Examining the world's cheapest phono cartridge, which sells for less than $2 on eBay (including free shipping from China), and demonstrating the audio quality it can deliver when attached to properly matched equipment.
@4:20, not your main subject but when you mentioned how much static the new records have these days, I was relieved to know I wasn't the only one to have this issue. I guess they want to make us pay for that anti-static gun thingy or whatnot.
One of the new records I purchased a few weeks back had that much static on the vinyl it was near impossible to remove it from the inner sleeve and it actually got light surface scratches on part of the vinyl when I did eventually entice it out to play it. Luckily you can't hear the scratches.
This was an incredibly well made video and is something I'd always wanted to see; you went over almost every point I was hoping you'd cover. I'd love to see videos similar to this of other cheap or 'budget' cartridges and styluses.
Well it may shock you to know that I have used those cartridges in many old consoles with amazing results and full sound quality, but only with the aluminum shaft diamond tip stylus. Work well on old console stereo. Cheers my friend ! Electronics Engineer over 50 years.
@@g.m.5607 It's not as simple as that, though yes, there is a degree of snobbery involved. We have to make sure we're speaking using the same terms first. 'Wear' versus 'damage'. All records experience a degree of 'wear' each time they're played. Ultimately, they'll get worn out. Just like the tires of your car; no matter how well you maintain them, they will eventually wear out. But obviously, not all tires wear the same. They might last 60,000 miles on one car, and only 25,000 on another. It depends on how well they're made, how they're maintained, the loads and road surfaces involved, and other factors. And records and cartridge/styli are pretty much the same. When the LP was first developed, ceramic cartridges (or, more accurately, their predecessor, 'crystal' cartridges) were the norm, and it was noted that a vinyl record could be played several hundred times before the record could be considered 'worn out'. And this was at a tracking force of about 4 to 6 grams, which for this type of cartridge is completely normal. Magnetic cartridges, however, offer advantages. One, they can be made to track very light - 2 grams or even less is not unusual. Magnetics can also be made to be very compliant - meaning they more faithfully follow the contours of the groove. Both of these are due to how magnetic cartridges work. I won't go into details here, but suffice it to say that lighter tracking and greater compliance means less wear PER PLAY, and overall, a greater functional life of your records. DAMAGE to a record is usually caused by excessive or unusual wear. Unusually high tracking forces, a damaged or badly worn needle, a cartridge/stylus assembly that does not provide the proper geometry, etc. Those suitcase things track at 5 grams or so (actually fairly normal), but they don't have the best tone arm geometry, and they often come with a very cheap stylus installed - one that is sapphire and tends to wear out within a very short time (I think they're generally spec'd to last about 40 hours, and the ones they supply probably aren't even all THAT good). A diamond needle, on the other hand, will last much longer before it becomes damaged and worn. I truly believe the people who shriek 'damage!' are those who played with their Cruiser or whatever for about a week or two, probably didn't notice that the cheap sapphire needle went to rags already, and not understanding this, blamed the player. It's not that they're WRONG, really, but still. If anyone buys one of those inexpensive suitcase things, I warn them that they should replace the original needle with a good-quality diamond tip ASAP, and if possible, to keep a small supply of them on hand. If there's even a suspicion that the needle is worn, swap it out. So why don't we hear about these issues with magnetics? Because I don't know of a single magnetic that uses a sapphire tip, and because magnetics track lighter (less wear, remember?) and the people who spring for magnetics generally treat their equipment better and are at least familiar with the concept of a 'worn needle. It's not unusual for a magnetic with a new diamond tip stylus to last two or three years with moderate use. As for claims that one of those portables will damage a record in as little as five plays - I suspect there is more behind those claims than we're being told. The reason ceramics are still used is obvious - they're cheap, and they work. And as Vwestlife has pointed out, they CAN actually sound very good if they're provided the proper input impedance. I have a beautiful old Magnavox console with a ceramic-equipped changer, and I'm not kidding, it sounds WONDERFUL. Though of course, magnetics are more expensive, offer better frequency range, better compliance, and wear on the records less. I know, that's a lot to take in, but as I mentioned at the start, it's not as simple as A/B.
thanks for the great work! actually not only did you mount it on a $300 turntable, you also modified it, and then found a pre-amp to match it. Crazy work, I love it!
