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The Cartridge Man MusicMaker Classic Phono
Cartridge
Page 2
 Timbral
naturalness extended throughout the string
family: violins, violas, cellos and double
bass equally clear and unmistakable,
maintaining their clarity even when playing in
their over-lapping ranges. This was true for
non-orchestral music as well. Ron Carter’s use
of the piccolo bass on the live Piccolo
album was clearly differentiated from Buster
Williams’ double bass. It was also clear that
Carter’s instrument was not a cello, that its
timbre and tonal color lie somewhere between
the two.
Rock electric guitar was equally clearly
rendered: the differences among Fender
Telecasters and Stratocasters, the Les Paul
guitars and the Gretsch Country Gentleman, and
the amps and effects pedals used with them,
were instantly identifiable. The specific
acoustic guitar that Bruce Cockburn uses on
Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws, an
instrument whose live sound I know very well,
sounded identical on the recording.
Human voice was unimpeachable, as were the
principle instrumental Jazz voices – the
saxophones. Reveling in some of my favorite
vocalists - Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples,
Joe Cocker and Steve Winwood – was as easy as
Being; the hard reeds John Coltrane used
during a certain period in his playing were
obvious, I could almost hear the olive in Paul
Desmond’s ‘dry martini’ alto sax sonority.
The entire drum family, from kettledrum to
drum kit to tabla, and the various means by
which they were struck, were equally clear.
Percussion instruments of all kinds were
reproduced with such a clarity and revelation
of tonal color, the telling result of the
cartridge’s superb high-frequency resolution
and delicacy, that moving-coil devotees will
have to abandon their assumption that only
moving coil cartridges are worth considering.
The Classic’s ability to convey multiple
percussion devices yet still maintain
individual focus was exceptional.
Especially worth noting is the Classic’s
remarkable ability to portray tonal color, a
standard device of the composer’s art.
Moreover, the Classic was able to portray this
delicate synesthetic effect even through
solid-state amplification, thus obviating the
absolute need to use tube electronics to
render timbre, sonic signature, and tonal
color completely and naturally. The texture of
a piece of music – its weaving of timbre and
tonal color – was immediately understandable.
Although the five-point formula allows one to
analyze individual aspects of audio
reproduction, it separates elements that are,
as psycho-acoustic phenomena and as technical
audio electronic principles, inter-related.
Thus, while we can mentally separate Which
instrument is playing from Where it is
playing, in the mechanics of psycho-acoustic
perception, the Where is ascertained
first, followed so immediately in time by
perception of pitch and the instrument making
the musical sound that the whole aural
phenomenon seems to arise instantaneously.
This transient envelope of the note (and its
mechanical/electrical correlatives of rise
time, slew rate, lack of overshoot and
transient ringing, time/phase distortion,
amplitude/dynamic tracking, and harmonic and
intermodulation distortions) determines both
our identification of the instrument and its
placement in space. Given the MusicMaker
Classic’s superior recreation of the timbre,
sonic signature, and tonal color of
instruments, it’s not surprising that the
Classic’s soundstage reproduction is equally
superior.
Compared to the MusicMaker III, the Classic
presents a wider soundstage with greater
distance between instruments placed within
that stage. The individual focus on the
instrument is more precise and the instrument
more highly defined, as is the space
surrounding the instrument. The soundstage is
equally well constructed in all its
dimensions, with all parts of it in focus.
This roughly correlates to orchestral sound
perceived from the first five rows of a hall
compared to that of, say, the 25th row or the
1st row of the first balcony. Since one of the
prime boons of audio listening is that
everyone can have a private performance and
sit front and center, the Classic’s
perspective is welcome. This correlation is
only rough, however, as recording microphones
do not exactly duplicate the live front row
perspective.
