Best Ortofon SPUs to sample
- Thread starter awsmone
- Start date
The other mono cart I recommend highly is the Ortofon Cadenza Mono. It is an excellent all round mono cart, does a superb job on modern monos and very good on early ones, though with not quite the body projected by the SPU Mono GM MkII on those.
Hi I sent a brand new one to an audiophile to burn in and then heard it on his system (with the PTP Lenco on my website). Then I took it to Silvercore where I used it in place of his SPU a85 for the listening session.
So roughly less than 10 hours across two listening sessions, plus the approx. 40 - 50 hours of burn in the first audiophile did. As I do not have a TT it has been sitting in the box since
Ah, the Shindo-san version...it is a beast BD; if you get the chance, you should try it with the Ortofon ST-80SE, Kondo SFz or A23 Hommage SUTs. From my experience, all of these SUTs are super performers with the SPUs.
Cheers!
ALF
Ortofon Dealer Disclosure
An Urushi SPUa--Interesting indeed
BruceD
https://www.ortofon.com/spu-wood-a-p-758-n-1579?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HiFi%20Newsletter%20November%202017&utm_content=HiFi%20Newsletter%20November%202017+CID_1b13e8aa9d37efecdd923343300f6bce&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=SPU%20Wood%20A%20shell
BruceD
https://www.ortofon.com/spu-wood-a-p-758-n-1579?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HiFi%20Newsletter%20November%202017&utm_content=HiFi%20Newsletter%20November%202017+CID_1b13e8aa9d37efecdd923343300f6bce&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=SPU%20Wood%20A%20shell
Since 3 weeks I added the Ortofon SPU Gold as NOS Vintage SPU to my SPU collection.
The first hours were very dull and soft, but after 20hours the SPU gold opened a lot.
Currently I like, what I hear and I can understand, why the market price for a SPU gold is higher, that for the later SPU Gold Reference.
It is always difficult to judge, what ist "the best" SPU. Listening to A90 and A95 will bring the SPU performance a little bit into the direction of standard modern cartridges, same with the century and the shibata needle.
A classical SPU has a "sound" which makes it perfect for old classic or jazz recordings.
The old SPU gold has exactly the DNA of a SPU, but plays on a higher level. (silver coils, silver leads)
(Tonearm used: Ikeda 407)
The first hours were very dull and soft, but after 20hours the SPU gold opened a lot.
Currently I like, what I hear and I can understand, why the market price for a SPU gold is higher, that for the later SPU Gold Reference.
It is always difficult to judge, what ist "the best" SPU. Listening to A90 and A95 will bring the SPU performance a little bit into the direction of standard modern cartridges, same with the century and the shibata needle.
A classical SPU has a "sound" which makes it perfect for old classic or jazz recordings.
The old SPU gold has exactly the DNA of a SPU, but plays on a higher level. (silver coils, silver leads)
(Tonearm used: Ikeda 407)
I love the sound of SPU Meister Silver MKII, but this cartridge with the Ikeda IT-407 arm sounds surprisingly worst than with a Jelco TK 950L arm! Using the same Synergistic Research cable (that sounds better than the original Ikeda and Jelco cables). Any thoughts?
The Ikeda arm has bizarre geometry that requires twisting the head shell of a non-SPU cartridge to obtain Baerwald, Lofgren or other preferred geometry. With an SPU this is obviously impossible so the only parameter that you can adjust is pivot to spindle distance. But that will still leave you with less than desirable result and moderately high levels of tracking error. The Jelco TK-950L is in their latest series of knife edge bearing tonearms with designed-in Baerwald geometry, so it is a natural partner for any SPU cartridge.
Similar threads
