AudioAficionado.org - Photoelectric Cartridge

Listened to one at the Capital Audiofest and it was quite good, but difficult to decide at a show if it was worthy of the cost. If memory serves, the cartridge we heard was in the $6K range, without the dedicated preamp. The one thing I noted was that on a 'bad' record the results were no different (no surprise) then with an MC/MM cartridge. Plenty of clicks & pops on a dirty record. We ask for 'rock' and their only rock LP was in sad shape. Plus, the need for a dedicated phono-preamp for that particular format was a drawback. The preamp we listened to was from Bache Audio (Brooklyn) and handled all three formats (MC/MM/light) with many front-selectable loading options. The Bache preamp was in the $12K range.

Also, as the cartridge uses a stylus, at some point it will need a retip, etc. We have several options for a retip of our MC carts (just had my Kleos rebuilt by VAS) and have to wonder if our current retippers will be able to handle the new format when the need arises.