Guess you missed the part where he said the cartridge requires NO preamp. Ceramic cartridges have enough output voltage that no preamp is required nor should one be inserted into the input stages. Only magnetic cartridges need some sort of preamplification.
@@DJW1959Aus *Ceramic* cartridges don't require RIAA apparently, though apparently some other equalization may help. To qoute someone else: *Magnetic* cartridges are constant-velocity devices: the signal is proportional to the velocity of the stylus. Since high frequencies cause the stylus to "wiggle" faster, you naturally get an increasing velocity (and hence signal level) as frequency rises. The cutting head used to make the master is also a constant-velocity device, so a magnetic cartridge "matches" the characteristics of the cutting head. The RIAA EQ is applied during cutting in order to restrict excessive groove excursion (bass cut) and to overcome surface noise (treble boost). When you play a record that was cut with a constant-velocity cutter using a constant-velocity cartridge, you therefore need to apply inverse EQ to correct the frequency response. In contrast, *ceramic* cartridges are constant-amplitude devices. In other words, the signal level is proportional to the amplitude of the side-to-side motion of the stylus. There is no natural tendency for the signal level to increase at higher frequencies (because the amplitude doesn't get bigger), and hence RIAA EQ should not be applied. Of course, the frequency response characteristic you get out of an unequalised ceramic is only approximately OK-ish. But since its intrinsic sound quality is so low that's an academic point. It seems to depend on the specific cartridge, and amp, as to what's required.
The 'sapphire' one is synthetic sapphire and darker on top because of the cone reducing the light (Looking down through the top will give you this darker colour as well, in a long object) and likely the diamond one is just a tiny industrial diamond embedded in metal.
The cynical trend these days by the money men, is to just take the CD mix and dump it on vinyl with the minimum of vinyl mastering to make it play properly. If you listen to music created and intended for vinyl in the 1970s and 80s, you will hear VASTLY superior mixes to what they later released on CD.
Pluse these days there are idiot producers who smash and compress the levels right in the studio on the master recording, so the audio quality is already degraded before it gets to be released on any format (whether it be on CD, LP, or iTunes).
Mr.smash 69 I've considered having my own music put on vinyl, but only if I can demand no aggressive processing is used. I'd love to have my own cutting machine but they cost obscene amounts of money.
Great video here. This makes me feel a LOT better about starting out with one of these cheap styluses when I first got into vinyl. I always kicked myself for playing good records with one of these cheap styluses, but it looks like I did no damage at all.
It really IS amazing what these cheapo things can do. Put into a properly designed system, they sound surprisingly or very good, those ceramic cartridges. After all, they were the mainstay of music centres and consoles, etc, for many years. The pity is, that the Crosleys, etc, don't make the full use of it and continue to sound like the junk they are. Wouldn't cost THAT much more to make a really nice one, especially in a factory with all those production processes, would it ? !
Couldn't agree with you more. The best vinyl comes from a reel - to - reel mother . As the owner of three old Philips Stereo and one Mono reel - to - reels, which I've refurbished, I think it's a lovely format. The mono machine came from a "fleet" of identical machines used at a local school, which was actually going to be thrown out ! All were degunged, repaired, and five found new loving homes. The sixth is my own.
The best vinyl is the direct disk method where no tape is involved at all, but it is much harder to do as the band has to get it right in one take as there's no editing or doing multiple takes and splicing the best parts together..
Actually they do have RIAA EQ. The ceramic cartridge by design performs that task granted it doesn't perform it as well as a phono preamp with built in RIAA EQ.
Yes, MONO is natural sound for ear. You cannot ear STEREO into an auditórium. When I was a Young man, had a proverb: "STEREO is a beautiful lie" (Sorry for my por English)
The Disco Industry Used ceramic cartridges for years. Until 12" singles like Blondie's Heart of Glass was released. They could not handle the low Frequency and jumped all over the place. This made them change to the Magnetic Cartridges never really looked back.
This is a common misconception, the album is always made to brake so when manufacturing they are all duds. The only good version of that album is on 8 track tape.
@@christianjohnson7228 The trouble with wire reels is trying to get the left and right reels to stay in sync. You're better off getting the single reel mono mix.
