Cartridges! Why are they so damned ugly.

[daytona600]

Ortofon A95

 

[Waxy]

If you had the choice of the two, offering the same performance, would you chose the ugly plastic, or a carbon and gold offering?

Picking a cartridge is a little like making love to a beautiful woman. First you have to select your pickup, making sure she is compliant. Then you line her up, tighten the fixings and drop into the groove. When she is making the right noises, you know you have made the right choice.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Ortofon A95

Recently saw this in a newsletter from Ortofon; what a beauty *man_in_love* but I guess it should be for the princely sum of £3.75K, though it's still cheaper than the Anna, which retails at a cool £5K *wacko*

 

[Al ears]

Neither of them do anything for me unfortunately.

Think we need a bit of help regarding what you think would be attractive.

i think the materials used are sometimes a bit bland, the shapes of most are a bit boxy, like old volvos

some high quality finishing would be nice, maybe carbon fibre, polished metals. Etc.

It would be nice to point out a new cart to someone that has a wow factor to its looks, as well as its sound . Rather than pointing at your newest Lego brick

A fair answer. Maybe there's room for those kind of considerations at the top of the price scale, but at the prices I'm ever going to be able to afford, I'm happy for them to look like boring square boxes that sound great, much like anything else in my HiFi.

Too true. When I am listening to my vinyl I cannot even see my cartridge so why the bell worry about what it looks like?

It's probably just me being me then, I would just prefer to buy something esthetically pleasing, rather than an ugly square plastic box.

If you had the choice of the two, offering the same performance, would you chose the ugly plastic, or a carbon and gold offering?

I do take your point and your cunning opt-out quote here is 'offering the same performance'. Normally this would not occur as the more money spent on creating a lovely body means less is spent on the internals, which is where it needs to be spent.

 

[chris_bates1974]

If you had the choice of the two, offering the same performance, would you chose the ugly plastic, or a carbon and gold offering?

Picking a cartridge is a little like making love to a beautiful woman. First you have to select your pickup, making sure she is compliant. Then you line her up, tighten the fixings and drop into the groove. When she is making the right noises, you know you have made the right choice.

Nice.... Suits you.

 

[chebby]

I like to see the insides.

 

[plastic penguin]

I like to see the insides.

That's a cool cart.

Until this thread I've never thought about the aesthetics of cartridges. To me they are just functional.

 

[friendly_ghost]

That does look really cool, what cart is that?

 

[Al ears]

That does look really cool, what cart is that?

It's the Rega Apheta. Nice isn't it.

 

[friendly_ghost]

Very nice indeed!

 

[Lost Angeles]

It may look nice (your opinion) but is it any good?

 

[Vladimir]

Ortofon A95

That is awesome. Very 70's Sci-Fi.

 

[Al ears]

Ortofon A95

That is awesome. Very 70's Sci-Fi.

Work of art mate, just wish I could afford one.

 

[Al ears]

It may look nice (your opinion) but is it any good?

Top of the range Rega, it's got to hasn't it?? Never heard it so cannot say.

I wouldn't throw it away if I was given one to try though....... cheers Roy!

 

[bigfish786]

Has definitely got a look about it. I like the design, I'd love to try one out.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Ortofon A95

It's not bad, but your picture flatters it a little. It's also on the expensive side, isn't it. *shok*

 

[davedotco]

Back in the early 90s we sold a couple of these...

Around £4-5k then, very rare.

This on the other hand was priced at about £1k, we sold shed loads, well quite a lot anyway.

Kiseki recently produced a limited edition of the Purple Heart Boron, a 'budget' version of the Purple Heart Saphire shown above. The Boron was £2k.

 

[Jim_W]

Back in the early 90s we sold a couple of these...

Around £4-5k then, very rare.

This on the other hand was priced at about £1k, we sold shed loads, well quite a lot anyway.

Kiseki recently produced a limited edition of the Purple Heart Boron, a 'budget' version of the Purple Heart Saphire shown above. The Boron was £2k.

Both of these are bargains: you get a bread board with the first one and the cheaper one has nice Japanese writing on it. Who cares what they sound like? We all know it's about marketing.

 

[davedotco]

Back in the early 90s we sold a couple of these...

Around £4-5k then, very rare.

This on the other hand was priced at about £1k, we sold shed loads, well quite a lot anyway.

Kiseki recently produced a limited edition of the Purple Heart Boron, a 'budget' version of the Purple Heart Saphire shown above. The Boron was £2k.

Both of these are bargains: you get a bread board with the first one and the cheaper one has nice Japanese writing on it. Who cares what they sound like? We all know it's about marketing.

The first one is hewn from a solid block of Lapis Lazuli, both rare and expensive. Collectable rather than playable.

The PHS on the other hand sold by demonstration, it sounded fantastic, great value for money. Usually fitted to a Series IV or V arm on a Xerxes, TMS or SME turntable.

 

[Al ears]

Back in the early 90s we sold a couple of these...

Around £4-5k then, very rare.

This on the other hand was priced at about £1k, we sold shed loads, well quite a lot anyway.

Kiseki recently produced a limited edition of the Purple Heart Boron, a 'budget' version of the Purple Heart Saphire shown above. The Boron was £2k.

So it's not a Koetsu then? Never got my head round Japanese.

They do look a tad similar.

 

[Al ears]

Back in the early 90s we sold a couple of these...

Around £4-5k then, very rare.

This on the other hand was priced at about £1k, we sold shed loads, well quite a lot anyway.

Kiseki recently produced a limited edition of the Purple Heart Boron, a 'budget' version of the Purple Heart Saphire shown above. The Boron was £2k.

Both of these are bargains: you get a bread board with the first one and the cheaper one has nice Japanese writing on it. Who cares what they sound like? We all know it's about marketing.

Both have Japanese writing and one would require a very small loaf.

And at the time I could afford neither.

 

[Diamond Joe]

Ortofon A95

That is awesome. Very 70's Sci-Fi.

Don't ask me why but it reminds me of a pencil sharpener!

 

[davedotco]

Back in the early 90s we sold a couple of these...

Around £4-5k then, very rare.

This on the other hand was priced at about £1k, we sold shed loads, well quite a lot anyway.

Kiseki recently produced a limited edition of the Purple Heart Boron, a 'budget' version of the Purple Heart Saphire shown above. The Boron was £2k.

So it's not a Koetsu then? Never got my head round Japanese.

They do look a tad similar.

At the time when vinyl playback was the undisputed king of hi-fi, the moving coil cartridge was an absolutely essential part of the magic.

Koetsu, via their importer Absolute Sounds were the high end cartridge of choice through the 80s but by a very fortunate co-incidence we sourced Kiseki cartridges that offered a real alternative and a bit of a cost saving too.

The most popular was the Kiseki Purple Heart Saphire, half the price of a Koetsu Red signature and with a slightly lighter balance more suited to uk rooms and systems.

Easy to tell apart once you knew the score, fixing holes in a full length flange on the Kiseki, small wing like protuberences on the Koetsu.

or

Easy.

 

[davedotco]

Don't ask me why but it reminds me of a pencil sharpener!

Cats Eyes, the reflective kind in the road were invented by a chap called Percy Shaw.

He explained that, catching a cat 'face on', with eyed gleaming, in the beam of his car headlights inspired him to invent the very usefull reflective device.

He also said that, had the cat been running away, he would probably have invented the pencil sharpener.

 

[thescarletpronster]

I find cartridges sexually arousing.