Kiseki Purple Heart upgrade?

I have heard a Proteus paired with an Allnic and a Feikert arm and it was harsh and bright sounding

 

I understand and agree with that... and it could actually affect my judgement, even if I didn't consciously intend to do so.

 

Wow, in my system, The Proteus sounds smooth and romantic, but at the same time lively and detailed. Whereas the Purple Heart was also smooth and romantic, but dynamically dead and boring. I think its a whole system synergy, but this particular TT is a Lurne/AudioMeca, with Graham tonearm. I also have 3 generations of Koetsu Onyx and Jade carts, and at first I thought the Purple Heart sounded a lot like those... but over time, I realized NO CART has the Koetsu magic midrange and the Koetsu depiction of acoustic reality.

So just to expose my other MC cart preferences, I love the Shelter 90x and Harmony, the Benz Ebony LP, Ebony LPS and Ebony TR, the Koetsu stone bodies, the Audio Note Io, and the Transfiguration Proteus. Also the old Denon 103D (but no other 103 model), and the Denon 305, both discontinued long ago. So I hoard them and use them for audio shows. Listeners just cannot believe that a fancy audio system, with a lowly, old Denon like these can sound so good, compared to neighboring rooms they just heard.

Oh, and one more thing I noticed about the Purple Heart is that it lends it character to every record I played, instead of getting out of the way and clearly playing each record's distinctive sonic character.

There is art and mathematics to matching a step-up or active phono stage to every cartridge. So ANY moving coil cart can sound harsh and bright, with the majority of what's just downstream from it, if you haven't experimented with a few alternatives. To properly evaluate and compare MC carts, you cannot just use the same step-up or phono stage for every one.

 

This is such a tough question to answer as the sound with the same arm and cartridge mounted can vary by wholesale amounts with different speakers and phono preamps/SUTs.

For example, I have two VPI unipivots- one with a Cadenza Black, the other with a VAS Nova Signature. VAS is literally the next space to VPI, and Steve and Harry are good friends. Steve In fact wires most (all?) of the 3D tonearms for VPI. His cartridges are essentially made for the VPI arms.

My Cadenza has a slightly more recessed soundstage...at or behind the speaker a bit. The VAS is slightly more forward and less polite. The VAS is very smooth, accurate. The Cadenza is a shibata and known for its accuracy.

I have a Modwright PH 9.0 phono stage and a VAS MC-One SUT. Believe it or not, I like the SUT better with my Cadenza. The VAS Nova sounds best directly into the MC inputs of the Modwright. In fact, the Cadenza has won back the “top spot” with my current set up after losing it to the VAS for a year with my old phono preamp. With my old phono stage (Rogue Ares) I preferred the VAS SUT with the Nova.

It would be helpful to know:

What are you hearing now?
What do you like?
What do you dislike?
What sound do you think you are looking for?

 

Interesting. I've never heard the current Purple Heart. But midrange-suckout is the last thing that I would accuse my classic (1980's vintage) Purple Heart of. I think that I loaded mine is loaded around 110 Ohms. It has one of the most lush-sounding midranges I've ever heard.

 

I had a Kiseki Purpleheart with a VPI 12" 3d arm and it matches perfectly with it. It required the 180g counterweight. For those that stated the purpleheart needs more mass, I never found that to be the case. The Kiseki was one of the best carts as far as compliance with the VPI arm, and I owned an Ortofon, Transfiguration, and Soundsmith. The kiseki is a pain to set up though due to the hidden stylus and how fine and transparent it is.

 

I found it best loaded at 800... which was considerably different than Kiseki's recommended load setting of 400.

 

I remember at your house, Steve, we used a 1:10 Music First Audio step-up, which loaded the Purple Heart at 470 ohms. That is slightly above the manufacturer's recommendation, and therefore would suppress the highs a bit compared to the manufacturer's recommendation. If anything this means the midrange was slightly emphasized compared to the slightly rolled-off highs. I do believe it was voiced like that to have a distinctive sound of warm and fuzzy, particularly with female vocals that audiophiles so often use as their reference recordings to demo thier system... or to evaluate their new cartridge.

But may you may have also used your wonderful Sutherland battery-powered phono stage straight-in.

 

I'm not as familiar with Audio Note as many here but I will say this...the AN room at the Florida show sounded excellent.

 

Yes, I listed it in the Audio Note fans thread.

I will do a brief show report soon for Part-Time Audiophile.

 

Audio Note TT3 turntable, M2 Phono and the Conqueror stereo amplifier. I believe the speaker model was the AN-E.

 

I received a loan sample of a MC cartridge from a brand new cartridge company, Aidas, but made for them by Namiki, who invented and patented the MicroRidge stylus shape. Has anyone ever heard or heard of this brand? Would anyone be interested in coming to The Audio Home in Fullerton, to listen and compare to some of my other (more expensive) MC cartridges? I would like to hear opinions about just how viable ANOTHER moving coil cartridge in the market actually is for us.

Here is a review that captured my attention. I have not listened to it yet, but they have already offered me the opportunity to represent it, if I like it and think there are potential sales opportunity for me. I already represent two cartridge manufacturers, Audio Note and Triangle Art, but this cartridge would be less expensive, and the reviewer reports it sounds "extremely well-defined and lifelike... top notch".

Aidas Black Sound-Red Heart Phono Cartridge

Here are the specs:

Aidas Red Heart Black Ruby LOMC cartridge
Cantilever: Adament/Namiki Ruby
Stylus:" Adamant/Namiki" micro-ridge
Magnet system: AlNiCo
Output: 0.28mV
Coil impedance DC: 12 ohms
Tracking force: 1.9-2.1g.
Compliance lateral: 10 um/mN
Cartridge weight: 9.20g.
Recommended loading: 100 – 300 ohms
Channel separation: >30dB/1kHz
Channel balance: >1dB/1kHz
Damping system: chiseled suspension on the damper and needle
Coils: copper 0.02mm
Mount: thread in wood M2.5x0.45, 1/2 inch / 12.7mm standard between the holes
Recommended tonearm mass: medium
Break-in period: 50 hours
Advertised new retail: $3700
Introductory promotion: $2500
Manufacturer’s website: ViraHighEnd.com

 

I was lucky enough to buy a Kiseki Purple Heart sapphire earlier this year, which had been stored for 20 years and unplayed and all I can add is that it is indeed a superb cartridge the best I have ever owned, where it excels is in the bass region which I found to be forward and precise particularly when playing jazz.