AT-VM95E - This beginners cartridge sounds great!

Описание: This record is Take Ten by Paul Desmond, the song is also called "Take Ten".
Release info of this particular pressing can be found here:
https://www.discogs.com/release/48120...

The cartridge is an Audio Technica AT-VM95E, which is a moving magnet with an elliptical tip on an aluminium cantilever. The audio recorded by the microphone is replaced by a recording using the same setup and a USB audio interface called the RME ADI-2 Pro FS R Black Edition. While YouTube isn't the best place to preview sound quality, it'll be good enough to get an impression of the characteristic sound and looks of the setup.

It's used in combination with a SPL Phonos pre-amp. This cartridge is the go-to beginners cartridge and comes free with a lot of entry level turntables. Despite of that, it's a great cartridges that can provide amazing sound considering the price. It's a very decent tracker, as it managed to complete the 80um test track without much distortion on my Ortofon test record.
That's why it's also quite good at managing warped records and heavy bass.
Because of its elliptical tip, it does present some inner groove distortion and its channel separation, while acceptable, could be much improved by replacing the stylus with its bigger brother, the microline stylus (VM95ML).
Its soundstaging is also a bit narrower due to its lower channel separation; this record shows that very well... the record has a very wide soundstage, which can be heard from my previous recording of this record with the AT-ART9XI cartridge on an SME V tonearm, but on this one it's a lot narrower, although still VERY impressive considering this cartridge is about 30 times cheaper!
Perhaps one of the best value propositions in terms of cartridges on the market.

For this recording I've set the load capacitance on the phono preamp to 150pF.
The phono preamplification was set to 36dB.
I've kept the other settings at default recommended for this cartridge.
I chose a heavier headshell than the one that comes supplied with this turntable, so that the tonearm resonance with this cartridge is pushed down to 9Hz (measured).


Recording setup:
Cartridge: Audio Technica AT-VM95E
Headshell: Jelco HS-25
Turntable: Technics SL-1200M7L
Phono preamp: SPL Phonos
Audio interface (USB): RME ADI-2 Pro FS R Black Edition
Phono cables: Mogami 2964
Audio recording software: Sound Forge Audio Studio 12


I do not own any of the copyrights and I do not have the intention to violate them; If this leads to copyright infringement, just let me know and I'll remove it as soon as possible.

#technics #qorax #audiotechnica #vinyl #VM95E #Desmond #jazz