September 6, 2025 (Saturday) 23:01

A few years ago, with the help of an old friend who had worked at SUPEX, I obtained cartridge parts produced by Shuihiro Nagata in the 1970s.

Among these parts, the magnetic pole pieces were made of ultra-high-purity iron, and the magnets were found to contain gold and platinum—truly exceptional materials. After half a century of aging, I believe now is the perfect time to put them to use.

Such high-end cartridge cores deserve an equally exceptional cartridge housing. The design theme for the new housing is “resonance control.”

A sandwich structure is a good approach for controlling resonance frequencies, but simply stacking multiple materials is not enough. At a microscopic level, gaps between the layers can still lead to resonance under certain conditions. Therefore, the base material of this housing employs a hybrid process that fuses carbon fiber and gold, eliminating gaps and creating a disordered arrangement. The resulting data is highly promising.

The combination of an MR stylus and a diamond cantilever remains for reading the grooves of vinyl records. This time, however, an upgrade has been made: a partial coating has been applied to the cantilever to reduce its inherent resonance.

Additionally, a highly precise magnetic damping shock absorber has been incorporated. Vibrations generated by the tonearm are dissipated through the movement of a spherical head, while a magnetically driven damping force quickly recenters the sphere without any residual inertia. This was originally an ultra-refined solution designed for another brand, but it ended up being simplified in their implementation. Now, it is being fully utilized in this new cartridge, leaving no room for regret.