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Magnetic vs Ceramic Cartridges - Can you tell the difference?

Which recording used which?

  • Recording 1: Magnetic Cart, Recording 2: Ceramic Cart

    Votes: 14 77.8%

  • Recording 1: Ceramic Cart, Recording 2: Magnetic Cart

    Votes: 4 22.2%
  • Total voters
    18
  • Poll closed .
coaxguy99, Your JVC turntable is a superb one. I respect their best models highly. Also, I suspect your electronically servo damped arm will play nicer with the BSR cartridge and tracks better for you than the same cartridge does on my simple Technics SL-1500 manual DD turntable. Or my Realistic LAB 300 belt drive turntable (CEC built in Japan), both these turntables have low side of medium mass tonearms. And they demand higher compliance cartridges to play best with. Your JVC can handle lower compliance cartridges better. For my turntables, the Shure M 44-7 is really the lowest compliance they play nice with. If I had the servo arm, the BSR ceramic in top condition would track better. Now it would likely work superbly in my Dual 1010 changer in my Fisher Custom Electra console, but I'd lose an input using one.
 
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onwardjames said:
Some time ago, Needlestein got happy about ceramic carts. I dug around, and found I had some Sonotone 9TA carts and new stylus'. Several, in fact, all part of a haul I got from a deceased neighbor's family chucking in the trash.

I set it up, rather hastily and hardly accurate, and gotta say, it sounded rather good. Actually much preferable to my own Shure M97xe.

Ceramic carts got dropped and never advanced, but perhaps there was room for much more improvement.. ????

I'll defer to minds greater than my own. Maybe I should post the John Mclaughlin album I transferred with that Sonotone. It sounds lovely.
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The Sonotone 9TA was a superb cartridge, and proper HiFi. Big issues was the ceramic cartridge advances were the strain gauge and electret based cartridges on the high end. And they demanded low mass tonearms, and tended to be delicate by comparison. I liked the Euphonics strain gauge, the Panasonic strain gauge they did for CD-4 Quadraphonic, the Win Labs and the late, lamented, long gone Micro-Acoustics. The old Weathers mono FM cartridges were also among the best of this principle.
 
johnjhazel said:
Kent,

Were the Micro-Acoustics cartridges ceramics ?

Thanks !!
John

.
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Yes, they were, electret type ceramics. The 2002 e was a favorite of mine in good order, when styli were available. But they are prone to sometimes dropping a channel. Tracked like a demon, loved the transient response on them. A bit more than my budget to daily drive, but I kept one in a headshell for my best records and loved mine.
 
You taught me something. To try the BSR ceramic cartridge in a JVC, Denon, or Sony with a servo damped tonearm. I want to try one on this type tonearm. Glad you shared that experiment.
 
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KentTeffeteller said:
You taught me something. To try the BSR ceramic cartridge in a JVC, Denon, or Sony with a servo damped tonearm. I want to try one on this type tonearm. Glad you shared that experiment.
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Try one of the JICO needles when the website is not messed up. I thought of buying some of the JICO for ceramic cartridges but the shipping charges cost more than the needles. I need to check to see if LPTunes sells JICO for ceramic cartridges.

Edit- No luck on LPTunes. I did run across a VE thread that mentions the BSR SC5M
http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=82160&start=60
 
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I liked the old Ronette Stereo ceramic from the early 1960's well. That one sounded very fine. Tracked a couple of grams heavier than I liked, but sounded nice.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
You taught me something. To try the BSR ceramic cartridge in a JVC, Denon, or Sony with a servo damped tonearm. I want to try one on this type tonearm. Glad you shared that experiment.
Click to expand...

I was formerly known as the "Wire Wizard". Google it. There were two of us and I'm the younger one. Several of my cable designs are used in professional recording studios around the world.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
The Sonotone 9TA was a superb cartridge, and proper HiFi. Big issues was the ceramic cartridge advances were the strain gauge and electret based cartridges on the high end. And they demanded low mass tonearms, and tended to be delicate by comparison. I liked the Euphonics strain gauge, the Panasonic strain gauge they did for CD-4 Quadraphonic, the Win Labs and the late, lamented, long gone Micro-Acoustics. The old Weathers mono FM cartridges were also among the best of this principle.
Click to expand...

Had I not lucked into that pile of trash by the curb, I'm sure I'd never have tried the Sonotone. But thank you for explaining and elucidating on that, Kent. Might try it again, see how it plays with my own JVC QL-A7.


And @coaxguy99 that's a very cool pedigree you have.
 
Blewpernt said:
Maybe, but a nice diamond stylus for a Sonotone 9TAF-HC costs about $6.99 these days and can often be found for about $2 each. So, I don’t see how they get expensive. Would be nice to have an elliptical option, I would imagine, although maybe not necessary given the efficiency advantage of the direct coupled system. The detail these cartridges produce with their basic spherical styli is beyond comprehension if your experiential starting point understanding of diamond profile to detail capture relationship starts with magnetic cartridges, which sound sleepy slow and otherwise lossy compared to ceramic if you really listen.
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And I'd have to replace the stylus on this every 6 weeks. And I lack a highish mass tonearm for this cartridge. And to use it I'd lose a line input I need elsewhere. And the Sonotones are high risk for hardened up rubber and losing a channel.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
And I'd have to replace the stylus on this every 6 weeks. And I lack a highish mass tonearm for this cartridge. And to use it I'd lose a line input I need elsewhere. And the Sonotones are high risk for hardened up rubber and losing a channel.
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Every six weeks!! You must listen to a lot of vinyl..
I think this is not accurate..
Chris
 
I listen to a lot of vinyl. In the era when I was using ceramic cartridges, the styli lasted me in the 6 weeks- 6 month range. Checked them under the microscope often, replaced them at the first signs of wear flats. Cheaper than replacing records. I listen to a lot of vinyl. The changer then was on scheduled maintenance too. The heavier tracking ceramic cartridges wore styli quicker if used very heavily. For me, the main ceramic exceptions to this rule will be things like the Strain Gauge type systems, and the Electret systems, which were higher compliance and light tracking. The Zenith Micro-Touch system and the Similar Tetrad are in between on stylus life. The Sonotones wore better with genuine styli (long unavailable). A lot of the generic styli for better ceramics were a crapshoot.
 
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KentTeffeteller said:
I listen to a lot of vinyl. In the era when I was using ceramic cartridges, the styli lasted me in the 6 weeks- 6 month range. Checked them under the microscope often, replaced them at the first signs of wear flats. Cheaper than replacing records. I listen to a lot of vinyl. The changer then was on scheduled maintenance too. The heavier tracking ceramic cartridges wore styli quicker if used very heavily. For me, the main ceramic exceptions to this rule will be things like the Strain Gauge type systems, and the Electret systems, which were higher compliance and light tracking. The Zenith Micro-Touch system and the Similar Tetrad are in between on stylus life. The Sonotones wore better with genuine styli (long unavailable). A lot of the generic styli for better ceramics were a crapshoot.
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I am enjoying reading your posts.
 
For posterity, I want to state I found the Sonotone cart and 3 different new stylus.

I'm good for some time. And yes, I really like the immediacy of these carts.
 
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