What a great video explaining about ceramic cartridges, I have just recently been rebuilding and Grundig console from 1955 which of course used a ceramic cartridge but having its own preamp stage using a single EL86 tube, the console was a luxury and expencive item in the UK in 1955 so I did expect a decent sound... sadly someone had removed the preamp and replaced the cartridge with a high output one... so I had to build a new preamp from the original circuit and buy a new cartridge. I didn't really know a lot about cartridges so had to do a lot of my research online which took me a while to get my head around it all, if only your video was made sooner it would have saved me a lot of time ! Once again great video very easy and simple to understand thanks for making it now I can confirm what I learned is correct lol!
I use one of those ceramics through my hi fi system, and - like you - I was flat out amazed at the quality that lies untapped. Midrange attack and subtleties can go head to head with some of the better MM cartridges... potentially even getting close to MC. I don't think bass and high treble are remarkable in any way; but, oh, that midrange definition and immediacy is bloody incredible. The psychological hurdle most people (and initially myself as well) have to get over is to bother to take these cartridges seriously as hi fi quality, and to trust their precious vinyl to go under it. Once you take the leap, you may well become a ceramic convert like me:-) As this video implies, though, you will need to experiment with equalization. Great video. Ceramic cartridges serving up killer vocal performances - who could have guessed? Just another note: the sapphire ("ruby") styli are pink under magnification. They sound just as good as the diamond styli, which are dark gray to silvery colored under magnification. The notable and important difference is the need to change the "ruby" stylus about every 50 LPs, compared to perhaps a 150 LP life for the diamond.
Ross brilliant reply, the piezo ceramic generator material itself limited performance. Modern 'non velocity' cartridges can be made from strain gauge, electret and modern piezo material. Which if chosen carefully should give full range and linearity like any mm or mc except with big voltages and no filtering with benefits that bring less phase error, less noise, less gain stages to add distortion etc. PS diamond is tougher than you suggest, Shure estimated 1000 hours. Twenty times a sapphire (well 17x). I remember a sapphire being rated at 300 plays which is about 60 hours if per side. This would give close to 5000 plays for a diamond. I've had a stylus last at least that. I figured mine were just 'polished' at 6 months.
The majority of those beautiful sounding consoles of the 50's, 60's and 70's used ceramic cartridges in mainly spring balanced tonearms on low end idler driven record changers.
I am curious about this replacement timelines. I am a gemologist, so I can say nothing on the record could scratch or damage the actual tip. But I imagine that the stress of the grooves could push the head out of alignment.
cool video, its amazing the sound from such a cheap ceramic cartridge, in the 50's my dad had a dynatron mono phonograph and it had ceramic cartridge and el84 valve amp and it had a great sound
Ok for shellac 78s, not up to scratch for anything else, and the line level output is not ok for any 4 to 6 mV inputs found on older stereo systems, for the 200 to 300mV output would cause clipping distortion on even very quiet passages on a record, or worse, might even damage transistors/speakers.
It can sound great as long as you have the right equipment like this guy... But let's be honest, who, when spending less than $2.00 on a cartridge, would own that kind of equipment?
To be fair, there's probably a lot of much older cheap used turntables you could use them with, which would likely work a lot better than new cheap record players.
I've named this cartridge "The Red Flag", when you see this attached to something avoid it like the plague. The only exception being portablist gear where the sound/record wear are secondary concerns.
They were everywhere to be found on midi "hi fi" stereo systems from the mid 80s onwards. Look for Philips Stereo-Midi-System F1662 (1986) on youtube, I had one of those. It's really strange to see these come back with all these current lesser brands of record players. My childhood records were plowed to death, especially as this cheapo stylus was never changed.
I recall the old days of flip-over needles on stereo console record changers, and as I remember, the sapphire needles were known to have a very short lifespan - even the manufacturers recommended replacing them every 50 plays! Diamond needles were much more durable. I don't know that I'd want to use a sapphire needle in a modern cartridge on my records, but it's a fascinating experiment and thanks for the video!
Haha! I have the same GE mouse. I randomly saw it at Walgreens YEARS ago and thought it looked decently made. I bought another right after using it since it always seems like once you find something good it gets discontinued pretty quick. I've been using it ever since!
