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Did some interesting cart comparisons last night

flavio81 said:
My friend dave, you are the pioneer in online cartridge comparisons! Are you sure you find #1 and #2 similar? I found them radically different, #1 being light on the bass and bright, while #2 had noticeably stronger bass and a depressed midrange, sort of a "loudness filter" applied -as i described it before-. I'm starting to suspect that one is the Grado. Or a LP Gear Deft 2 that somehow sneaked in :D

This is pleasing to the ear, but far from flat.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I hear it the same way as flavio81 (except for the "depressed midrange" in #2).

#1 is definitely the leanest.

flavio81 said:
1. Open audacity
2. Open the wav file
3. Select "Analyze -> Plot Spectrum"
4. Change "Size" to 16384
5. Change axis to "Log frequency"
6. The "hump" between 4-13Hz (depending of the cartrige) should be readily visible.
7. Move your mouse near the hump. Below the graph, a "Peak: X Hz" value will appear.
8. I compare the dB value of the peak with the highest value of the spectrum, which is at about 61Hz on your sample.

Works every time :thmbsp:
Click to expand...

Excellent info, thanks!!
 
G'day all, I also downloaded the files (very) late last night and had a quick listen.

I'm itching to know which cartridge is which!

How do you avoid record scratches/ and other surface noise. All of my records have plenty! Well done! Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
To beatcomber: I place a bet that sample #1 is the Shure M91ED with USA-made with the "AVG generic" stylus. This exaggeration of the highs might be caused by mismatch of cantilever resonance frequency versus the intrinsic hi-freq rolloff of the magnetic system+cable loading effects.

Catman (felix scerri) -- you should know which one is the M97xE!
 
catman said:
G'day all, I also downloaded the files (very) late last night and had a quick listen.

I'm itching to know which cartridge is which!
Click to expand...

Can you guess which two are the M97xE??? :scratch2:

How do you avoid record scratches/ and other surface noise. All of my records have plenty! Well done! Regards, Felix aka catman.
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Spin-Clean to the rescue!
 
G'day mate, I think I do. :D Regards, Felix aka catman.

My Disco Anti-Stat doesn't work that well for me! What cleaning solution do you use?
 
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flavio81 said:
To beatcomber: I place a bet that sample #1 is the Shure M91ED with USA-made with the "AVG generic" stylus. This exaggeration of the highs might be caused by mismatch of cantilever resonance frequency versus the intrinsic hi-freq rolloff of the magnetic system+cable loading effects.
Click to expand...

How much are you willing to wager? :cool:
 
catman said:
My Disco Anti-Stat doesn't work that well for me! What cleaning solution do you use?
Click to expand...

I use the Spin-Clean formula - one capful from the 32 oz. bottle + distilled water. I rotate the disc 8 times in each direction, wipe with a clean microfiber towel, and dry on a wooden Ikea dish rack. Voila!

I also use new paper inner sleeves with cleaned records. Using the original sleeves is akin to taking a bath and putting on dirty underwear.
 
Just had another listen thru, this time using the cans.
9 is open and clear, but was on the lean side through the Monitor Audios, I may have dismissed this one too early on this basis - some downward loading would make this a nice cart on my system.
Top 3 remain 7,4&5 principally due to tonality, top end definition and overall control - 9 would be up there if it had a tad more body.

There I'm done and off to bed.
I'll never get this bleedin' tune out of my head :D

Looking forward to the big reveal! :yes:
 
G'day all, as an aside, 'Blood, Sweat and Tears' were one of the great musical outfits of late 1960's/ early 1970's in my opinion.

Their kind of Jazz/ Rock along with David Clayton-Thomas superb gospel tinged vocals was such a great 'sound' from that time. :yes: Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
catman said:
G'day all, as an aside, 'Blood, Sweat and Tears' were one of the great musical outfits of late 1960's/ early 1970's in my opinion.

Their kind of Jazz/ Rock along with David Clayton-Thomas superb gospel tinged vocals was such a great 'sound' from that time. :yes: Regards, Felix aka catman.
Click to expand...

I suppose Al Kooper deserves the credit for putting it all together in '67 or '68. Of course, he was very quickly pushed out, LOL.
 
G'day mate, yes Al Kooper deserves a lot of credit too. :yes: There certainly were a 'lot' of line up changes over the years, and I think they're still around.

That sort of quality music never really dates! Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
Dang, that was hard. Too many things to compare at once, I think. I'm kinda thinking 1 liked 1 and 9.. First round through, I was liking 1 better than anything after it, and then I thought 6 was good, didn't like 8, and 9 was good. When I went back and skipped around, 6 started to sound more like a couple others and began to get too sick of the song to do it anymore. Yeah, I'm going with 1 & 9, and down with 8. If that turns out to be nonsensical, I'll just blame it on the response of the magnepans I used for this.
 
G'day all, I've just patched my computer into my main audio system here and had another (close) listen. Yes this kind of thing can drive one crazy!

Anyone notice the brief burst of distortion on the vocal on the beginning of the word 'Someone'?

Only samples 5 and 6 seem to be free of it, according to my ears! Some noticeable channel separation differences too. Interesting! Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
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