Just realised ive mentioned the philips before anyway got it re tipped, i'm obviously going mad or there is something terribly wrong with my short term memory
recently got 4 of these off a bloke in Oval job lot off shpock marketplace, Philips SUPER GP 390
its an electret based cartridge. but not your usual dansette regentone or jukebox fodder. Same tech used in modern stage microphones to stop Mobile phones and wifi interference dup a dup a dup etc
Philips decided in 1968 to carry on making crystal cartridges, but to HI FI standard, while everyone else made magnetic which at the time was considered NEW so obviously way way better than anything else. Philips knew better. (pity they were not so honest when it came to CD)
They added a circuit to the back, so that it worked with a normal magnetic input on an amp. they were expensive like 1/4 the cost of a house, so few outside of Holland purchased them.
what you get is a cartridge where the stylus is on a metal rod that is glued into a fancy bit of semi condutor that makes a signal with any movement of the stylus tip. The size of signal based on size of movement. My thinking was gotta be better than waggling a small magnet near some wires (like in a modern 300 quid magnetic cartridge)
These comes with a standard cone shaped stylus, which is a bit 1968.... its of the era, and things have moved on in terms or better tip shape to get more music detail out, and do less ware to the record.
So as they only cost me 15 quid each i had the expert stylus company make a new stylus for one, in a modern shape which they glued onto the end of the cantilever. they call it a paratrace stylus. its kinda a squashed elliptical shaped wedge that contacts the full groove wall.
were as the cone shaped original was like running a ball point pen down the groove
https://www.78tours.com/Expert_Stylus_Company.html
sounds great
to the point where any intake of breath at the beginning of a track makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up due to thinking you are not alone in the house
freaked my kids out with that bit of pink floyd where a kid says "Look an aeroplane up in the sky" both thought we had visitors with a small child.
every record sounds like its playing faster than normal, the attack ane energy is great, the treble is crystal clear and the drums and vocals pin you to the wall. i'm having to re listen to everything i own and have been digging up true stereo versions of small faces the who and the kinks 60s albums form germany. germans got stereo pressings of stuff we only got in mono then never gave the master tapes back.
i'm well impressed with the old tech.
Next project is a headphone amp to drive a pair of these koss cans. Iphone headphones do not work on hifis very well and hifi headphone do not work well on iphones and modern tech, All modern headphones have followed apple's lead so vintage headphones now need an dedicated amp to work to their best. big problems with impedance matching caused by apple
Koss Pro 4AAA (below) proper studio broadcast cans with the knob to mount a boom mic, and i also have a set of Koss K6 LC
amp is a NuHybrid kit amp using a Korg Nutube.
a Nu tube which is a strange glowing device built from similar materials as the funny little glowing digits on 1970s calculator displays
Korg use the same glass and glowing bits to build a low power equivalent of a 1950s Triode valve for their effects peddles and other equipment to get that true valve sound without electrocuting the musicians if they pour their beer into it.
this is the kit. Its soldering by numbers, check list, check part bag, match number to board, and solder it in. so not hard to build click on the links order the bits and find a UK spec power supply.
http://www.pmillett.com/nuhybrid.html
i await the postman......
dave