The Classic fully captures the ambiance of the
performance hall: the ambient ‘sound’ of the
hall, even when no sound is being struck, has
a tangible presence that closely captures live
experience. Sounds emerge effortlessly and
naturally from the acoustic of the room and
then fade back into its ambience. (You can
insert your own rant here about how “Sounds
Emerging from a Black Background” is actually
a gross distortion.) Very quiet sounds
energize only a small portion of air; swelling
sounds swell and expand that volume; full
fortes naturally fill it. The speed and
ease of how an instrument bursts into sound
resembles more the natural than the
artificially constructed. The decay of notes
and the reverberations of that decay in the
venue’s acoustic are impressively life-like.
The ambience of the acoustic leaps into
perception as the stylus finishes the lead-in
groove and then abruptly collapses when the
track is finished.
The musical value of the Classic’s superb and
life-like rendering of timbre, stereophony,
and the ambiance of the recording venue is
that the mind wastes no energy on basic
perceptual orientation or identification, and
can therefore fully focus its attention to the
music.
It is also clear that the canvas upon which
the Classic paints is larger than that of the
LP. The Classic has no problem differentiating
groove rumble from extra-musical sounds of the
recording venue, and separating both from
nearly sub voce double bass notes.
Similarly, variations in recording quality,
album pressing, and the amount of wear on a
used LP are open to perception. The difference
that The Disc Doctor Record Cleaner and Stylus
Cleaner make on the rendition of fine detail
is fully apparent. Most importantly, the
Classic resolves these aspects without being
sterilely clinical or puncturing the illusion
of the recording.
And Now
For Something Really Important
True to its name, the MusicMaker Classic
excels at making music, organizing
sounds into musically meaningful and
communicative patterns, revealing all the
devices of the music-making art. Its ability
to organize time is first-rate: tempo, pulse,
rhythm and meter are laid out precisely and
with free-flowing clarity: rigid and
monotone-like if the music demands it,
swinging and free-hipped if the music demands
that. It can articulate all the rhythms
in polyrhythmic West African music, clearly
distinguish the complex pattern of repeating
rhythmic motifs in Near Eastern and Indian
Classical music, nail the Second Line rhythms
of New Orleans, reveal the subtleties of “in
the pocket” drumming, spotlight the virtuosity
of Jazz master drummers, let you smell The
Funk, and capture the idiomatic lope of Reggae
rhythms. The sense of the instruments playing
together, their sense of flow, and their
entrance at precisely the right time is
similarly excellent. Particularly striking is
the Classic’s ability to track even the
slowest of tempos and still maintain the flow
of the musical progress. Slow movements in
symphonies benefit enormously. It doesn’t
matter what manner of physical manifestation
the rhythmic aspects of the music inspire:
from internal cerebral marking of time, to the
classic Linn foot-tapping, to advanced
leg/knee bouncing, to full-out head-bopping,
arm-flailing, backbone-flipping, hip-shaking
exuberance. The Classic handles them all. This
cartridge can dance.
Its eloquence and diction allows the flow of
melody to unfold coherently, accentuating the
right notes, punctuating and accenting
phrases, grouping phrases into larger
statements and clearly revealing the harmonies
used. The structures of classical musical
forms are clearly laid out to the
understanding. Comprehension of lyrics is also
first-rate.
The cartridge’s dynamic prowess is also
outstanding, clearly revealing the exact
amplitude of each note in each musical line,
and the variations in the volume of those
notes. Large amplitude dynamics are quick and
powerful: the Classic has the rare ability to
track the low-level signal concealed within
every loud sonic event and its way of
extracting full dynamic nuance in piano
and pianissimo playing is revelatory.
Moreover the cartridge can track the exact
volume of each instrument playing in an
ensemble simultaneously, leading to an extreme
clarity of intent of the musical ensemble.
