AXPONA 2025

At AXPONA, Nagaoka’s Miyuki Nishii and Jie Ma joined Technics’s Bill Voss to present the full line of Nagaoka cartridges. The Japanese manufacturer is currently seeking US distribution, after years of limited availability in the American market due to a less-than-responsive distributor.

Nagaoka’s full cartridge lineup was on display, each model supplied with an included headshell: MP-700H ($1499), MP-500H ($999), MP-300H ($859), MP-200H ($549), MP-150H ($439), MP-110H ($209), MP-100H ($173), and the Jeweltone JT-80BK ($699) and JT-80LB ($279)(80BK and 80LB, cartridge only).

In room 1134, a Nagaoka MP-700H cartridge was fitted to the tonearm of a Technics SL-1300G-K Twin Rotor Coreless turntable ($3299), feeding the Technics SU-R1000 reference digital integrated amplifier ($9999), a beauty I praised in a prior review. Technics SB-G90M2 BDMA loudspeakers ($5999/pair) completed the system.

Listening to Sting’s solo debut, the system sounded dynamic but smooth—sweet in tone, never syrupy, with punch and texture and yet also with an underlying sense of calm. The Technics/Nagaoka pairing handled pop, classical, and world music with equal poise.