The Cartridge Man : Music Maker MK3 MM Phono Cartridge

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The Cartridge Man

 

 

Music Maker MK3 MM Phono Cartridge

 

 

Introduction Specifications Magazine Review Excerpts

 

Music Maker MK3 - MM Phono Cartridge

 

The Music Maker cartridge mounted on a Schroder DPS tonearm / Scheu Premier MK3 turntable

Music Maker mounted on Schroder DPS tonearm

 

Music Maker MK3 - Introduction

 

The Cartridge Man : Music Maker MM Cartridge

The Cartridge Man : Music Maker MM Cartridge

 

 

 

Click to enlarge photos

The Cartridge Man : Music Maker MM Cartridge

 

Soundscape HiFi Comments:

The Music Maker MK3 is what we believe to be the best MM phono cartridge in the market today.  In a good system, they will put many MC cartridges to shame. 

 

However, in the words of The Cartridge Man in response to a review - "I am utterly delighted that you hit the spot absolutely when you withdrew from comparing the Music Maker to high end moving coil devices, it is totally different, you're right, it would be comparing disparate items - meaningless."

 

Indeed, an MM is entirely different from an MC.  An MM has certain strengths that MCs will find difficult to surpass, and vice versa. 

In our experience with the Music Maker MK3, however, it has addressed the weakness of many MM cartridges, extracting much more detail than the rest of its kind, yet remaining superb and liquid in the midrange, a hallmark of good MM cartridges. 

 

In this sense, one would never know an MM cartridge was being played, but rather a good MC with a superlative midrange.  Many of our customers have fallen for this, concrete proof of its resolving capabilities.

 

Read on for more ...

 

The Music Maker mounted on a

Schroder Model 2 tonearm / Scheu Cello turntable

Scheu Cello with The Cartridge Man Music Maker

 

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Music Maker MK3 - Specifications

 

  • Output voltage:- 4mV
  • Frequency response:- 10Hz - 50KHz
  • Stereo separation:- >25dB across 10Hz to 30KHz range
  • Loading requirement:- 47K Ohm (standard moving magnet)
  • Cartridge weight:- 6.2g
  • Stylus type:- proprietory extended contact area diamond
  • Tracking force:- 1.58g +/- 0.05g (critical)
  • Arm requirement:- medium to low mass (13g or less)
  • Bias (anti-skate) requirements:- minimal

 

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Music Maker MK2 / MK3 - Review Excerpts

 
 

HiFi-News

Awards 2005 Issue

 

Music Maker MK3

Hi-Fi News Awards 2005 - Music Maker MK3

Hi-Fi News Awards 2005

Cartridges

 

 

From one of the UK's most respected and longest established high-end Hi-Fi magazines:

 

The Music Maker MK3 cartridge one again garners the top award for phono cartridges.  This is the 2nd time in a row.

 

Hi-Fi News

Dec 2004

 

Music Maker

 

 

Hi-Fi News Awards 2004 - Music Maker MK3

Hi-Fi News  Editor's Choice Award 2004

Hi-Fi News Awards 2004

Editor's Choice - Cartridge

 

 

From one of the UK's most respected and longest established high-end Hi-Fi magazines:

 

"Once again, we must applaud Len Gregory, aka The Cartridge Man, for his special rebuild of a Grado moving-magnet cartridge.  Results justify Len's flamboyant designation: it really is a 'Musicmaker'."

 

 

Stereo Times

Sept 2004

 

Paul Szabady

 

 

"The sonic attributes of the MusicMaker III are always subservient to the demands and needs of music. This is a music lover’s cartridge."

"It didn’t favor rock or classical. It just sounded like music. This is a rare and considerable achievement in audio and one that places the MusicMaker III into the category of great cartridges."

 

"The highest of recommendations is warranted for this wonderfully musical product, one of the handful of great phono cartridges."

 

Click Me! for the full review.

