Best cartridge you've never heard of: the Audio-Technica AT33PTG/II

Hard to say if any work has been done on it, or whether it is aligned correctly in that picture, that's pretty much what a nude diamond mounted to a boron cantilever looks like from Namiki, they say the boron is too brittle to cut a hole or slot, so use the "bird beak" glue mount method ...



Boron Cantilever + Microridge | Adamant Namiki Precision Jewel Co., Ltd.

 

Just checked, the angle is right (23 degrees), but the beak shape still is dubious on the classifieds photo.

 

On a side note, they at Technics must have used laser cutting to put the diamond through the boron tube cantilver in their EPC series.

 

Gentlemen, You must realize that the AT33 cart is a low compliance cart, a little higher than the 103 but not by much. So you need a high Eff mass arm to match with it.
Before slashing your cash, check the compatibility of your arm & possible new cart through the Korf calculator

Compliance/Effective Mass Calculator

Cheers

 

Yea, those vapor-deposited boron pipe cantilevers were pretty special, I had one of the EPC310MC carts back in the day, nothing like that made today for phono cartridges, would be way too expensive ... Namiki is making zirconia pipe cantilevers now, and that is all laser shaped. But zirconia has a much higher density than boron, 5.6 vs 2.3, hence the pipe shape is needed to lower mass, though the boron rod is still lower mass, the boron pipe would be ideal, or Shure's beryllium foil pipe cantilevers.

 

I have an Audio Technica high mass tone arm. I didn’t know that this cartridge would be such a good match for it.

 

It's not actually, it's a medium compliance cart, probably around 20cu @10Hz based on my own resonance tests, maybe a touch higher, and I think supported by others. You can tell it's not low compliance based on the 40cu static compliance spec.

Not saying it won't work, but the tonearm resonance frequency will likely be pretty low, if that is a concern. I was using it on an arm around 14g effective mass, so wasn't too bad, resonance around 7Hz.

 

Looking for a new headshell for my AT33PTG/II into SL1200GR tonearm.

What would be advised at the optimized weight along with using the optional extra counterweight ?
Or should I ditch the extra counterweight and go for a lighter headshell ?

Thanks

 

My hifi dealer had this when I asked for "swapping" cartridges on my Max + Jelco tonearm,
AT HS1(10g) £10 or 20€ I payed the only one available.
Never replace them with other headshell, as good as could be now I have five of those HS-1 with different carts in different weights.
We may have better and much more expensive out there, untill now I have no complain.
AT-HS1 - 10g DJ Style 1/2”-Mount Cartridge Headshell | Audio-Technica

 

Well, According to A/T the compliance is 10 (Japanese spec, read 14 to 17 Euro spec) I always use the low conversion of 1.4 to be on the safe side . So yes, a 14 gram arm would work, but according to Korg a 22 gram arm Eff Mass arm is a much better match.
As others have said if you a a Tech 122 arm or other around that Eff Mass the just put a heavy weight head-shell on it. Or even cheaper a large blob of Blue-tac.

Cheers

 

Who or what is Korg? If you believe the compliance calculator, a 14-15 gram arm would be right in the middle of the sweet spot for an AT33PTG.

jeff

 

Whats the limit weight on headshell with D103 using the little 1200GR aux counterweight - not the replacement heavy counterweight ?
Would be nice to know when its necessary to order the heavy weight or the border to not.

 

It says in the specs ...

• Applicable Cartridge Weight Range
  • (without auxiliary weight)
    5.6 - 12.0 g
    14.3 - 20.7 g (including head shell)
    (with auxiliary weight)
    10.0 - 16.4 g
    18.7 - 25.1 g (including head shell)

 

Thanks a bunch

 

Hi, Sorry should be KORF, another finger slip. see here
Compliance/Effective Mass Calculator

Korg are a very famous keyboard & valve manufacturer, (see Pass B1 Korg Pre)

Cheers

 

Just quoting myself to say that it's even better now than I'd remembered remembering. I've since upgraded my SUT from the Cinemag 3440A (technically a microphone transformer) to the Lundahl LL1933 and the difference is transformative. Hard to believe it's the same cart or that the older SUT was holding back so much. So much depth, space, texture and slam that was just waiting to be released!

 

Thanks for the info

 

Quoting Davey to straighten out any compliance confusion.

 

There is ALWAYS compliance confusion & always will be until the 3 regions have their head banged together & use a common spec.

I stick with my original advise as low complance carts nearly always go hand in hand with higher tracking weights, in this case 2.2grams.

Cheers

 

Talking about VTF, this cart in my use is very tolerant in this respect.

At first I put median 2.0g, then out of curious, 1.8g not as bad as I thought, then I dialed in 2.2g maybe a bit better tracking but sounding is in the "thick" side,
not bad at all for "thinner" music, of course I have many LP which are not good pressing.
As side note, my couple of Trimicron ( 1h/side ) LPs sound the best cracking less at 2.2g.

 

Does AT33PTG/II come with stylus guard?

 

Yes.

 

standard accessories

 

Thanks. So it seems you can install the cartridge to headshell with stylus guard on.

Tempted to get this to replace my AT150+ATN440mlb.

AT33PTG/II can still be had for reasonable price new from Japan.

 

Is AT33PTG/II a good match with Rega RB250 arm?