Tony L
Administrator
Rather than continue polluting the Denon DL-110 vs Ortofon 2M Blue thread with a cartridge that isn’t even in the title I’ll start a dedicated thread as my new MP-500 landed today:
Fitting it was easy enough, as it is with arms as easy to use as the 3009 (we have forgotten most what A R-A taught us in the late ‘50s-early ‘60s about tonearm ergonomics!). I use the TD-124’s (far better sounding) heavy iron platter which is ferrous and attracts cartridges with big magnets so was a little worried as I could find no internet wisdom as to whether the fixed magnet in the Nagaoka MP design attracted at all. It does to a tiny, tiny amount, I was getting a VTF reading of 1.54g off the platter and 1.59g over the platter at record playing height, so it is ‘there’ but utterly insignificant. Worth noting and publishing here though in case it helps other 124 users.
There has also been much discussion and confusion as to how to load a Nagaoka cartridge and hard facts are few and far between. The only official data I can find is 47k/100pf in an old MP-xx brochure, the capacitance value has been removed from the newer MP-xxx range brochure to which the MP-500 obviously belongs. That initial 100pf isn’t specified as total capacitance or the phono stage, and I’ve no idea what has changed since the Nagaoka range were relaunched with an extra digit in the model number. I will be experimenting with this aspect over time, but my starting point is 47k/39pf at the amp (a slightly tweaked late grey Quad 34) and my vdH 501 arm cable adds about 80-100pf I think, so I’m somewhere in the <150pf total arena. This load was ideal for the Ortofon 540/II that is my other cart, that sounded very good indeed.
Here’s a quick and dirty in room measurement of the MP-500 from the listening seat using the pink noise track on HFS69. It doesn’t look bad at all to me and backs up what I’m hearing. It sounds very good even though I’ve yet to properly dial in VTF, VTA, bias, set the SME’s lateral balance etc etc. Definitely a warmer and smoother sound than the Ort and I suspect it will open up into something quite special with a few hours on the clock. Certainly a great tracker, very quiet and no sign of end of side issues. It is noticeably lower output than either the 540/II or 2M Black, so needs another click or two on the 34’s volume knob. No hum from the TD-124’s hefty motor either. Quite promising so far.
Fitting it was easy enough, as it is with arms as easy to use as the 3009 (we have forgotten most what A R-A taught us in the late ‘50s-early ‘60s about tonearm ergonomics!). I use the TD-124’s (far better sounding) heavy iron platter which is ferrous and attracts cartridges with big magnets so was a little worried as I could find no internet wisdom as to whether the fixed magnet in the Nagaoka MP design attracted at all. It does to a tiny, tiny amount, I was getting a VTF reading of 1.54g off the platter and 1.59g over the platter at record playing height, so it is ‘there’ but utterly insignificant. Worth noting and publishing here though in case it helps other 124 users.
There has also been much discussion and confusion as to how to load a Nagaoka cartridge and hard facts are few and far between. The only official data I can find is 47k/100pf in an old MP-xx brochure, the capacitance value has been removed from the newer MP-xxx range brochure to which the MP-500 obviously belongs. That initial 100pf isn’t specified as total capacitance or the phono stage, and I’ve no idea what has changed since the Nagaoka range were relaunched with an extra digit in the model number. I will be experimenting with this aspect over time, but my starting point is 47k/39pf at the amp (a slightly tweaked late grey Quad 34) and my vdH 501 arm cable adds about 80-100pf I think, so I’m somewhere in the <150pf total arena. This load was ideal for the Ortofon 540/II that is my other cart, that sounded very good indeed.
Here’s a quick and dirty in room measurement of the MP-500 from the listening seat using the pink noise track on HFS69. It doesn’t look bad at all to me and backs up what I’m hearing. It sounds very good even though I’ve yet to properly dial in VTF, VTA, bias, set the SME’s lateral balance etc etc. Definitely a warmer and smoother sound than the Ort and I suspect it will open up into something quite special with a few hours on the clock. Certainly a great tracker, very quiet and no sign of end of side issues. It is noticeably lower output than either the 540/II or 2M Black, so needs another click or two on the 34’s volume knob. No hum from the TD-124’s hefty motor either. Quite promising so far.
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