 

 

www.6Moons.com

 

Edward Barker

Blue Moon Award - Music Maker MK3

 

The Music Maker's bass articulation is a true strength. Another is the line contact stylus. It lays claim to having the longest area of groove contact in the stylus world. What this means is not just incredible tracking abilities but also an infilling of the smallest dynamic and rhythmic cues, a stable and vast soundstage (equal to that of the Allaerts) and the ability to render the really tough instruments -- female vocal, piano, cymbals -- deftly and with silken authority. In particular, the female 'sssh' sibilants came across more realistically (yet without annoyance) than I'd ever heard them before.

 

The Music Maker is a big devotee of the female voice. That's lucky because so am I. Take Tracy Chapman. Her voice projected across my room with an incredibly smooth richness, yet with all her urgency and anger intact. These were female vocals as good as I'd ever heard them, certainly as far as the musician's intentions went. Not that this cartridge flattered. But it could make many others sound a mite brittle - almost raspy.

 

Click Me! for the full review.

 

Hi-Fi+

7/2001, P98-99

 

Roy Gregory

"... the Music Maker (MM) will, in its latest guise, stand toe-to-toe with coils (MC) at anything up to three times its price."

 

TNT Audio

Italy

 

Lucio Cadeddu

Editor In Chief

"Ah, that voice!!! One of the outstanding atouts of this cart is the mid range: female voices are sooo natural and sensual! ... 

 

Who said LPs are poor on overall dynamics? There's no need to use virgin vinyl 180-grams pressing audiophile LPs to match the dynamic performance of my Wadia digital playback system. A good cart is all you need. A good one like this Music Maker that, thanks to its excellent tracking ability, can sound explosive, when needed. No matter if it is an essential jazz drum kit or the thunderous double kick-drum of Van Halen: they will sound lively, punchy and weighty even during the hardest to track grooves.  Yes, this cart can rock!"

 

Click Me! for the full review

 

TNT Audio

France

Geoff Husband

"The Music Maker is out of the same mould, digging for detail and giving the Hadcock tremendous speed and tunefulness in the bass. It's ability to start, and then stop without any overhang or 'ringing' makes is just so 'clean' in the best sense of the word and is critical for good timing. Comparing the Mk2 with the original Music Maker showed a subtle but worthwhile change, the former being darker - the background quieter, giving low level signals more room to breath. Tracking was the best I've ever come across, clearing all the HFNRR test disc tracks with only the faintest buzz on the final torture track."

 

Click Me! for the full review

 

HiFi World

2/1999, P53

Richard White

'... the extreme harmonics of the treble were brought out with a crispness that came as a shock next to the harshness of many other cartridges. Record after record succumbed to the treatment of the aptly named 'Music Maker'.


It was easy to subconsciously compare the unit's performance favourably with (MC) cartridges selling at far higher cost ...


Many MCs do not manage anything like the Music Maker's 30Cu figure nor do they give anything like its 4mV @ 5Cm/S.


It has a sheer listenability that few competitors combine in the same small body, and that sounds like a bargain at any price.'

World Verdict ****

 

Good price, high output and a winning musicality make this moving iron cartridge the one to beat.'

Hi-Fi World buying guide

 

Hi-Fi+

5/2000, P52-53

Roy Gregory

"The first thing you notice is the solidity and presence it has compared to almost all MC cartridges. There's a sense of unstoppable momentum to music...


For anyone using a valve pre-amp like a Conrad-Johnson or early ARC, this cartridge is manna from heaven.


Being used to hearing vastly expensive MCs in a system tailored to their balance, the Music Maker never left me feeling short-changed. ... never was a product so aptly named; never was an alternative so welcome."

 

TNT Audio

France

Geoff Husband

'This £500 (Music Maker) cartridge, when fitted to the Recovery/RB900, beats the more expensive Orbe/SME/Dynavector DRT-1 (£2500, MC) combination ...'

 

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