MM or MC? This is a very difficult question for someone who is sincerely interested in vinyl records and spends a lot of time listening to them. Which head to choose, which one is better and which one can best reveal the potential of a collection of vinyl records, allowing you to feel the real superiority of analogue sound over digital?
Before we try to understand this tricky question, it’s worth first finding out whether there really are only two types of heads? Contrary to popular belief, there are not two, but more. One way or another, MM and MC pickups make up the vast majority of heads, leaving other exotic types to only a fraction of a percent of the total assortment. Such exotic representatives, for example, include MI (Moving iron) heads from the Grado brand or the top line of pickups from Audio Note, in particular, the Io Ltd model, which instead of 4 contacts for connection requires 2 more additional ones for connecting an external power supply heads. Although such technological tricks have their place, they are not able to shift the usual MM and MC pickups to the side, since some do not have a clearly expressed sound superiority, while others are overly expensive and unavailable. For these reasons, we will focus our attention on the usual types of pickups and try to understand all the intricacies of this difficult choice.
The operating principle of both types of pickup heads is based on the same physical phenomenon, discovered in August 1831 by Michael Faraday and called electromagnetic induction. Of course, Faraday himself at that time did not think about pickup heads and attached a completely different meaning to his invention, because the discovery of sound recording and, especially, sound reproduction was still far away. More than 90 years later, in the mid-1920s, attempts to improve gramophones and gramophones, which had already become popular at that time, forced us to remember the principles of electromagnetic induction. Thus began the era of electromechanical sound recording and reproduction.
In order not to clutter your consciousness with physical terms and formulas, I will tell you about the principles of electromagnetic induction in simple language, this will be more than enough to understand how it works. Faraday noticed that if a stationary conductor in the form of a closed circuit is placed in an alternating magnetic field, then an electric current appears in it. Exactly the same effect was observed when placing a moving conductor (circuit) in a constant magnetic field. Now it’s even simpler: a permanent magnet will be responsible for the magnetic field, and a piece of wire twisted into a spiral, the beginning and end of which are connected to each other, will be responsible for the conductor. So, we have a permanent magnet and a piece of wire in front of us, but nothing happens (no current appears in the wire), since for the current to appear it is required:
- Or a stationary conductor and an alternating field (the field moves relative to the conductor). We take a magnet and move it over a conductor - a current appears!
- Or a constant (stationary) field and a moving conductor (the conductor moves relative to the field). In this case, we take a conductor and move it over a stationary magnet - there is current again!
Thus, by moving a conductor relative to a magnet or a magnet relative to a conductor, mechanical movement can be converted into an electrical signal - this is precisely the principle that underlies the operating principle of modern pickup heads.
In fact, the insides of any of the MM and MS heads consist of the same magnet and conductor, forming a kind of “tandem”. The magnets are very small, and the conductors are made in the form of miniature coils. One of the participants in this “tandem” is attached to the fixed body of the pickup head, and the second is attached to the base of the needle holder (cantilever), on the side opposite to the one that holds the diamond needle and slides along the surface of the record, reading musical information from it. As you can see, one of the participants in the “tandem” is motionless, and the second moves (vibrates, trembles) along with the vibration of the needle holder and the needle, which reads the irregularities of the sound groove - everything is exactly as it was with Faraday, one moves relative to the other, and an electric current is obtained!
So, the similarity between MM and MC heads is clear - they both convert the mechanical vibrations of the needle into electrical signals using magnets and coils. The difference lies in which particular participant of the “tandem” is mobile relative to the second. In MM-type heads, the magnet is movable; it is mounted on a “trembling” needle holder (hence the abbreviation MM (Moving Magnet) “moving magnet”), which is relatively stationary on the coil body. Conversely, in MC-type heads, the movable coil (MC (Moving Coil) is a “moving coil”), moving together with the needle holder relative to stationary magnets.
