At the record sharp end...

Way back in 2013 I wrote  a bit about how for those of us who use turntables that use removable (SME) type headshells we could have a easy to fit and install cartridge for getting the music on our records  to our amplifiers phono input so we could enjoy and did produce an update in 2016 but we're nine years on and things are a bit different.

There's always been some controversy in audio circles regarding the best cartridges and styli to use over the decades, the earliest being from the days of horn gramophones covering the shape of the stylus, what it is made from, to  the sort of cartridge it is attached to and so on.

Sometimes it is clear one is better overall such as moving magnet cartridge sounds better and causes less wear than a crystal one to your records but on other occasions its been "swings and roundabouts" depending on what you prioritized such as the moving magnets ease of replacing the stylus over the potential advantages of the moving coil although that has to be re-tipped by an expert (or you use a part exchange scheme to get a new one each time).

While more advanced stylus shapes can by being a  closer fit to the record grove wall, sounding better  for tracing the grove more accurately, some find the demands of keeping a record spotless clean to avoid more obvious noise from debris a challenge.

That is one reason I've decided to go slightly backwards and explore one of the best  regular eliptical stylus fitted cartridges, the Nagaoka MP 110 whose tracking is better than most in its price range.

For a good number of years Nagaoka of Japan had no official importer in the UK but that has changed over some 18 or so months, so they are back on sale with proper dealer support.

As purchased, it was pre-mounted into a SME style headshell to screw into my turntables arm so all the fiddly wiring was done for me and I'm looking forward to giving this ago alongside my  Ortofon Concorde 20 and 30 higher spec but more demanding .

I expect it to sound slightly warmer and with a tadge less extreme high frequencies.

1989 round up

Just relaxing a bit this morning after a rather busy Monday as I type this weeks entry up trying to avoid political back and forth as two be honest I don't feel the two main parties really have much of a clue on how to tackle the current main issues.

Anyway two years after general election a few decades back was really when much of this really started to come together having realized I hadn't really left school even if definitely walked out of the gate when during a period between jobs I was at a careers advice appointment when looking through the window I saw a playground and my mind shot back to school recess.

That was always the thing with me, the sense my head was in space that was much younger than what my peers were and that really I never had a sense of really relating to older children never mind any adult later on.

No, what I seemed to be stuck in and have a need to be as just being able to live more at my own rather child-like level so apart from buying things like Gordon the Gopher from Children's BBC to play with I began to experiment more around dressing younger whenever I could which was easier given I was a bit thin with girls hoodies and even school uniform.

I just felt more at one with who I was, liking the me in the mirror rather than glancing at an imposter who felt she was just acting out a role all the time.

1989 was when I started ti get back to being myself.