Bent Cantilever - Replace or fixed?

Tube amp is ultra clear, has strong treble and not subdued sounding. But, most SS is more aggressive sounding. MP-110 would likely be a little more aggressive on SS. But, still no 'wow' factor.

 

Well, depends on what gear again, even if its SS there are many performers which fit better and worse.

 

Here is a Grado Green review btw:

 

I’ve seen that video. I’m a little cautious about this guy’s reviews after he bashed the Lounge Audio LCR MKIII. That being said, I don’t doubt the Grado Green is a nice cartridge, especially for the price. Howerver, the Nagaoka still has my interest more peaked.

 

Watch out for the Nagaoka, I can only comment on the MP110 and compared to the blues nude stylus it's a step down. Doesn’t track sibilance well I found and doesn’t last as long as the blue (as long as you don’t bend the cantilever)

 

Green is the top 15% testing of black2, so expect a similar sound signature to the $80 cartridge.

 

How does that address a bent cantilever?

 

It cant track perfectly, its simply a geometrical limitation. No 0.7×0.4 stylus can. But to completely remove distortion across the board you need a very fine profile, and replace it quite often too.

 

Interesting. Is sibilance a common problem with the Nagaoka? Any others experience this when running this cartridge?

 

As stated above this will happen to any cart with these stylus dimensions. But I rarely find it distracting on my setup. Remember, some music is simply made sibilant as well in which case it doesnt matter what you use.

 

Fully and completely?

OP’s current cantilever is toast. A stylus replacement from Ortofon address the issue. I don’t understand your question.

 

I was confused the the term "replace the tips," which, unless I'm wrong, does not include the cantilever.

 

Agree totally. I use a micro line and have about 800 hours on it and still performs without any issue.

 

Whoops, sorry. I didn’t see your previous comment.

 

When someone says stylus replacement they usually mean "stylus assembly" which includes the front part of the cartridge holding the cantilever and stylus.
I guess tips just means the ends of a cartridge in this case.

 

I should have been more clear, you dont NEED to replace them often. But purely theoretically speaking you will degrade the stylus after every play. So in a perfect world it would be replaced ever side or whatever. The actual specs for when it SHOULD be replaced range for up to many 1000 hours. The general point where a micro line starts to be noticably distorted is around the 400 - 500 hour mark however. So if you were extremely picky you would throw a new one on and compare them both on a test record after that point. But thats just wasteful really.

 

For better or worse, I placed an order for a Nagaoka MP-110. I’ll report back this week on my first impressions.

 

The Nagaoka MP-110 was delivered, and I now have it on the Technics 1200. I'll give my impressions after I've had several days to listen to it.

 

My father-in-law went through something like this a couple of months ago with a much more expensive cart. When he admitted to his wife how much the mistake will cost him, her jaw hit the floor.

 

So I’ve been putting hours on the Nagaoka, and I’m really enjoying it. It did take some care to get it aligned just right. The cartridge has a real nice low end that I wasn’t expecting. The Ortofon 2M Blue also has a nice low end but I might prefer the Nagaoka. The bass on the Nagaoka seems to have less separation, blending nicely with the other instruments, while still maintaining a full, rich sound. I have been listening for sibilance issues which may have reared it’s head a few times. But it’s hard to say if it’s part of the recording or the pressing itself. I should note that there is no sibilance distortion. All and all, I’ve been happy with this cart. Well performs above its modest price.

 

Play some aggressively cut records with narrow deadwax, especially something from the late 70s or early 80s. Rock music with female vocals (aggressively cut) is a good sibilance test also.

 

Performing like a champ so far on my Springsteen and Tom Petty.

Strangely, I don’t own a lot of female rock from the 80s.

 

Try to find a copy of the Pretenders first LP, original US pressing . That's a pretty good sibilance test.