I just wanted to thank you for helping me in my journey to make my Crosley Musician not sound horrible! I was able to order a chuo denshi cz 800 and installed it after retuning the motor and I was very surprised by the amount of difference it makes. I used the headphone port to run an aux cord into a creative d100 and it sounds nearly perfect, though I’ll probably upgrade the speaker later anyway
I recently got my Realistic SA-10 from Radio Shack off of eBay, and it's the same model as yours. I connected to my 1967 Magnavox/Collaro Micromatic changer, and connected to the main stereo amplifier as a CD input connected to the "Speaker" output which is an aux output. No need for bookshelf speakers, just use it as a main output.
I have a Numark PT-01 portable phonograph that uses this cartridge, and it's alright for old records. And some RU-vidrs are buying these to replace old cartridges in 50's-60's phonographs.
The truth is that nowadays it's hard to get original ceramic phono cartridges for an old record player. So these cheap cartridges help to solve the problem. And so i did. Thanks for testing!
This is the best video i have looked at for a very long time, trying to explain to people the reson my there cheep record player sound rubbish, is because it has the incorrect amplification, (still will not sound the best but still good) . Why don't the manufactures of the cheep turntabels just add in a high Z 2M ohm pre amp stage for around 20p? would make them sound soo much beter as standard
I'm not an audiophile even though I upgraded to a Project Debut Carbon DC with an Ortofon 2M Red, but the cheap cartridge didn't sound that bad with the AT-LP 120.
Jon Luci While I do agree that older pressings of albums do sound better, you would be suprised that not all new vinyl albums and remasters sound bad. I have Foo Fighters Wasting Light on vinyl and that album was recorded analog and the LP mix sounds different than the cd mix. There is a youtube video proving that. I also have the 200 gram remaster of 2112 by Rush and it sounds awesome.
Audiophiles are very full of themselves. You can't get much better than an ortofon red and anyone that argues the "night and day" difference between that and something as expensive as the bronze is a fucking liar. There's elitists with everything, these idiots think they have the ears of a dog.
Great technical review. I have Vol 1&2 of the AES history of LP reproduction. It mostly looks like NASA scientists wrote it with similar photo's of the scientists. Ceramic designs are the ones most written about. Looked at that way the ceramic was the dominant design. Some like Decca Deram were very good. In many ways ceramic types were the best. Like going through the sound barrier when aircraft there were somethings they couldn't do. Unlike aircraft the cost of doing that wasn't vast. Although not really suited the LM741 op amp made cheap moving magnet cartrigdes and preamp posible. NE5532 made it doubly so, the AT93/95 the typical choice. However an ECC83 + 2 x EL84 in SE as valves could be driven directly from a higher output ceramic. That was a posh Dansette record player.
Are you familiar with the AUE CP-38S cartridge? The one that is typically common in Crosley Stack-O-Matic record changers? Well, they cloned that cartridge too now! So far, Vakind is the only one that sells a clone of it, but won't be surprised if others begin to follow suit. Theirs is a blue body with a white stylus and what seems to be a proper diamond needle. Recently ordered a pair from AliExpress and it's quite impressive how it's inches to being a 1:1 in sound quality
No, that's the Groove Tool cartridge, a.k.a. the Sanyo-Fisher / Pfanstiehl MG-09. That is a magnetic cartridge, and has nothing in common with the CZ800 ceramic cartridge except the stylus for it looks similar (but is NOT interchangeable).
As much as it is an improvement to use it with the proper equipment intended for ceramic cartridges and it is a cool experiment, I'm gonna stick with magnetic cartridges because they undoubtedly sound way better. But this was good video, nice work!
Ceramic cartridges may sound surprisingly good when you run the signal through a guitar amp or a mixer that has a guitar input (often called "hi Z"). Guitar amps have high input impedance (like 1 Meg).
