Cartridges up to £499

The 17D2 is an MC cartridge that has an exceptionally short solid diamond cantilever which ensures the sound has superb speed, definition and detail retrieval.
Stop Press May 2006: 17D3 just announced, this is the new version which has an improvement to the front yoke which improves focus of the magnetic circuit with increased output (0.3mV) and improved sound. The price remains unchanged.

The SPU Royal N can be used in a conventional 1/2” mount headshell unlike the other models in the SPU range (see the previous page for the Classic GM version). This cartridge uses a nude replicant 100 stylus with gold plated aluminium cantilever and tracks at between 2.5 and 3.5 grammes. It should ideally be matched with a high mass tonearm for best tracking performance and offers a substantial sound with great dynamics into any MC phono input.


The press have certainly latched on to this unlikely looking hi end bargain, and for good reason too. It uses the moving iron principle (but still plugs into any MM input) and whilst loosely based on Grado underpinnings it is the work of one man, Len Gregory (aka the Cartridge Man) who heavily modifies it. In comparison with many other designs it seem to make them sound as if they’re trying too hard, not to say it isn’t an exciting listen, not in the slightest, more that it lacks the resonance's that give some other designs a sense of added pep and brilliance, which ultimately reveals itself as sounding forced once lived with in the long term. Tonality is where it scores its biggest kills, sounding consistent from top to bottom with a richness that simply sounds natural.

The Kontrapunkt series of cartridges are variations around the same basic theme, with different materials varying the sound and price level that each model reaches. For us the model that particularly stands out is the Kontrapunkt B which uses a very high quality Ruby cantilever and a slimline nude FG80 diamond. A novel innovation is the inclusion of a ridge along the top of the cartridge body which allows azimuth to be set on any tonearm by simply adjusting the mounting bolts.
Sonically it has the classic top line Ortofon MC sound, so its very neutral in presentation and will let the sound of your arm and cartridge come through undiluted. Soundstaging is very precise and all frequencies from the lowest to the highest are impressively crisp and precise.

The Argo is a beautifully engineered cartridge, with a real jewel like feel reflecting the considerable attention to detail that goes into its manufacture.
It is based around an aluminium structure and uses a reinforced Boron cantilever and line contact diamond and gives a supremely well balanced sound with fine speed and resolution as well as natural tonality.

The Rohmann is a very precise sounding design, staying neutral without ever becoming sterile. In the right arm it’s superbly quiet and tracks impeccably at its recommended 2.5 gramme force. However it is quite demanding of the phono stage and in our opinion really needs to be connected to a good step up transformer feeding into a valve phono stage. When this is done it is capable of truly excellent results.

The Audio Note range of MC cartridges span three different models from the slightly unaffordable to the extremely unaffordable! However once over the initial purchase price the running costs are very reasonable, not only will the van den Hul sourced diamond outlast many alternatives but when it comes to rebuild time the cost is much more reasonable than on many similarly high end cartridges.

The Io1 is a conventional compliance design making it perfect for use on almost any tonearm (such as Rega, Linn, SME and so on). It features high power Alnico magnets, aluminium and wood construction and very fine pure silver wire on the coils. Sonically it seems to have very little character, as any compromises that have been made are very benign in nature. Chameleonic would be a good word to describe it. Tonally it is so natural that it quickly becomes apparent how bleached and pinched most other cartridges actually are.
It’s also capable of revealing much greater subtlety than any other design we’ve come across yet it still retains the ability to startle with a very realistic dynamic range.
Due to the very few winding used in the coils it has a low output (0.05mV) and likes to be used with a low impedance transformer for best results. Available with either Blue or Red side pieces, as shown above and below.

The Io2 is designed specifically for the Audio Note Arm3 tonearm. It’s body is made from gun metal and contributes to its very high weight (18 gramme's, which is 7 gramme's heavier than the Io1) and it has a compliance to match.

The Io Ltd is the most extreme cartridge Audio Note make and is the finest cartridge we know of. It disposes of the Alnico magnets found in the other models and replaces them with field coils - basically windings of wire that when a current is passed through them they generate the magnetic field. This cartridge requires an external power supply to power these field coils and also an additional two wires to the cartridge to power it - these can either be rewired into most tonearms or run along the outside of the arm tube. It’s output is lower again than the other Io’s at 0.04mV.

Cartridges up to £499

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