Roy Gandy of Rega once stated that the prime
determiner of the difference between good LP
playback and the so-so is the ability to
portray subtlety. By this criterion, the
Classic ranks as great: its low-level
resolution, its ‘footroom,’ delicacy, nuance,
and ability to portray the most subtle of
musical information is simply stellar. The
last movement of Vaughan Williams’ Sixth
Symphony (which on the Boult performance
begins Side Two and leads into The Lark
Ascending) is a masterpiece of delicate
scoring whose quality and meaning is often
lost by mediocre playback. Set in the slowest
of tempos and never rising above piano
in volume, it trades delicate melodic themes
to a variety of close-sounding instruments in
the woodwind family, along with delicate
strings and occasional fragments from the
double bass, intertwining and unfolding,
building its tension with the gentlest of
volume changes and modal harmonies. The
Classic unraveled this movement more
completely and more accurately than any other
cartridge I have played it on in 26 years of
listening to it. It clarified every detail and
nuance of the composition and performance: I
listened transfixed, almost forgetting to
breathe.
 James
Joyce, in Portrait of the Artist As a Young
Man, describes the aesthetic experience as
similarly transfixing: “The mind is arrested.”
This arresting, transfixing effect on the mind
leads to a kind of trance in which one is
wholly lost in the music, following its every
turn and change; seeming at times, to be
creating it oneself. This aesthetic arresting
of the consciousness occurred consistently
when listening to the Classic; the cartridge
is truly spell-binding. Along with the
physical manifestations of its superior
rhythmic abilities and the sheer
expressiveness of its music making, its
spell-casting abilities resulted in those
shivers up and down the spine and neck that
writers and poets have described as the true
sign of poetry, being in presence of the Muse,
or the physical symptom of the experience of
the Sublime. These deep and intense aesthetic
experiences occurred consistently with the
Classic. Moreover they occurred with all kinds
and genres of music. This is by far the
Classic’s greatest achievement and an
extremely rare achievement for any audio
component: direct access to the aesthetic
experience of music.
Getting
This Bird To Sing
Compared to its affable, more Golden
Retriever-like older brother, the MusicMaker
Classic is a bit higher-strung, more
persnickety, and more demanding of its
ancillary equipment. Obviously, it demands
high-resolution, full bandwidth, rhythmically
adept, and musically expressive partnering
gear. Its footroom and low-level detail
capabilities positively bloom when the entire
system is isolated by the finest isolation
devices. I used the Townshend Seismic Sinks
under the turntables and the Stillpoints
Universal Resonance Dampers under the
electronics and speakers.
Otherwise excellent phono stages that worked
superbly with other cartridges, including the
MusicMaker III, revealed their limitations
when faced with the Classic’s higher
resolution, delicacy of high frequency
information, greater dynamic swing and
enormous increase in low-level detail. For one
example, the Graham Slee Era V Gold did not
fully reveal all the differences between the
III and the Classic. Fortunately, its $300
more expensive new brother, the $1260 Reflex,
had no problems. The Reflex was one of the
phono stages that Leonard Gregory used in the
development of the Classic: it is a superb
match. The Acoustic Signature Tango, at $600,
revealed its status as a high-resolution
budget champion. The phono stages of the
Meitner PA6i PLUS+, Hegeman HAPI One, and the
antique 1960 all-tube EICO ST84 preamps were
fully able to reveal the Classic’s magic.
Interconnects suffered the same fate. The
$140/meter budget king, the DNM/Reson Solid
Core, glossed over some of the Classic’s
resolution and detail. Again fortunately, the
Origin Live Reference interconnect, at
$250/meter, revealed it completely.
Tonearm choice is a bit more complicated, as
Mr. Gregory’s Isolator, which de-couples the
cartridge from the arm by means of a
“sandwich” whose innards consist of a
state-of-the-art damping material, has forced
a paradigm shift in the way tonearms are
evaluated. Simplified, The Isolator, at the
very least, doubles the quality of any
given tonearm. “At the very least” because The
Isolator’s ability to eliminate the subtle
mechanical signature of LP playback, rendering
the sound more like Open Reel than LP, is
attained by few tonearms at any price.