My SA-155 is branded as RCA. I got it from RadioShack in the early 2000s. I have used it as a phono preamp in the past, but I've mostly used it as a television amplifier. I currently use an ION turntable that I got from RadioShack around 2010. That uses either USB PCM at 44.1kHz or a line level output which I either use to listen to the turntable directly or record through my computer's soundcard at much higher sound qualities. The turntable seems to have a very stable speed that I noticed when I took a 45, recorded both sides (regular and instrumental) onto my computer, and successfully synchronized them. The deviation from the start to the end was very slight. The audio pickup from the original stylus and cartridge seems to be decent with a flat frequency range. I imagine that some people have gotten better results with different cartridges, I guess. I mostly use it for digitizing records. I've gotten pretty accustomed to the convenience of the digital audio file. If I had more room in my bedroom to move around, things might be different, but at least I'm limiting the wear on my stylus.
Great vid, love your work, it seems to have the same tracking as dj turntables, I think the numark ttxusb one I had ran at 4 to 4.5 grams, I think the elcheapo stylus sounds good for the price, very surprised,
Thanks for the response specs. I have wondered about that. Sonotone * series and newer were much better of course. The P-188 specs I have seen with diamond stylus was 2-4g which was pretty impressive for that type.
On Sid Ramin's Nola...when it hit those horns at the end it left my ears ringing! That was painful. That Admiral test record reminded me of a three record set Allied Radio used to sell to help set up and adjust sound systems "back in the day". I still have one.
Great video on this, very clear. For the price it's doing the job rather well, but I do hear a big difference compared to the usual moving magnet cartridges. I'm referring to lack of bass and treble response, also harsh sounding mids. I can imagine portable record cheap players, like shown at the beginning of this video pair well with such a cartridge.
I experimented with various ceramic models a few years ago as I liked the idea of missing out the RIAA stage and the extra gain. Finding a ceramic with a decent diamond and generator is difficult. This has (yours) a ruby/sapphire stylus and that is approx 300 plays (60 hours)?. A diamond is much, much harder, that jump from 9 - 10 on hardness scale makes a big difference - over 5000 plays. At 20 tons a square inch it has to be, along with massive 'g' too. It is well worth playing with 'non velocity' generators as the extra fidelity from losing a sensitive noise inducing gain stage can make up for some of the losses in performance IF you find a decent ceramic. Wobbly response was hard to tame. Strain gauge, modern piezo material and electret can be made to perform as well (or better) than MM or moving coil, anyone want to retro fit a new generator and electronics into a good stylus body?
Hi i bought a amplifier with phono and changed the ceramic cardridge with Audiotechnica AT 3600L and its a way better sound now. It was very simple because my recordplayer had a half inch standart mount. The ceramic cardridge got 4 pins so i could just switch to MM because these cardridges got also 4 pins.
Might put one of those on my Marantz TT-4000 and connect it to the Allied 395/Pioneer SX-1500T when I get it restored, since it has a switchable Ceramic/Magnetic phono input.
I think what's really missing from most of modern electronics to make best use of these cartridges is a JFET input stage - something as cheap and as ancient straight from the 70ies as TL072 (still in production by TI, Diodes Inc, STM, JRC, Rohm) should do fine. This IC is out of fashion now because of its inherent noise, which will not be audible in this use. Thanks for your experiment, I want to follow up on it someday with a simple self-made preamp/buffer, though not too likely to get around to. After you published your video, someone published what seems like a suitable mount for 3D printing, look on Thingiverse for "Chuo Denshi CZ800 cartridge clip for 1/2 inch". It should come out dirt cheap, especially if you have a friend who's into that or can use a printer at a library or educational institution.
Great job! Your descriptions and terminology was spot on. Wow! Has much less sylbillan distortion than my Peak n' Ring mag cart! LOL. Now, mount up that $15,000 beauty so we can hear the difference! Difference? What difference? They both sound the same! LOL.
I have my GE Wildcat that has the original C660 cartridge and it plays well, and I had this for a long time, but this would be a great idea for an improvement. I hope that one day, I will replace the original C660 ceramic cartridge with a better one which is the Chu Denchi ceramic cartridge and it can fit very well and it will improve much better.
Thanks for the info. I got a Numark cheapo 3 speed and it came with the red stylus, claiming it was for 78, and the white one was for LP/45. I have an AT like yours and want to get an extra headshell for a cartridge for 78s (I have a lot of those.)
