Nagaoka NM11a

[rightspeed]

Hi Pierre,

I am afraid I don't agree.....just think of all those SPU users (yours sincerely included) and I certainly do not only play 'old' vinyl with such cartidges.

I'd call this just another of those audio myths.....

I was just expressing a gut feeling based on my listening habits ( roughly: heavy trackers for old pressings, medium /light trackers for mid-70s to contemporary pressings). Now your enthusiasm ( and other members´as well) has piqued my interest. This rather heavy tracker is apparently good for relatively recent pressings. It should also work well with old mono and stereo records. This would then make it an almost universal cartridge. If I have the opportunity to listen to it, I will sure do. And ( even though this doesn´t rank high on my priorities list) the cartridge is also quite pretty. Enjoy!!

Pierre

[Jogi]

Yesterday it was time to visit Wolfram together with a friend and to have a listen to his new Lenco in his room. And, because it is summer, we had some bbque in the garden and a nice chat about this and that.
Later in the evening Wolfram digged deeper in his (huge) pile of records and we indulged in music for long haired folks. Not that we are, but we still can remember how they felt when headbanging 
So the Lenco was spinning some tunes from Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and the like, and the NM11/Lenco was just fabulous. Especially dirty guitar is REALLY dirty, and drums are kicking a.. I agree with Wolfram, that when listening to "modern" carts one can come to the conclusion that something went seriously in the wrong direction.
But...for me there was missing something with classical music, some refinement, details and air. And because I am listening a lot to classical music with my Lenco, this would not be the right cart for me. But with all the other records it was plain fun to listen to, and lucky are the ones who can mount 2 arms...
Even our friend, a die hard van den Hul addict, was impressed what a cheap MM can do. I am thinking about ordering a Jico SAS for my Arcam P77, which is nce, but too polite to my ears.
Was a very nice evening, and again the Lenco just delivered the goods...

[Lynnot]

Hello Jürgen,

if you are seriously into playing vinyl records of a different vintage you will not get around using different cartridges, aligned to the vintage of your records. Apart from that, different music likes different cartridges, and different record wear likes different cartridges too.

Different concepts (Ceramic, MM, MI, MC, Strain Gauge, etc.) and different needle shapes. Nothing works for all.

Rgds, Tony

[Jogi]

Yes Tony, thats what I thought, no "perfect" cartridge out there...when I came home I was delighted by the detail and space the AT33PTG and Hadcock provided, but missed the flesh and body of the MM cart. As I do not have unlimited space for equipment, I have to find a compromise. Lets see where this leads me to..

[richard]

My own preference in "daily beaters" is for fine "universal" cartridge bodies, each equipped with at least a basic assortment of styli. That's the practical (professional) way to go about it. I have a few different types of these cartridge bodies available.

Don't get me wrong: I also like to have one or two superb dedicated-stylus audiophile pickups around (these days, these are always cartridges with only one user-changeable needle available). I've gotten that other method out of my system. Been there, done that.

It's essentially about the diamond matching the groove. All records since 1948 don't have the same groove dimensions, nor even (in stereo) the same intended vertical tracking angle. So, the best choices for best listenability should provide guidance within the available funds.

[ilkka313]

 I got this  cart years ago, it was mounted to L75.  It looks very similar when compared to Nagaoka NM11a. Side of the stylus grip is bit different and the tube sliding into cart is maybe shorter. Also the body shape is slightly different.  It sounds really good, I've been totally surprised! I have thought that this sounds same as Shure M3D, easy to listen, highs rolled off, nice and punchy mid range and does not mind scratches that much. I will get a new needle for this, they seem to be available.

If someone has more info about these and can confirm this to be the same as menioned earlier in this thread please let us  know!

   

[ilkka313]

I've been spinning scratchy mono LPs by this cart enjoying them a lot. Sound is lively, fresh, mids on front, output is also high. Amazingly it's nearly immune to any scratches on vinyl as long as you remember switch your amp to mono when playing mono records.

On another thread there's some technical details, but my cart differs slightly in shape and stylus grip part.

Tip is mentioed to be 0.5 mil, could that be true?

I'm not the only using this, where are other users...? Can someone compare to Shure M3D?

Ilkka


Nagaoka NM11A: aka „The Klotz“

MM
20-20kHz
20dB channel separation
5mV at 5cm/s
2dB channel balance @1000Hz
Termination 50-100kOhm
0.5mil diamond, spherical, bonded
Compliance: 5
2-4g tracking force
10gr system weight
35mm long 16mm wide 15mm high (with needle 17)

 

[Paul]

I've been spinning scratchy mono LPs by this cart enjoying them a lot. Sound is lively, fresh, mids on front, output is also high. Amazingly it's nearly immune to any scratches on vinyl as long as you remember switch your amp to mono when playing mono records.

On another thread there's some technical details, but my cart differs slightly in shape and stylus grip part.

Tip is mentioed to be 0.5 mil, could that be true?

.5 mil can absolutely be true. Your cartridge is a slightly different shape to mine and there are two marks on the side of your stylus finger-grip whereas mine has one mark. This seems to indicate that your cartridge has a different configuration.

I have a GE VR1000 cartridge that has both .5 and .7 mil styli and also a Decca Deram cartridge with a .5 stylus, so that size was fairly common in the early stereo days of stereo. The .5 mil VR1000 also sounds very good playing mono LPs. Could it be that the .5 stylus gets deeper into the groove where 1 mil styli cannot reach and is playing undamaged vinyl groove?