Sunday, March 5, 2017

Tips For Choosing The Right Turntable Cartridges

By Scott Cooper


Music is what everyone loves to hear and one good choice of it can surely change the mood of a person. In history, vinyl records are very common. Shellac records can be compared to these since they have some similarities, however, shellacs are older than vinyl types. Vinyls are still popular until now and are often being used for high fidelity audiophile community and for DJ community.

One of the most important parts in the process of music listening is to build the stereo system out from the turntable, speakers, component, and amplifier, and as well as from wire, stylus, and other small accessories. Choosing turntable cartridges is very important since these are small components that would hold the stylus. Thus, make sure to choose the right one to provide the need appropriately.

Determining the budget. The phono cartridges can be considered as under the classification of stereo systems but these have much larger sizes than others. During the allocation of budget, make sure to consider the whole system. Audiophile cartridges often have higher prices, most especially if these are high end models. For you to budget everything properly, only ten percent of total expenditures must be allocated to the cartridge.

Select an appropriate cartridge type for the mount of tonearm. The tonearm is being classified into four categories. These classifications are the standard, P, convertible, and integrated mounts. Make sure that you have chosen a cartridge which is suitable to the type of mount.

A half inch or a standard mount is the most commonly used mount. It is a flat and a large headshell as where the cartridges will be sitting underneath it. Another turntable type is the P mount which is often made as low end. The convertible type is uncommon. And lastly, and integrated mount uses the propriety cartridges wherein swapping with some other models is being prohibited. This is usually used in DJ turntables.

The two main types of cartridges are moving coils and moving magnets. Almost all the modernized types of a cartridge are manufactured as magnetic. The devices have small metal coils and magnets and the movements are related to each other in order for electrical signal to be produced. Moving magnets are much common, being allowed for moving while the coil is fixed. While the moving coils are usually being preferred by many audio enthusiasts.

Different types of cartridge may have different stylus shapes, so better compare them. Styluses are needle like items used for touching a vinyl record. Modern styluses are produced with the use of diamonds and have different shapes and sizes. Prices are often expensive as well. However, cheaper types are also available in spherical shapes and with low quality sounds.

However, these spherical shapes would be necessary for the scratching and the back cuing in DJ turntables. Elliptical styluses can offer a greater contact area, and because of this, lesser amount of tracking force will be required for retrieving recorded information. And the result is higher fidelity and lesser record wear.

Audiophile DJs are also making use of these elliptical styluses. Scratching is not recommended to be done. Common styluses that are often used would include micro lines, biradials, and linear contacts.




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