MM versus MC

[Daniel Quinn]

On you tube the chief researcher at Ortofon spends 15 minutes spelling out mm and MC .

It easy to see why MC are better

[r3xj0hn570n]

This thread is stirring memories from forty years back. I used to have an Ortofon VMS20E MK2 which I modified with a cap to smoothe brightness. I also replaced the stylus with an Elete parabolic one.

I didn't realize that was an option. Nice. I have a few replacement stylii for the `20, but only one looks amazing under the scope, the others not so much.

[CN211276]

This thread is stirring memories from forty years back. I used to have an Ortofon VMS20E MK2 which I modified with a cap to smoothe brightness. I also replaced the stylus with an Elete parabolic one.

I didn't realize that was an option. Nice. I have a few replacement stylii for the `20, but only one looks amazing under the scope, the others not so much.

Back in those days Elite, an Australian company I recall, made replacement stylus for a number of popular cartridges. Magnified promo photos published in magazines showed them looking smoother than the originals. My VMS20E MK2 sounded slightly better with the Elete and it was a reasonable price.

[r3xj0hn570n]

On you tube the chief researcher at Ortofon spends 15 minutes spelling out mm and MC .

It easy to see why MC are better

This one?

All i got out of it was that MC cartridges have big magnets and small coils and MM vice versa.

[Fretless]

My 1980's-vintage Grado Signature MCX is a low-output moving-iron design. These cartridges were personally selected by Joe Grado himself, who was the inventor of Moving Coil cartridges.

He preferred Moving Irons as having the most 'musical' sound.

[Daniel Quinn]

R3 if that's all you got from the video you need to watch it again .

[Berty bass]

On you tube the chief researcher at Ortofon spends 15 minutes spelling out mm and MC .

It easy to see why MC are better

This one?

All i got out of it was that MC cartridges have big magnets and small coils and MM vice versa.

[Geoff.R.G]

On you tube the chief researcher at Ortofon spends 15 minutes spelling out MM and MC .

It easy to see why MC are better

That isn't what I got from the video. Moving coils have been considered better for many years but to achieve better sound from a moving coil requires that the materials chosen are optimised for the application. Specifically, the wires leading from the coils to the cartridge output terminals appear to be critical to performance. As with all wiring they are subject to fatigue, whether the loads imposed are within the fatigue region is another matter. However, the moving mass in a moving coil cartridge is greater than in a moving magnet and thus the inertia is greater. Where a very small movement at a very high frequency is involved inertia isn't helpful. I'll await the other parts of the series before making any further comment on whether one is better than the other.

What struck me about both MM and MC cartridges is the level of precision engineering involved in either of them. That they are both able to produce a superb sound isn't the surprise. That there are people who wind the coils of MC cartridges by hand is staggering, as is the fact that both can be mass produced.

[Daniel Quinn]

You say you didn't take why moving coils are superior to mm , yet then outline in detail one of the reasons why.

Strange.

[Geoff.R.G]

You say you didn't take why moving coils are superior to mm , yet then outline in detail one of the reasons why.

Strange.

Even more strange is that inertia in the coils has an adverse effect on the ability of the stylus to track the groove. What I intended to outline was why moving coils have problems that are absent from moving magnet designs.