What Makes a Cartridge Good? | Moving Magnet vs. Moving Coil
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- čas přidán 15. 07. 2024
- Get down to the details as Leif Johannsen, Ortofon's Chief Officer Acoustics and Research, takes you through cartridge design in this four-part video series.
Chapter 1: How does a phono cartridge work?
In this video, Leif Johannsen introduces you to two main cartridge principles: Moving Magnet and Moving Coil. You will learn how the two systems work differently, how the music is conducted from the groove and travels true the cartridge, and how each principle benefits differently.
Both principles have advantages and open up different possibilities for the design of the cartridge, including the use of material, implementation of technologies, and the choice of styli. All this is discussed by Leif Johannsen in the following chapters.
CHAPTER OVERVIEW:
00:00 Introduction
00:50 Moving Magnet Cartridges
03:37 Moving Coil Cartridges
05:51 MM vs. MC - Comparing Parts
08:31 MM vs. MC - Performance
11:13 Conclusion
Chapter 2 will be about Cartridge Technologies.
Product used in the video:
Ortofon 2M Red www.ortofon.com/ortofon-2m-re... Ortofon MC Quintet Bronze www.ortofon.com/mc-quintet-br... - Hudba
Very informative video. Thank you! One thing that might have been mentioned is that small magnet, big coil, and big magnet, small coil, generate a similar amount of POWER, so that the much much lower impedance of the moving coil cartridge, when stepped up with a transformer, actually provides a similar voltage into a 47k ohm load to that of a moving magnet pickup.
Great introduction! I'd love to see a video regarding production costs of MM vs. MC cartridges. Why do most MM carts top off around $1000 USD but MC carts can skyrocket up to $20,000 USD? Also, how is a high output MC cart designed differently than a low output MC cart? Performance-wise, do high output and low output MC carts give equal results?
Looking forward to more!
The short answer to that question is that MC cartridges have to be made my hand under a microscope as the coils are 100 times thinner then a human hair and very fragile And can not be wound by machine. The wire its self is very expensive. Then you would have the cost of training someone to do that job. Man hours to produce a cartridge are much higher. Go check out the youtube video "A J van den Hul Builds AT a Cartridge" There is also some footage of in the Rega factory winding a pickup somewhere.
Mine is a 540+ Ortofon high output MC bought 1992 I think so a poor man can afford MC? It is an excellent cartridge made in three different costs. All of the difference between the three is that tiny "needle". Ortofon made the hardware exactly the same between the top of that line and the middle so thats where I am at. The needle made of emerald not diamond and the cut of the lowest cartridge Spherical the two other models exactly the same Elliptical cut exactly like the cutting tip used to cut vinyl records. Tracking must be mentioned. The 540 is the only model that can reproduce the sound of 50 cal brass cannon sound. About 3/8 inch modulation on vinyl think of a MM bouncing around on that?
Very interesting video. I really appreciate your effort.
Thanks for the video. Seeing forward to part II. 👍
Good idea. Interesting video. Will be watching the rest of the series.
Excellent and entertaining, as a usual. Thank you Leif for clearing this up so that I don't have to unwind my coils!
Very good and useful video! Thanks!
A very interesting video. I look forward to the next video
Great video Leif. You have literally broken down this topic into prime factors. Although part of my heart is still bleeding, recalling the price it took.
Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate the inner workings of modern cartridges. I have the 2M Blue on my turn table.
Thank you for your informative video. Well prepared to see the inside of those two cartridges.
Thanks for watching! 🙏🏼
Really instructive. I was wondering this exact questions ... Will keep a close eye to this series :)) thanks a lot
Thank you for your comment. Glad it was helpful! :)
Brilliant. It was good to compare structures like that. Both systems have great potential for sound quality. The engineering challenges are quite different though.
I started on a 2M Blue and then moved up to a Quintet Black S, and the step up was quite noticeable. I adore the quintet range, amazing cartridges, great video, very informative
Thank you for your comment! The Quintet Black S is an excellent choice!
Well done!