Now that Faraday's discovery has lifted the veil of secrecy over the process of extracting sound from the soundtrack of a record, we are moving to the next level of knowledge, where inertia will be the key concept for us. Inertia is the ability of bodies to maintain a state of motion or rest until an external influence changes this state. The amount of inertia is tied to the mass of the body. The greater the body mass, the greater the inertia. The greater the inertia of the body, the more difficult and longer the process of changing its state. A simple example: compare a multi-ton KamAZ loaded with crushed stone and a small passenger car. Kamaz has much greater inertia than a passenger car; it is much more difficult for it to accelerate at the start and no less difficult to brake quickly at the finish line, while a passenger car does not have such problems. Due to significantly lower inertia, a passenger car (compared to a loaded KamAZ) is more maneuverable, can accelerate sharply and brake quickly - it is much easier for it to track the road with its bends and turns. The situation is exactly the same with pickup heads - the smaller the mass of the moving part of the head, the lower its inertia, the easier it is for it to track the smallest details of the sound track, and therefore, in theory, to extract more musical information from it. As a rule, the mass of moving parts of the head is less for MC-type pickups. This is due to the fact that a coil is involved in the moving part of the MS heads (the magnet is fixedly fixed to the body), and in the vast majority of cases it is lighter than the magnet involved in the moving part of the MM type heads.
It turns out that, in theory, MC pickups should give a more detailed and accurate sound with all the nuances present in the recording, and MM pickups should be inferior to them in this regard. A logical question: if there is a clear advantage of MC heads over MM heads, then why produce less advanced pickups? It's time to remember the saying about two sides of the coin.
To reduce the mass of the moving system of MS pickups and reduce inertia, it is necessary to reduce the number of turns of wire on the coil, and the smaller the number of turns of the moving coil, the weaker the output signal. On average, the output signal of an MC pickup is 5-10 times weaker than that from an MM head (there are exceptions, for example, MC heads with a high output or, conversely, with a very low one). What's the catch and what does it threaten?
To feed an audio signal from a record player to an amplifier, it must first be amplified to a certain level. Pre-amplification of the signal from the record player is one of several functions of a phono stage. Considering the 5-10-fold difference in the output signal level of MM and MC heads, the latter require a higher gain, which means more complex phono stage circuits with a larger number of elements. The more complex the electrical circuit, the more internal (its own) noise and distortion it has, which means the greater the chance that this noise will become part of the music being played. This sounds scary in theory, but in practice these noises can be unnoticeable to the listener, especially with high-quality equalizers. To further solve this problem, step-up MC transformers that do not have active and reactive elements in their composition have become widespread, but we will talk about them in a separate article. By the way, returning to the theoretically greater detail of the sound of MC heads, we cannot exclude the possibility that the long-awaited “musical details” may turn out to be record defects (scratches, debris and dust in the tracks), which the MM head could possibly “slip through”, making the sound less detailed , but cleaner. The profile of the diamond stylus will also play a significant role in the character of the sound, but it is better to talk about this separately.
As you can see, in both cases there are both advantages and disadvantages that do not allow you to make a clear decision in choosing the type of pickup. However, all of this is theoretical reasoning about what sound features different types of heads have, based on logical reasoning, physical laws and personal subjective listening experience. All of the above allows you to understand the meaning of the ongoing processes and direct your initial thoughts in the right direction, suggesting what is worth paying attention to.
It is worth noting that at the moment, the differences (in parameters) between the heads are rapidly decreasing. Some manufacturers of MS cartridges, by enlarging the coils and using more powerful magnets, have launched lines of high-output MS heads, the task of which is to preserve some of the advantages of MS technology, while eliminating some of its disadvantages. The standard output voltage of most MC heads ranges from 0.04 to 0.8 mV, while high-output MC heads can output up to 3.3 mV (for example, the Ortofon MC 1 Turbo cartridge). To be fair, it is worth noting that as the output voltage increases, the MC head begins to lose its advantages over the MM pickup. The output voltage of MM heads ranges from 3.5mV to 7.2mV. As you can see, the border between MS with high output and MM with low output is very illusory.
Despite the fact that we tried to most fully cover the topic of comparing heads, this is only the “tip of the iceberg”, since in addition to the type of head, its electrical and sound characteristics are influenced by the materials of conductors and magnets, the shape of the sharpening of the diamond needle and much more that we We will try to cover it in other articles on the topic of vinyl.
Author: Maxim Shmelkov
MM or MS?
MM or MS?
The man who many years ago initiated me into the mysteries of vinyl admonished me: “If you take you to some forums, you read about tonearms - don’t trust anyone. I have given you a wonderful combination of a lightweight tonearm with a vintage pliable head - listen, enjoy. And if you start, like some, suffering from bullshit - endlessly changing heads and tonearms - you’ll get exhausted, waste your money, and the sound won’t get any better.”
