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2M Black / AT440MLa / MP500 setting and comparison

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lucabeer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 May 2023 at 9:47pm
Already went into the garbage bin this afternoon, sorry!

I will keep it in mind for the next stylus to go, which I expect to be the Nagaoka MP-500 (now at 340 hours... which means it will probably be by the end of the year).




Edited by Lucabeer - 05 May 2023 at 11:33pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Lucabeer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2023 at 7:18am
Well, it looks I have been listening to a lot of music lately!

In 2 months and a half, the Nagaoka MP-500 has gone from 340 hours to... 500.

Still going fine (it behaves on the test record tracking tests exactly like when new, no inner groove distortion on loud orchestral passages, no distortion on loud trumpets, etc), except for one minor detail: on records that are already quite sibilant by themselves (some albums with Louis Armstrong singing!), the sibilance seems to be accentuated rather than tamed. It take it as a sign that while the stylus is still fine, it doesn't have many hours left... maybe 100-150.

I will try to contact Ray to see if he's interested in receiving the stylus at the 600-650 hours mark "for the benefit of scientific research".



Edited by Lucabeer - 20 Jul 2023 at 7:34am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote Lucabeer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 2023 at 9:26am
Originally posted by patientot patientot wrote:

It would be very interesting if Ray Parkhurst could examine that worn 2M Black stylus. I know it's not so easy or cheap to be shipping even a small package around the world though.


Following your suggestion, I have sent two styli last week to Ray. A Nagaoka MP-500 at 630 hours, and a Grado Gold 2 at 280 hours. Very curious to see the results of his inspection!


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lucabeer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Dec 2023 at 6:51am
@Patientot

Here is the result of the imaging by Ray of my Nagaoka MP-500 at 630 hours (tracked at 1.65 VTF): still very good, even wear and contact patches still in specs, so I guess it could have easily gone to 800-900! Ray says that the bottom clearance of 0.46 is still very fine, and that the limit for hitting the bottom of the groove would be 0.35.

A better result than the ones I had achieved with the AT440MLa and Ortofon 2M Black which were (to my ears) already at the limit at 500 hours.

I guess he will publish a complete report on the usual forums (SH and VE), but this is the first anticipation!




Edited by Lucabeer - 14 Dec 2023 at 7:28am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote patientot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Dec 2023 at 11:58am
Interesting result. The current ATs I use track at 2g and also have a more severe profile. You probably knew that though.

Even though Nagaoka markets the diamond as "line contact", I have it on a good authority that the shape under the microscope is actually a Shibata, though there are a few different Shibata variations on the market with different dimensions.

Hitting the bottom of the groove is definitely something that increases noise. As the contact patches wear and increase in size the distortion will also increase.

I would be curious how the stylus would fare on some playback loss tests and distortion tests as well. I'll keep an eye out for Ray's additional comments later.

Originally posted by Lucabeer Lucabeer wrote:

@Patientot

Here is the result of the imaging by Ray of my Nagaoka MP-500 at 630 hours (tracked at 1.65 VTF): still very good, even wear and contact patches still in specs, so I guess it could have easily gone to 800-900! Ray says that the bottom clearance of 0.46 is still very fine, and that the limit for hitting the bottom of the groove would be 0.35.

A better result than the ones I had achieved with the AT440MLa and Ortofon 2M Black which were (to my ears) already at the limit at 500 hours.

I guess he will publish a complete report on the usual forums (SH and VE), but this is the first anticipation!


SL-1200 MK7 (modified) + Reflex M + PSU-1 used with AT150-40ML, AT VM95ML, Stanton 680mkII + Ogura, and Shure M35X cartridges.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Lucabeer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Dec 2023 at 12:32pm
Yes, Ray says that it's not exactly a Shibata... but actually quite close in cut to it.

He also says that the diamond was exquisitely mounted on the cantilever, to compensate the slight asymmetry of the cut: and the almost perfectly symmetrical wear seems to confirm this (and my good eye at nailing azimuth and alignment when mounting it on my Technics!).

I don't think Ray will be able to test distortion, because I sent him the stylus and not the whole cartridge, and anyway we don't have a reference at 0 hours.

According to Ray, the stylus could go for quite a few hours still because the wear is moderate and symmetrical: but, since I already bought a new one from Japan at a bargain price (thanks to the increased strenght of Euro vs Yen) and returning it to me (with the usual abysmal Customs fees we have in Italy) would not be worth it, I told him to feel free to donate it to someone in the US who wants to try it and already has a Nagaoka body on which to mount it.

But at least this test of mine has shown that indeed a quality diamond, well oriented, and with a superfineline cut, can indeed run up to 800-1000 hours with clean records and moderate VTF with no risks.


Edited by Lucabeer - 14 Dec 2023 at 12:35pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Lucabeer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Dec 2023 at 10:28pm
Here is the official post on SHF:


Ray started with the Grado 2, and the Nagaoka will come next.
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