Have seen Mr. Johannesen demo a few times, very few people understand their own product to the level he does. He is also very entertaining when he does a demo.
Very interesting and fascinating. I have a background in electronics so I can appreciate these details. Thank you so much for this explanation.
Great stuff..thanks.
Nice video, thank you
Thank you!
Very interesting/informative, i see you have vanilla fudge debut lp on your wall , what a great lp that was .
Very interesting to see this simple concise explanation of the differences between a MM and MC cartridge. I use either an Ortofon Cadenza Black MC or Kiseki Purple Heart MC. They are amazing high end cartridges. But they're not cheap.
Thank you for your comment! 🙏🏼
So eventhough a "tape" is a "magnetic" recording, it's transferred to a "mechanical" recording! But it still involves a "magnet" to playback the recording? Sounds kinda ironic! 🤔 love it!
i feel constrained to point out how often "Take Five - The Dave Brubeck Quartet" shows on walls of the learn-ed, another stellar citation here...
Great introduction. I'd like to understand more about the differences between, say, the Quintet line and the Cadenza, and how you differentiate from red to blue, bronze, and black. Thanks!
Probably the windings. The count and possibly material they are made of. I'm guessing
Awesome video. It's nice to have this not talked about like it's voodoo.
Great video
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
Nice to see what's inside.
I've tried opening up old cartridges a few times to get a look inside, but never succeeded without completely destroying them lol
He completely destroyed them in the video too!
@@barkatthemoonlunatic1715 Yes, destroying as in "irreversibly disassembling", but with "completely destroying" I meant cracking a cartridge open, damaging the internal parts beyond recognition in the process.
Great video. Thanks a lot. Please tell me how Audio Technica had in the past MC cartridges with detachable styli? I had this cartridge on my Yamaha Pf 800 turntable
I have changed the OM 5e to Quintet Blue on my new Block ps100+ and there is really a difference in high frequence
Great video! Thanks! It would like to know what you mean by "better sound" during the design process: dynamic range, more details, soundstage...?
Yes.
As far as I know, the Ortofon MMs are really MIs, i.e. they are following a principle also known as "Moving Iron". While that is often described as a mere sub-category to the MMs, it would be nice to know how MIs are different from "true" MMs. It would also be interesting to know how these current generations of Ortofon cartridges differ from previous generations going back some 50 years. The notion among many Hi-Fi enthusiasts is that apart from rather superficial issues, such as the compliance of the cantilever and the external design, practically nothing has changed over the years, as is the case as well with many of the company's competitors.
I'm curious about the other "primary" method of doing this - moving iron - as well.
I would like to know why the SPU Wood is being discontinued. Could you also give a comparison between the cadenza line and the SPU line?
I had a Quientet and the outer body fell off. I was not annoyed though, it looked like a Sumiko blue point special when naked and they look ever so cool :D
Watching this I was struck by some similarities between moving coil and ribbon microphones, which use a ribbon as a "coil" that vibrates within a magnetic field. These microphones also are low output when compared to other microphones. Any further insights?
My last moving coil was an Ortofon Rohmann cart, many years ago the diamond tip simply fell off its arm, nothing wrong anywhere else, it simply seemed to unbond and get lost.
As Ortofon do not do cost effective service work on old carts like my Rohmann it's sat unused, with my record player, for over a decade, collecting dust on a shelf.
I would like (very much) to see an explanation of why an MC cartridge might sound better than an MM one. Your vid explains very well the different physical principals involved, but says nothing about the sound. why (if it it) is mc better than mm?
It is the reduction in size of everything which results in less loss of electrical signal. MC needs its own preamplifier. I built a preamplier that has two inputs the preamp for MC is internal and can be switched off externally. Side by side comparison is necessary. MM can be had cheap MC mortgage your home. As with everything you have to be extremely rich for MC. 2019 I was offered $45,000 for my Turntable. Brand new Ortofon cartridge 1992 made the difference.