I trusted my mentor, but after three years I finally succumbed to curiosity and tested six or seven good players with MC cartridges. I will not list them, and I will only say that the mentor’s rightness was then completely confirmed. I liked the sound of all the tested players, except one, less than the sound of a turntable assembled by my mentor with a vintage MM cartridge and a lightweight tonearm. And the only MC cartridge that was superior to MM on records released after 1984, at the same time, reproduced the music of the 70s in too much detail, making it seem to fall apart into its components. And that MC cartridge cost four times more than my entire first turntable - in the photo below: my first turntable with an ADC XLM mk II Improved cartridge on a Mayware Formula IV tonearm.
At that time, I was ready to shout at every corner that “vintage pliable heads on lightweight tonearms are the absolute vinyl truth,” and I was no longer going to spend another minute of time testing the MC. Later, however, I delved into this topic with professional thoroughness, tried many cartridges on a variety of tonearms, and now my “absolute vinyl truth” regarding MM and MC can be formulated in ten theses:
THESIS ONE:
In the budget segment under $1000 per cartridge, combining the best vintage MM heads with high compliance and lightweight tonearms truly produces the best sound. Provided that you do not listen to symphonic music and Heavy Metal of the second half of the 80s, when the grooves on records began to be recorded more densely, and LPs began to contain more than 50 minutes of music. The photo below shows the most budget player from hiendmusic, assembled according to this principle - it costs just over $800.
Victor TT71 with Grace 745 tonearm and ADC XLM cartridge
THESIS TWO:
Some MCs in a budget of up to $1000 can play symphonic music and late metal better than vintage MMs, but all other music will play worse. Example: Denon DL103R. The combination of vintage MMs and inexpensive MCs on one player (a table with two tonearms) allows you to solve the problem of high-quality reproduction of any records with little money. The photo below shows a table with two tonearms from hiendmusic: a twelve-inch Moerch DP6 for a vintage, flexible MM head for rock music, and a heavy SAEC WE407 for a low-flex, vintage Fidelity Research MC head for classical music.
THESIS THREE:
With a budget of 1000-1500 dollars per cartridge, you can choose MC heads that can produce approximately the same results as the best vintage MMs, but they will present symphonic music and late metal more advantageously. Based on this, buying an MC cartridge for $1000 may be more profitable than a combination of a vintage MM and an inexpensive MC on a turntable with two tonearms. At the same time, the capabilities of a player with two tonearms are wider, and the results with it are more interesting. medium-weight tonearms and Audio Technica ART9 for lightweight tonearms.
THESIS FOUR:
With a budget starting from $3,500 per cartridge, you can purchase an MC head that will be better in EVERY REPRESENTATION than any MM head on any tonearm, and will give a fundamentally better result in all aspects of sound reproduction. You can read more about such cartridges in the article REVIEW OF TOP PHONO CARTRIDGES. You can listen to test recordings from such cartridges by downloading DSD files on the TEST DIGITALS page.
THESIS FIFTH:
There are few successful MC pickups in any price category, and there is a high probability of purchasing a cartridge that will be worse than a vintage MM, and will cost 10 times more. The article REVIEW OF TOP PHONO CARTRIDGES describes the most outstanding MC cartridges, indicating their features and genre preferences.
THESIS SIX:
Even very successful cartridges are often genre-specific, and an expensive MC cartridge that is great for classical music can be terrible for rock. At the same time, narrow-genre cartridges reproduce “their” musical genres better than any others, so top-end turntables, as a rule, have 2-3 tonearms with different cartridges. Now on the turntable in my workshop there are three tonearms with cartridges for old rock, late rock and classical music. All three are MS.
THESIS SEVEN:
The MC cartridge requires the connection of a step-up transformer, and by using top models, you can improve the stage depth by an order of magnitude and make the sound truly fundamental. It is impossible to get anything like this with MM cartridges. At the same time, top models of step-up transformers cost no less than top-end cartridges. Thus, a good tract with an MC cartridge can cost 10 or more times more than a very decent MM tract.
