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hana ml and ortofon cadenza bronze

karma67

karma67

pfm Member
hi,
has anyone compared the 2 cartridges and if so what were your findings and preference please?
 
Not sure what TT you might be putting it on, but whatever character your deck and arm exhibit, this will be what the hana will showcase. I have used a ML on a PT Export and now on a Rega P6, and within this limited sample, and based on the generally accepted sound signatures of these two decks, I would liken the ML to a glass of water. I have not heard a cadenza.
 
The Cadenza is 50% more expensive than the ML, seems a bit of a mismatch? Why these 2 carts?

I have the Bronze on a 1200G, extremely pleased with how it sounds, did consider the Black but was worried about the top end reading up on them both, plus I got offered a great deal on one, it is one of those HiFi purchases that delivers more than you expect. I have tried the cheaper Hana EL on a 1200GR but not heard the ML, sorry.

Might be worth posting your TT/Arm/Stage and current cart. What carts have you had/liked/disliked.
 
Thanks for the referral, @Robert. I've very much like the ML, especially at its price point. I don't think there is much that will better it for the same money. Unfortunately for the OP, I have not heard any of the Cadenza, and so cannot comment on how they compare.
 
I wanted to compare the Hana ML with with the Cadenza Bronze at the end of 2019 when my Cadenza Blue had finally worn out, but it proved impossible to get a comparative demonstration of the two anywhere near to me (including London). I had recently changed speakers and thought that the Hana or the Bronze would be a better overall match than another Blue although I had been very pleased with that. In the end I decided to just go with the Bronze as you get a reasonable trade in on your old Ortofon and I have owned a number of them and the have always proved to be consistent from sample to sample. Although the Hana ML has had good reviews it was an unknown quantity, at least to me,in that respepect.

The Bronze has been been excellent. It is has been stated a little 'warmer' than the Blue and therefore has proved a better tonal balance with my new speakers. It has, at least in my system, a little more depth and detail than the Blue that is a bonus, but that perception may be due to the gradual wear on the Blue that I had not noticed. The Blue is still probably the best balance of performance and value for money of the Cadenzas without diminishing returns if it's balance of qualities suit your system.

One thing to note with nearly all Ortofon MC's (and I have owned a few over the years) is they need at least 50 hours on them to really break in and sound their best. So don't make a judgement unless you hear one that is fully run in.

I have been so pleased with the Bronze and the previous Blue than I have added a Cadenza Mono for my other arm.
 
Amber Audio said:
The Cadenza is 50% more expensive than the ML, seems a bit of a mismatch? Why these 2 carts?

I have the Bronze on a 1200G, extremely pleased with how it sounds, did consider the Black but was worried about the top end reading up on them both, plus I got offered a great deal on one, it is one of those HiFi purchases that delivers more than you expect. I have tried the cheaper Hana EL on a 1200GR but not heard the ML, sorry.

Might be worth posting your TT/Arm/Stage and current cart. What carts have you had/liked/disliked.
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current cartridge is a cadenza bronze.audio technica at-1010 and sony tts-8000 tt. phono stage is a paradise.
previous cartridges are kontrapunkt b,at-art7,denon 103 sa,decca c4e.
my question comes from making one too many vta adjustments and brushing my hand against the canterliver as i pulled it away. the result was a bent cantilever. i have no complaints with the bronze,the trade in scheme or the repair is one option,the other is to try something different and repair the bronze at a later date. hence my thread.
 
gerlando said:
Sorry Gus,
what is your opinion about the Hana EL?

Cheers.
Mauro
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Good all round cart, when it came out 5 years back under £300 a bargain, now at £400 still good value. Summed up I'd say safe/balanced. Preferred it to 2M Red and Black/Goldring Eroica LX/OC9II but not to an AT33PTG. Will also depend on phono stage too obvs.

Lots of choice these days but hard to demo and we all like different presentations so equally hard to advise what will fit your needs.

