Arny Krueger wrote:
"Andrew Haley" wrote in
message
Arny Krueger wrote:
The V15 IV was introduced in 1978. It is positively
ancient. I believe that there were cartridges in those
days or slightly later whose tracking was competitive
with it. I believe that there are several modern
cartrdiges that are competitive and only modestly priced.
Really? There isn't much real technical information
available for cartridges these days, but I can't remember
seeing anything as good (distortion, frequency response)
as a V15.
http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/HFN/LP4/NewLampsForOld.html
It seems like it would be possible for any competitor to
reverse-engineer the V-15 VI - V and duplicate its "magic sauce".
Beryllium cantilever?
If materials were all that mattered, diamond might be even better.
Well yeah, but the machining might be a challenge.
No-one said that materials were all that mattered. You said that it
would be possible for any competitor to reverse-engineer the V-15 VI;
maybe not, because no-one wants to work with beryllium. It may not be
possible to duplicate the V15 without using beryllium, which has some
very nice properties for this application.
Thing is, engineering is about more than materials. For example, do
you know about the vibration absorber *inside* the V15's shank?
No, I don't. I'm sure we'd all be interested.
The problem with phono cartridges seems to be that what sells has more
to do with witchcraft and snake oil than actual engineering. Even if
you could come up with a very high-performance cartridge at a
reasonable price, would the "high-end" crowd buy it? I suspect they'd
still prefer expensive hand-wound moving coils made of some exotic
wood.
Andrew.