THESIS EIGHT:
If we take a master recording on an analog tape as a standard, and a vinyl record as a copy of this standard, then the reproduction of records with the best MM cartridges turns out to be very close to master tapes in terms of tonal balance, but is noticeably inferior to them in detail, airiness and articulation of the music. Most other MM cartridges that are not included in the “Gallery of Fame” reproduce records in such a way that, compared to master tapes, the sound is not only washed out, but also highly colored - with one or another shift in the tonal balance. One can safely add to the “Gallery of Fame” one more cartridge that is not highly flexible and does not require ultra-light tonearms - Victor X1. I highly recommend this head for turntables with tonearms whose effective mass is 9-14 g.
THESIS NINE:
Most MC cartridges reproduce vinyl with less loss in detail and airiness, relative to the master tape, than MM cartridges, but greatly shift the tonal balance, introducing a peculiar color - the “voice of the cartridge”. Some cartridges make the sound cold, others warm, others color it, others add a little equalization... Sometimes the color of the cartridge suits the music being played very well, sometimes it doesn’t. For example, the bright and joyful sound of Clearaudio cartridges is great for Mozart's music, but these cartridges make the sound of aggressive musical genres a little strange.
THESIS TEN:
The best MC cartridges reproduce vinyl with almost no loss and no coloration relative to the master tape. In this case, the sound of a record player with a record comes close to the sound of a reel-to-reel tape recorder with a master tape at 38 speed. This is a stunning sound that absolutely everyone likes, regardless of taste differences. And it is the most correct one. Unfortunately, there are only a few such cartridges and they are the most expensive.
You can verify the validity of the above theses by going to the TEST DIGITIZATIONS PAGE , where enough examples have been collected to confirm the above.
To decide whether to install an MM or MS cartridge on a player, you don’t need to weigh all the points and rack your brains. It is enough to determine a budget that is comfortable for yourself, because in the end the choice depends only on it.
In a budget of up to 1,100 per cartridge, it’s better not to think about MS heads. In this budget there are no MC heads that would outperform the best MMs - Shure V15, Victor X1, ADC XLM, Empire 4000. You should not be deluded by buying inexpensive used MC cartridges on eBay - unlike the listed MMs, MC cartridges do not have needles that can be replaced, and the risk of buying a damaged head completely negates the possible benefits of the purchase. Your humble servant bought vintage MC cartridges several times for testing, and in almost half of the cases he ended up with “dead” heads.
If you are ready to spend 1,100 or more on a cartridge, then you can already think about MS. This budget sells very good Audio Technica AT33 for tonearms of medium effective mass and Audio Technica ART9 for light tonearms. A good step-up transformer will cost almost the same amount - for example, Fidelity Research XF1 or Audio Technica AT1000 from vintage ones or Ypsilon from modern ones. The vinyl path with these cartridges will play with more detail and energy than with the best vintage MM heads. Records with classical symphonic music and late vinyl, starting from the second half of the 80s, will be played noticeably better. But in general, the difference in sound compared to the best MM cartridges will not be so dramatic that an overpayment of several times can be considered completely justified.
The costs of an MC cartridge begin to fully justify themselves, starting from the threshold of 3,000 - a budget in which you can already focus on the best cartridges, the sound of which is an order of magnitude superior to any MM. A REVIEW OF TOP PHONO CARTRIDGES will help you navigate, and Hiendmusic is always ready to help you purchase any cartridge you are interested in with a discount of 20 to 30%, depending on the model.
The cartridge opens fully only on a good tonearm. Numerous tests have shown that the best tonearms today are SME and MORCH - I highly recommend equipping the player with tonearms from these brands.
You will get more information about which records can be played with MM cartridges, and which ones definitely need a MS, by reading the article MASTERING A RECORD AND TWO TONEARMS . This article introduces the concepts of analog mastering and digital mastering. For records with analog mastering, you can use good vintage MM cartridges - the same ADC XLM or Victor X1. The sound will be less developed than with the best MC cartridges , but very decent. But for good playback of digitally mastered records, you only need an MC cartridge. Anyone, at least Denon DL103R .
For more detailed information, please contact us for a personal consultation by writing to [email protected]
You can also evaluate various MC cartridges in my workshop and listen to the top vinyl circuit in our Huge Sound showroom.
The Huge Sound showroom is a place where music sounds perfect!
How to choose an MC pickup head?