I have a few different TEAC all in ones, with the plastic turntables. They sound surprisingly decent. They are, as you know, genuine Chuo Denshi carts. Using the Cerapreme blue for LP and the Cerapreme grey for 78s. I have since bought a Victrola VT-A80 (AKA The Jackson). Overall not bad sound, but the turntable sounds like total crap. I purchased 2 of the CZ800 carts from VOM. They listed them as genuine Chuo Denshi. I’m hoping this will improve the TT sound, even if only a little bit. By the way, I have that Admiral LP, it’s awesome.
Interesting video. I believe the cheapest half inch moving magnet cart you can get is the Pfanstiehl MG-09 for $19.95, shipped with a conical stylus on eBay. Would be interesting to see how that cheap cart holds up in a video. I know that cart was featured in your Teac TN-100 and Ion Professional turntable reviews, but I'm interested how it would perform on your 120. BTW: I've seen the AT95E as low as $35 in some places.
literally have a cheap "skywin" turntable for 3 years. and the reason people think they are just bad because of the speakers that were built in. but in my case, having a decent speaker and a decent pre amp, dude it would almost sound just as decent as the lp-60 especially when you have a new needle. dude i had that turntable for 3 years and it sounded just as good as i bought it new and it blows me aways still.
I got a 1 by One el cheapo record player for Christmas from my wife... I don't think she remembered how badly I wanted an Audio technica AT120. The el cheapo has the same setup and cartridge as many of those crosleys. The stylus looks just like the one you ordered but with the Diamond tip. There is a massive lack of bass in the record player. Your video just answered many of the questions I had about trying to get better sound out of my record player. That said. It seems this 1 by One is a lost cause. I'll be saving my pennies for the AT 120, and put off playing my records for a while.
Great video. Still not crazy about the sound of the cartridge, but it sounded way better than I thought it would. Still like the Quasar that you have the best. That floored me the first time I heard it. That would stand up to some magnetic cartridges in my opinion.
That is encouraging news, because I have plans to put one of those cartridges in an RCA 45 changer, and I was afraid it might sound as bad through my Realistic SA-155 as it did through the Crosley from whence it came. (Actually it came from eBay, because it has the metal cantilever.)
If I still have my GE Show N' Tell Record player and viewer, I have to replace a dead crystal cartridge with a same exact cartridge as seen here is a Chinese made phono cartridge. it is compatible with my GE Show N' Tell and it has four sockets. I have terminal leads to fit snuggly and wired them using a soldering iron. The red wire goes on one side and the white wire goes on the other, and it is going to be bridge for mono.
Hey, do you happen to have Earth, Wind & Fire - September on an LP, or as a 45rpm single? Wonder if you want to do a collab comparing the audio quality of the AT3600, MG-09DE (aka GrooveTool), and the CZ800 (aka P-188/P-190)? I just need a recording of that song played with the CZ800 WITH the proper input. Planning on doing a video comparing the 3 most popular entry-level cartridges that we commonly find in budget turntables.
this preamp solution would also work on a good turntable like a Zenith microtouch 2g assuming you only have the record changer and not the console that goes with it.
I have one of these on a Numark PT01. Sounds fine plugged into an external amp. Most of my records I've had since I was a kid in the 70s, and were played on equipment about as good/crappy as the Numark. They sound about the same as they always did, which is to say, not bad. Considering most of the records were treated the way a dumb 10 year old in 1977 might have treated records. FWIW, I just ordered one of these cartridge/stylus combos from China by way of ebay, for the princely sum of $1.30 USD. Alas, it's going to be used for a vibration sensor experiment rather than playing records. So the sapphire stylus will likely suffice many years without wearing out the vibrations. ;)
When I first got into vinyl, I bought a Pioneer PL-300 turntable, it came with an AT-95E cartridge which from the outset sounded great (needed a bit of realignment with a protractor though), then I got a cable-cut PL-400 for repair which came with some god-awful "Empire 999 R/EX" cartridge (which on looking up was a pretty cheapo cartridge for its time), but the stylus fell out of that so it went byebye, and then I got a PL-720 to restore and it came with a Pioneer 3MC cartridge which ain't bad, just very loud and very bassy being a moving coil (designed for use on MM preamps, oddly), so as it stands, I haven't had a need to buy a new cartridge so far... :)
