Gramophone Dreams #44: Audio-Technica, Goldring, LP Gear phono cartridges Thomas Schick tonearm

Sidebar: Thomas Schick 10.5" tonearm

I must begin by saying that Thomas Schick is a friend of mine. I know him because we share a love for schnitzel, drinking songs, and playing records through ancient horn speakers. Art Dudley reviewed his 12" tonearm in Listening #87, and it was a core component in that Salt Cellar System I described in GD34. Now, a $1995, 10.5" Schick tonearm (plus Schick's $295 graphite headshell) has replaced the now-discontinued 12" Jelco TK-850L on my Dr. Feickert Blackbird turntable.

1220gramdr.tone

This upgrade improves the sound quality of my system while keeping my turntable and tonearm in current production. Both the tonearm and the headshell are hand-made in Germany and distributed in the United States by MoFi Distribution (footnote 1).

Being a gearhead, I am really into bearings, and the Schick's bearings are impressive. They feel ever so much like the Breuer Dynamic and Sumiko MDC-800 tonearms of my past. I also admire the basic, bling-free look of his arms. After hearing Schick's arms in a variety of systems, I suspected that medium length might strike a good balance between the liveliness of the 9" and the greater mass and tracing accuracy of the 12" version.

1220gramdr.tonebac

During the course of this Dream, with every cartridge I tried, the Schick played records with more solidity and silence than the 12" Jelco it replaced.

The Jelco generated a kind of flash-dance liveliness that I enjoyed. Consequently, when I first installed the Schick it seemed a bit dull and serious. Nevertheless, with the Schick, every cartridge I've tried, no matter its compliance (up to 22µm/mN), seems to dig deeper and more steadily into the grooves.

1220gramdr.tonetop

Spending 10 times more money than the Schick costs would possibly buy me a little more corporality, blacker silence, more gunshot dynamics, and a cleaner window into the inner workings of recordings, but the Dr. Feickert Blackbird plus the 10.5" Schick gives me more than 10 times more of these important qualities than I get from my Pioneer PLX-1000 or Technics SL-1200. I am well pleased.—Herb Reichert


Footnote 1: Thomas Schick, German. Web: thomas-schick.com/en/produkte/. US distributor: Mobile Fidelity Distribution, 1811 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago, IL 60660. Tel: (312) 738-5025. Fax: (312) 433-0011. Web: mofidistribution.com.

COMMENTS
Ortofan's picture

... loves the sound of second harmonic distortion.

JHL's picture

When your appreciation of fine art rises no higher than ocd projection.

Wrong publication maybe?

Jack L's picture

Hi

How do you know it is 2nd harmonic, not odd harmonics? Your guess or what?
I ask you because I am using an AT !

Jack L

Ortofan's picture

... objective test data published by Shure nearly half a century ago.

Jack L's picture

HI

What's wrong with 2nd harmonic distortion ??

FYI, Nelson Pass design/built his well-known Pass H2 harmonic generator some 6 years back for adding such distortion to any audio amp to make it sound better. He used a twin-triode, e.g. 6922, to generate the required distortion.

A musical instruments manufacturer even build such generators in its products, using, similar to Pass, a special designed/built computer chip
"NuTube" of same specs of 6922 twin-triode.

According to Pass, 2nd harmonic distortion might have caused the soundstage image improved depth of an audio amp so distinctly noticeable vs a solidstate audio amp which lacks 2nd harmonic distortion.

Listening is believing

Jack L

Ortofan's picture

... dose of second harmonic distortion to be added to the reproduced sound, then what you appear to be seeking is not merely a neutral amplifier, rather some sort of sound processor - particularly, for example, if you're trying to change the perceived sense of depth inherent in a given recording.

As for musical instrument products, the intent for incorporating a second harmonic generator is likely to create a certain sound effect.

Jack L's picture

Hi

Sorry, I never stated I "need or want" any distortion in my amps, pal.

I only quoted big guy like Nelson Pass, amp designer/manufacturer, who might "need or want" to add 2nd harmonic distortion in his amps & he invented such thing. !!!!

Jack L

davip's picture

An interesting piece and something that it's good to see stated in a magazine where four-grand-anything is considered 'entry-level', but I'm forced to ask "what's new" here? I bought my first (and last) audiophile TT (a Linn-beating STD 305M) 40 years ago, and with a well-engineered unipivot (Hadcock GH228) found my Nagaoka MP11 -- a sure-footed and noiseless £20 moving-magnet -- to provide all of the realism that I could ever hope for in music reproduction; a realism completely lacking in every digital I've heard since. Similarly, that the hyped-up sound of most moving-coils (both in terms of abilities and frequency-response) that the magazines (and phono preamp designers) entreat us to buy is not really that engaging for anyone other than detail-freaks is also nothing new. That the TT is the most important element in phono replay, followed by the tonearm, and then the cartridge is also axiomatic, the significance of this perhaps lost in the different tonal balances that result from improperly terminated cartridges (see below).