April 10, 2022
The correct choice of MC pickup head is a significant contribution to the sound of the entire audio system. When selecting a head, follow the recommendations of experts.
Practice shows that the budget allocated for the pickup head is 5-10% of the cost of the entire audio system. However, it can be argued that the entire electronic-mechanical part of the system (with the main role of the turntable) serves only to create ideal conditions for the head to follow the groove of the record and read musical information. It is the cartridge, a small electromechanical device with a microprocessor, that communicates to your entire audio system the information hidden in the 800-meter groove of a typical analog disc.
And if your budget is set, carefully study these three points before purchasing:
- Price-quality ratio
- Head compatibility with tonearm and phono stage
- Needle tip shape
Price-quality ratio
MC pickup heads are more complex and more expensive than MM. MC pickups allow for more faithful reproduction of music. Moving coil (MC) pickups use the same physical principle as moving magnet (MM), but the magnets remain stationary and the coils move.
Moving coil pickups have much less moving mass than moving magnet cartridges. This factor gives them better groove tracking and better transient response. Due to the nature of their design, moving coil cartridges have a permanent stylus that lasts approximately 1000 hours, and if it becomes necessary to replace it, the cartridge will have to be sent to the manufacturer.
The cost of high-quality MC heads is high and varies from $2,500 to tens of thousands of dollars. Therefore, when choosing an MS head, the price/quality parameter comes to the fore.
You may ask, why spend so much money on something that will only last 1000 hours, and besides, it can accidentally break? A similar question: “Why buy good tires if they wear out quickly?” “Because good tires can save my life, but a pickup is unlikely,” you object. But isn't quality of life (the pleasure of listening to music) at the top of our list of priorities?
Head compatibility with tonearm and phono stage
The topic of matching the tonearm with the cartridge head was discussed in a previous article. Let's move on to selecting a phono stage.
The output voltage of the MC pickups ranges from 0.15 mV to 2.5 mV. Such a wide range of output voltage requires matching the gain of the phono stage with the output voltage of the pickup.
There are many phono preamps designed for both MM and MC pickup types. For example, the Ypsilon VPS 100 tube phono preamplifier. Some preamplifiers are designed only for MC or only for MM. There are those that are designed specifically for “medium” output voltage heads. On the other hand, there are also high-performance MC heads. Some phono preamps allow you to adjust the phono gain, allowing you to choose from a wide range of heads with different output levels. High-performance MC heads typically require 36-44 dB gain, average needs are 48-52 dB, and low-level designs require 58-70 dB.
Generally, MC phono preamps for low output cartridges can be configured with different "resistive" load values to choose from. The resistive load affects the high-frequency performance of MC designs, so its values are important. Typical load values are 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 ohms. Most phono stages have a switch that allows you to easily change the values. Sometimes tiny switches located inside the device regulate the load automatically. In any case, you need to check your MM/MC phono stage to see how these adjustments are made.
Needle tip shape: spherical, elliptical, linear
There is a wide variety of pickup needle shapes. They can be divided into three classes: spherical, elliptical and linear. It is believed that spherical needles are basic - more affordable and easier to use. They are more durable than elliptical and linear ones, since they provide the least surface contact, but do not demonstrate the same high musical information content as elliptical and linear ones.
The elliptical shape closely matches the recorder stylus configuration, avoiding bending distortion and push-out effects. It also allows better tracking of high frequency modulation and distributes pressure over a larger area, which reduces record wear. The classic elliptical stylus was designed by Yoshiaki Sugano, the legendary Koetsu pickup maker. It's called Vital and is shaped like a rugby ball.
Linear "micro line" or "micro ridge" needles are more difficult to manufacture than elliptical or spherical needles, so they are more expensive. It is these needles that are capable of precise groove tracking. The linear profile of the diamond stylus tip on the Phasemation PP-1000 and Phasemation PP-2000 cartridges has a curvature of 0.03 x 0.003 mm. And the unique Microridge stylus, polished into an unusual shape with a microscopic comb, belongs to the Ikeda Kai and Ikeda Sai heads. The Microridge tip has tiny grooves on both sides of the tip. As the stylus wears, the micro-ridge retains its shape, so the interaction between the stylus and the sound groove remains the same.
We wish you pleasant listening! Hi-End Center
