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Audio Technica cartridges (MM)
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Lucabeer View Drop Down
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Joined: 24 Jan 2009
Location: Torino, Italy
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Points: 719 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lucabeer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Mar 2014 at 8:29pm
Extremely surprised about the performance of this cartridge.

I have found in my father's collection a very old record by Sy Oliver, marred by a HUGE very visible scratch that crosses a whole side of the record.

Well... Guess what? NO audible pops. The scratch is quite wide, but probably not very deep, and the 440 rides lower in the groove thanks to the microline profile, so it's not affected by it. A pleasant surprise!
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Lucabeer View Drop Down
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Points: 719 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lucabeer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2014 at 2:17pm
Technics seems (seemed?) to know quite a bit!

Having recently acquired a used Technics 1210 Mk2, I can now play with the vertical heigth of the tonearm. My previous Pioneer offered no adjustment in this department.

Many people on various web forums say that the AT440MLa works better riding with the back of the arm very low, somehow taming its propensity to "hot" highs.

WRONG.

The cartridge has an height of 17.5 mm approximately, so according to the 1210 Mk2 manual the arm height should be set at 2-2.5 mm. Well, I have set it at 1.5 mm instead of the default 0 mm with which I had been using it so far. And indeed it sounds better, richer and fuller.

So don't trust people on the web, trust Technics!

And by the way, now it passes the Hi-Fi News test record. The last track of side A (the torture track) distorts, but the stylus no longer skips and the torture track is completed without the needle jumping away.

For the record: AT440MLa with 400 hours on it, tracking at 1.45 grams, 1.7 antiskate (the value which gives better distortion on the hard tests of the Hi-Fi News test record), aligned with Baerwald.



Edited by Lucabeer - 03 May 2014 at 2:24pm
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BackinBlack View Drop Down
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Joined: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Hinton, N'hants
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Points: 2139 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BackinBlack Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2014 at 7:45pm
Luca,
I definitely agree with your findings. Althouh my AT440MLa only has a few hours on it I find it tracks and sounds much better with the back of the cartridge just a little high. This is contrary to what I have been used to with Ortofon cartridges which are usually better with a tail down attitude.
Just listen, if it sounds good to you, enjoy it.
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