Music Master Moving Iron cart

[AndyPandy]

Hi Steve
I eyed your cart as well, and have it on my list of things to try in due course.

Thanks for your message,

[turntable]

Excellent Andy

Let us know in a month if the Music Master is still ahead of the Benz. If so, bargain.

[AndyPandy]

Update: had the cart about 3 weeks now, and I suppose I have around 40 hours on it or so.

Overall I very pleased - it has a synergy with my system that I enjoy very much.

I would describe the sound as lively fast and full of detail. It perhaps suits the Monaco deck, which is dead neutral.



The cart has good extension upper and lower, mids are to my ear balanced. It is very difficult to set up - or should I say it is quite easy to set set up because it tells you when it isn't right which is almost everywhere but "just right". No wide envelope here.

I'm not a great believer in "perfect" SRA, but certainly this cart responds amazingly to VTA adjustment. It also "snapped" into place once I got a Fozgometer & dialed in azimuth. It also doesn't like being too heavy or too light - tracking is 1.50g +/_ 0.05 grams - errr right. I find 1.5g spot on for it.

Build quality is best described as "British Cottage Industry". Honest and it all works very well, but Benz Micro or Dynavector it is not - I suspect no two are exactly alike. Which I quite enjoy.



Compared to the Benz, I would say the Benz is smoother and has a more even frequency response across the bandwidth. The LP-S really is a world class cart. I used a Jenzen SUT with it and while it sounded very nice I suspect (know) that to get the best out of it you need a very good MC phono or world class SUT or head amp. Think TW Acustic or Herron.

Into my Croft integrated (another cottage industry product albeit with really nice quality of build), with it's superb MM stage (now a great deal better with Mullard NOS 8137's) I feel the moving iron synergies better than my LP-S + SUT combo.

Oh one last point - the MI cart picks up any surface noise - so you need very clean records. Forgiving it is not.

Overall, in my system, it is better suited to the analogue chain than the LP-S, which is what it is all about.

Thanks for reading,