Assuming competent and non-corrupting bearing
design and construction, the difference in
tonearm quality is largely the way the arm
handles the extra-musical mechanical
resonances that accompany the movement of the
stylus in the groove. Since The Isolator
prevents these unwanted resonances from
entering the arm tube in the first place, and
prevents other resonances transmitted from the
table, environment, or placement from entering
the cartridge down through the tonearm, much
of the additional price, complication, and
difficulty of producing a truly neutral arm is
obviated and made redundant.
The Classic was developed largely with The
Cartridge Man’s new air-bearing,
linear-tracking Conductor tonearm. Only my
lack of a suitable test turntable, lack of
logistics in hiding the air pump, and some
intimidation of setting up a frictionless arm
kept me from trying The Conductor with the
Classic. The Hadcock GH 242 Cryo uni-pivot
arm, to which Leonard Gregory had considerable
design input, was a wonderful match: one of
the reference standards for the playback of
classical music. Origin Live’s modification of
the Rega RB 250 and RB300 arms, by far the
most musically communicative and adroit of all
the Rega arm modifications, captured quite a
bit of the Classic’s magic when used with The
Isolator, especially its superb drive,
dynamics and rhythmic clarity. Spending an
additional $235, however, over the price of a
new modified Origin Live OL1 gets one the
Origin Live Silver tonearm, now entering its
Mark II incarnation. Even in its now obsolete
Silver 250 configuration this arm was a
terrific match with the Classic. The new $935
Silver MkII is even better. I consider the
Origin Live Silver to be the least expensive
arm that does full justice to the Classic. My
comments in this review are based on the
performance of the Classic mounted with The
Isolator in the Origin Live Silver and
Conqueror tonearms.
The Isolator requires roughly a quarter-inch
increase in arm height to compensate for it
when setting the VTA/SRA. Very stiff cartridge
tag arm wire must be dressed carefully so that
the wire doesn’t torque or lever the cartridge
away from The Isolator’s adhesive. The
cartridge’s superior focus is immediately
obvious when its VTA/SRA is correct. Equally
obvious is the change when LP thickness
changes correct alignment. The Ringmat LP
Support System made compensating for VTA
changes easy. Because The Isolator makes such
an enormous contribution to the naturalness
and organic unity of the Classic’s
performance, it’s best to consider the two as
one unit.
The MusicMaker Classic is the exemplar for
communication of the artistic intent, musical
expressiveness, and true-to-life sonic
reproduction of musical performances. As such,
its value is priceless. Its $1750 price,
allied to the fact that ancillary components
of roughly similar price will reveal its
stupendous abilities, means that true music
lovers will actually be able to own and
experience it without the irrational “Soak the
Rich” perversities of The High End.
Congratulations, and deep thanks, to Leonard
Gregory for so fully opening the doors to all
music: the MusicMaker Classic is a true
masterpiece. It is a privilege to introduce
this wonderful cartridge to all music lovers.
It is a classic in all senses of the word.
Paul Szabady
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Specifications:
Variable-reluctance stereo phono cartridge
with line-contact stylus and silver coils.
Output: 4.0 mV output
Loading: 47K ohms (not capacitance sensitive.)
Tracking Force: 1.6 grams.
VTA/SRA Alignment: Front face of cartridge
perpendicular to record surface (viewed from
the side.)
Price: $1750 (price
includes The Isolator)
Address:
The Cartridge Man
88, Southbridge Road,
Croydon, Surrey.
CRO 1AF, England. UK.
Tel/Fax: +44 (0)208 688 6565
E-mail: the
cartridgeman@btinternet.com
Website:
http://www.thecartridgeman.com
US Distribution:
Bill Feil
AudioFeil International
9405 Meriul Lane
Clarence Center
New York
14032
716-400-6177
audiofeil@cs.com
http://www.audiofeil.com/index.html
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