My Mrs purchased the Concorde Elite for my long service award/xmas present recently. Even brand new it sounds fantastic and I listen to some very old Reggae and Ska 45s which are pressed by some bloke in Jamaica on the Guinness so it's not hi res stuff but I'm really pleased with it. Hope to move up to the 1210G this year so looking forwards to more sonic improvements.
How many hours do these normally take to break in?
Thank you for your comment! And congratulation on your new Concorde Elite! ⭐
We recommend a "break-in" period of up to 20 hours of normal playback to get the best performance.
Happy New Year!
@@Ortofonofficial Thanks and congrats on a great product. H.N.Y.
Great video... but I can't find the next part! I searched the channel for "cartridge technologies" but came up empty.
Thank you for your comment! The next video in the series is on its way, and you'll find it in this playlist when it's uploaded :)
Likewise.
I do have a question, What do you think of Wooden head shells? I recently bought a wooden head shell, l lined it all up with my protractor everything looked good but the cart looked off center when I put it on over hang gage & looked directly at it? I then took my calipers measures the 2 slots from side to side & noticed there was a 0.0020 thousands difference from each side. The records sound great when I play them, & it all lined up good with my protractor. But is it ok that the cartridge is off Center? is my question Any help would be great Thanks..
Faraday lives!
Which one produces a deeper bass tone?
Does the moving coil hold scratches better? Anyone know?
OK. Now how about Euphonics Miniconic’s strain gauge cartridge?
how aobut a linkt to the other videos?
Thank you for your comment! The next video in the series is on its way, and you'll find it in this playlist when it's uploaded :)
Maybe design a mount that a moving coil cartridge can be detached
Why the quintet black s perform better, track better and is less noisy than the quintet mono on mono records?
7:37 LOL!
There's also a moving iron cartridge ! There's not much difference between a high output mc and low output mc that requires a step up phono preamp .
So usedfull video., verymuch study.... One qustion sir... Shure 97ex cartrig eqwel other
This video could have benefited from closer zooming and longer more stabilized scenes.
Notice how he didn't destroy the very expensive Quintet Bronze, but the 2M Red was demonstration fodder.
If these cartridges were cars it would be like destroying a Lada rather than a Ferrari. Why destroy a beautiful piece of technology when you can make your point in the same way by destroying a more inferior piece of tech? The man obviously has too much respect for the more refined piece of tech to even think about destroying something more beautiful and expensive.
But what makes them cost Thou$and$ of dollars?
Perception. :)
That’s interesting that about what makes a cartridge good tells a manufacturer which makes the roughest cartridges in the world. I see myself buying AT, Sumiko, Grado, Nagaoka, Hana, Denon, Goldring... But I cannot imagine what could happen to me that I’ll agree to listen to Ortofon’s sound. Sorry gentlemen, you need a new chief engineer.
That is your opinion and one that isn't shared by hundreds of thousands of people who have bought and enjoy Ortofon products. If I dare say so it is also what is commonly referred to as being a snob in regards to a product just because it isn't something that you like.
@@richardwestmoreland4796 I am ) And 90% of youtubers who use Hana, Nagaoka, Grado, Goldring, Audio-Technica, Sumiko, Clearaudio, even Denon... and Ortofon only once.
@@sc0or I would love to see you do a blind comparison of a variety of cartridges from different brands and price points. I would even go so far as to put some of my hard earned dollars on the line betting that you wouldn't be able to 100% correctly identify what is what. There are a lot of people who are fooled into buying high priced cartridges solely because of some slick marketing which is largely what this video proves. Put something in a fancy box and run ads that are less than transparent in how they compare to lesser known brands and voila you have a license to sell it for whatever you want.I'm not saying that Ortofon is an exception to this marketing ploy. They do it too just as the ones that you have referenced do. I also would like to see your proof that people who buy Ortofon cartridges use it only once. Highly unlikely.
@@richardwestmoreland4796 That would be interesting indeed. Actually Ortofon has a great competitor to other hi-end cartridges: Xpression for a price. It sounds pure, clear... But, I speculate, all other their models use some "strange" magnet alloy that makes a sound recognizable.
You should use old cheap waste cartridge to demonstrate
What a waste!