Wife's deck has a AT95 on and I bought the AT95ML for it, gonna be a step up obviously, but not as much as expected, in some ways the bog standard is a better choice for the music played and amp in her system.
 
jamie123 said:
current cartridge is a cadenza bronze.audio technica at-1010 and sony tts-8000 tt. phono stage is a paradise.
previous cartridges are kontrapunkt b,at-art7,denon 103 sa,decca c4e.
my question comes from making one too many vta adjustments and brushing my hand against the canterliver as i pulled it away. the result was a bent cantilever. i have no complaints with the bronze,the trade in scheme or the repair is one option,the other is to try something different and repair the bronze at a later date. hence my thread.
Click to expand...
Ouch. In that case I’d buy the ML, you don’t see much/any negative stuff written about it, you can get the Bronze fixed or trade to something when the ML is near it’s end.

That’s a nice TT! Paradise and Vida are stages I’d like to try later down the line, happy with my 1200G/EQ-500 for now, bought more records during COVID than the previous 16 years combined :)
 
jamie123 said:
current cartridge is a cadenza bronze.audio technica at-1010 and sony tts-8000 tt. phono stage is a paradise.
previous cartridges are kontrapunkt b,at-art7,denon 103 sa,decca c4e.
my question comes from making one too many vta adjustments and brushing my hand against the canterliver as i pulled it away. the result was a bent cantilever. i have no complaints with the bronze,the trade in scheme or the repair is one option,the other is to try something different and repair the bronze at a later date. hence my thread.
Click to expand...
Ouch , so sorry to hear that
I've had few troubles with my two previous Bronze's but Ortofon sorted everything out ,most likely if existing one wears out I just replace with another one .
If I were looking for another one in 1k range I would consider AT art9 but you have owned one already or Lyra Delos - probably you are bit repulsed by protruding cantilevers so not very good choice.
Contact Audio Emotion , sometimes they have ex-display cartridges and would take Cadenza Bronze at normal part exchange price , check their website as I've seen Bronze with 200hrs for £695 at the end of last year ,
Good luck with your search
 
yep its a bummer,the first cartridge ive ever damaged,it had to be a 2 month old one though!
good call about audio emotion,i saw that one before i bought the new one,to be honest ive had a enough of buying used as you really dont know what has happened to them in there previous use,from what i gather from talks with killian at holistic audio (ex ortofon) they are rather fragile internally.
yes i've owned an art 9 and 7 previously and also a ptg33,that lacked some meat to the bone when i put the kontrapunkt b back on.
the thing that draws me to ortofon,the cadenza range is the ease of azimuth adjustment as they have the 3 little lugs on top of the cartridge body.
 
Second hand cartridges is not my cup of tea neither , I burnt my fingers once and rather buy something new I can afford .
I bought ex-display Blue way lower than RRP from AudioEmotion and exchanged faulty one with full part exchange price , basically it was open box/unused with full warranty , give them call as they might have something - Gary is very good guy , I bought from them few carts :Benz Wood, Cadenza Blue and Bronze, 2MBlack and couple more , always got nice discount .
 
I looked at that Bronze for £695 but as above seemed risky after buying a faulty used cart one a while back, the owner took it back no question but makes you wary, then I got offered a brand new one with a large discount so now have a Bronze.
 
I unfortunately wrote off my new Bronze shortly after I got it. I had to wait about a month to get the additional Cadenza Mono and when I first installed that I had hum problems that I had difficulty eliminating. I was swapping the Mono and the Bronze between arms to try to isolate the problem and to do this replacing the stylus guards. I found the stylus guards much tighter on the new cartridges than the previous Blue where I always replaced the guard with no problem after playing records as I only have a cloth cover for the turntable. I caught the Bronze cantilever on one replacement bending it and it then broke off when touched. A long story on replacement when I tried to complain about the tight stylus guards causing the that I was not happy about causing the problem. In the end after a number of contacts with the dealer and Henley a compromise was reached (I admitted that I had caused the damage, but blamed the way the guards fitted now when I had no previous problems with them). Henley finally gave me a new Bronze via the dealer at the cost of a repair and the return of the damaged one. Expensive accident though at £750 that my Home Insurance didn't (wouldn't) cover. I now leave the stylus guards off!
 
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