If, however, this piece serves to reacquaint audiophiles with the mechanical and sonic delights of MM cartridges and the frictionless unipivots that enable them to work at their best, then it's about time too. Perhaps now preamp designers can start putting MM inputs into their designs and add 0-600 pf variable capacitance -- not everyone who runs MM cartridges wants to have to spend $10-20K on a Manley Steelhead or Halcro DM10 just to get this feature -- instead of throwing all the effort (and customers money) at multiple gain-stages and transformers for low-output MCs. In this latter, note that there's no easier way to modify the tonal balance of your phono system than by varying the capacitance seen by a MM and it's a lot easier than changing your loudspeakers.

It also goes without saying that MMs (and MIs) allow cheap, easy changing of styli -- who-on-Earth wants to wrestle a cartridge off of a tonearm every 12 months and put it in the post (only to get a new diamond with the same worn old suspension back, whist risking your tonearm bearings every time you do it)? Similarly, although a Koetsu doubtlessly sounds (ten) grand, at a running cost of ~ $10/hr I'm, not sure that I could ever enjoy my music when I know that the cost of the playing is more than the cost of the record being played...

Ortofan's picture

For only $1K, the Pro-Ject Phono Box RS and the iFi Micro iPhono3 Black Label phono preamps both offer user adjustable load capacitance over a range from 100pF to 500pF.
https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/phono-box-rs/
https://ifi-audio.com/products/micro-iphono3-bl/

davip's picture

100pf is far too high for a minimum (needs to be 0pf), neither auto-mute during selection so neither can be used during listening to tailor response, and the iFi isn't really an audiophile device and doesn't have anything like the necessary reliability (look the latter up).

Ortofan's picture

... offers a load capacitance range from 47pF to over 1300pF.
https://www.lehmannaudio.com/phono-stages/decade.html

davip's picture

...the Lehmann stuffed with opamps and ICs, so again not an audiophile component (or, at least, one that could have been much better without such laziness/economy of design)

Ortofan's picture

... believes in op-amp myths rather than op-amp facts.
https://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/op-amps-myths-facts.html

davip's picture

Nope, and please save your comments for someone who gives a fk what you think -- I didn't ask for your anecdotal, I replied to the Author of the article, not You. Someone tells you that opamps are best as 'Fact' and you believe it. Good for you -- I suppose you think that digital is best too. Reread my 'typical' comment where I say that the amplifier "...could have been much better without such laziness/economy of design" and try to understand what that means -- an opamp is one person's or group of people's idea of what 20 or 30 components sound good together, nothing more, and it has no magical (or 'factual') properties that make it better for that -- it is simply an assemblage of discrete components where the designer doesn't get to choose. If you think that buying an off-the-shelf melange of components all soldered into one indivisible lump is the way to design audiophile components then you are as naive as your unrequested comments make you sound.

Now go and troll someone else.

Jack L's picture

Hi

So please tell us what do YOU know about the "op-amp facts".

I am all ears!

Jack L

Ortofan's picture

... I've been using various preamp, tuner, recorder and digital disc player products that incorporate op-amps and haven't been able to identify any particular shortcomings that relate to their use.

What seems to be your concern with op-amps?

Jack L's picture

..........incorporate op-amps" quoted Ortofan

Hi

So you have been "using various preamps" as a consumer. Apparently your ears were not sensitive or critical enough to tell the sonic difference between preamps/power amps using discrete active devices: transistors, FETS, tubes vs op-amps.

So you don't know at all what are the FACT about the design of an op-amp, correct ?

So why you quoted me some lead to read on the "myth" & "fact" about an op-amps in yr previous post to me when you don't even know what is it all about ?

Am I selling coconuts to an Eskimo who never knows coconut in its life ?

Jack L

jimtavegia's picture

Very curious as I have often thought that My Shure M97 with an upgraded stylus was still too polite. Need some excitement and we will see if $57.88 with shipping from LPGear is it.

Jack L's picture

Hi

I bet you would like it.

Despite I am still playing with my MC cartridge made in Japan, I still play with my vintage AT MM cartridge with CONICAL stylus for its relatively high voltage output@47K load for my design/built low-gain
single-stage RIAA phonostage. They match up flying colour !

It plays demanding fire-cracker music, like Tchaikovsky 1812, etc, no sweat !!

Listening is believing

Jack L

jimtavegia's picture

I'll have to buy that stylus and give it a whirl.

I actually have an older AT conical cart, but I'll have to find out what model it is. Kind of a creamish/light gray stylus plastic front.

Jack L's picture

Hi

My VM gets a white square vertical stylus plastic front. Pretty easy to clean the needle.

Jack L

dc_bruce's picture

is something, but not everything. Among the items listed for their longevity, one could say that their success is due to their pleasing nature (with the exception of the K-Horn, which I have never heard sound "pleasing.")

The virtues of vinyl are easily evident in a modest playback system so long as two criteria are met: lack of turntable noise ("rumble") and reasonably unvarying pitch ("flutter and wow"). Fortunately, those two demons have been well exorcised during the past decades, even with tables at modest -- 3-figure -- prices.

