go out of spec. (Even accumulated dirt can do so.) That said it is a Bruel & Kjaer test record they use, which in reality dips above 1kHz and can falsely give "flatter" results for "brighter cartridges." There should be comparisons on this site. You see this with Denons and JVC TRS-1005. Someone recently mentioned that Ortofon may have tuned their cartridges to those test records, if so then they likely thought their cartridges were flatter than they actually were.
The funny thing about all of this is that we as are using the very same test records these conglomerates were using. We are in a position where the layman (such as myself) can produce better results given that we have more robust computing, coding, and audio-processing powers, are sharing accumulated knowledge, and live in an age where digitization is easy and commonplace. This is like everyone owning a Klippel (a super janky one, on the verge of toppling over, lol). To be sure people have been measuring their cartridges at home and setting them up with test records the whole time, but Scott and JP and did an incredible job with the script.
Objectivity is manifested through images and we are lucky to be able to produce these informationally robust and beautifully organized graphs. It still is important to note that this project is not perfect as most of us cannot properly measure cartridge performance near the inner groove. This is why the idea of creating our own test record doesn't die though it will likely never happen. But there are some cool new things that we can do too. I'm particularly excited to really test the idea of the importance of FR with public EQ comparisons and experiments.
But maybe good for visitors reading this too - are you sure you're not mixing up the AT140ML with the ML140? (The former being compatible with for instance the 440 and the newer 500/700, while the latter is a unique series.)