Beyond that, it's about detail and subtlety . . . and personal taste. More money usually buys more of those, but realizing these extra benefits also requires a higher proficiency in setting the table up. So, unless you're Mike Fremer, buying an expensive table/arm/cartridge from a knowledgeable specialist who will set it up for you is probably money well spent.

As for MC vs. MM, I made the switch to MC (plus step-up) some years ago. The difference was not "jaw dropping" and, I found was something of a matter of taste. Unfortunately, the cost of the conversion includes both the cartridge and the step-up. MF's recent glowing review of an MM cartridge in about the price range of my MC, has tempted me to consider going back to MM, rather than investing more in a "better" step-up and MC cartridge. Fortunately, my BAT phonostage has all kind of options for changing resistive and capacitive loading. Years ago, BAT man Victor Khoumenko kindly set me an assortment of parts that plug in to sockets on the circuit board to alter these parameters, with instructions.

With vinyl, once an acceptable level of turntable noise and speed accuracy is reached (which, these days, doesn't require 4-figure money), its more about what you're missing when you don't spend more money.

jimtavegia's picture

not that you needed to hear it from me. I think of how far it has come from my Dual 1209, or the Edison Cylinder. There are almost too many choices for someone getting into vinyl.

There is a great moment in the "Now Hear This" series with Scott Yoo, season 2, about Mozart where an owner of an MBL System has pristine Edison Player and numerous cylinders to play. After that they listen on the MBL System. Oh to be a fly on the wall for that.

DougM's picture

I haven't had a turntable for many years, since eschewing them for the convenience of CDs, once I found my Arcam CD player than didn't sound thin and sterile like most I could afford. But, back in the 70s and 80s when I still had vinyl, I found that my favorite ADC moving magnet cartrdiges, and the AT ones, had more punch and life than the more lauded Shure and Stanton offerings, or the MC ones I heard, which were mostly Ortofon and Denon. And, I couldn't afford a step-up transformer, or be annoyed by a cartridge that had to be sent back to the factory for styli replacement. I also preferred direct drive turntables over belt drive for the same reason, they sounded more exciting, alive, and realistic to me. And, I see that direct drive is now making somewhat of a comeback in audiophile circles, to which I say "It's about time. What took you so long?"

volvic's picture

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this, but I still do have some caveats/questions. I remember these cheaper Audio Technicas were great entry level cartridges, including the Linn K5 that came as a freebie with my LP12 when I bought my first one in 1989. I used it for a few days then installed my trusty Shure V15 MK V MR cartridge. The problem I had with the K5/Audio Technics, was that it sounded a little hot and zingy, if I can use that term with the top end. That is cymbals and high hats sounded a little hi-if-ish with a brightness that at first sounded attractive but over longer listening began to sound fatiguing. I noticed this same brightness today listening to a mono Clifford Brown recording I purchased yesterday from Academy Records in NYC. Through my Cyrus phono signature/PSX-R2 which allows for remote controlled loading changes, a 10db drop in gain resulted in a less bright and less forward sound but more enjoyable over long term listening. Could it be this is the sound that Herb Reichert and others have fallen in love with these cartridges?

It is great that Audio Technica offers different stylus choices for the cartridge in question, as much as I think MC’s are superior and by quite a margin over MM, I too have been using an MM cartridge for the last thirty years because I hate the idea of paying so much for a top tier cartridge, only to have to change the cartridge after 500-1000 hours of playing. Still, I do think on my tonearms with a removal headshell I might be tempted to pay a little more for an MC cartridge, as it is a far more natural sounding than an MM.

MatthewT's picture

For this, I hope you do more of these.

Jack L's picture

.... Listening #186: "I continue to prefer the spherical experience—..." quoted Herb Reichert.

Great minds think alike !

I fully concur with Art's sonic preference to conical stylus: more AIR, more AMBIENCE & more OPEN from my vintage AT-VM MM cartridge with conical stylus than my MC cartridge(Japan origin) with elliptical stylus.

Listening is believing

Jack L

jimtavegia's picture

on my Dual 502 with a Rega 202 (250)arm. Very nice. Cart pins are slightly larger than the ones on my Shure M97.

Sound at least as good as the M97, clear, good bass and probably the best $50 cart I've ever owned. Now to try some styli upgrades. HR was right on about this cart. It may be all that many people need.

brtsai's picture

I kid you not, when properly set up and paired with a quality MM phono stage (e.g. an iFi iPhono2 with iPower Elite), this ~USD$50 cartridge sounds so airy and supple, much like a Koetsu or high-end ZYX. Every vinylphile should get at least one of those into her/his system to see how a cheap cartridge can, in almost every thinkable sonic category, perform better than a lot of super expensive ones. I do have several >USD$10k cartridges for reference, BTW.

darkmatter's picture

A question for the reviewer,
Dear Herb.
Noting that the E3 cart scores a class B rating, have you listened to the E4 and would that sit in class B as well?
Thanks
DM :)

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