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The mailman delivered a new cartridge for my turntable today. Too bad I can’t try it out until hurricane Irene has passed. I was originally going to upgrade to a Rega P7 or P9, but as you may or may not know, I love Zyx cartridges. When I seen this one pop up on another website for about the same price as a used P9, I decided to take a chance and see how much performance can be gained going farther up in the Zyx lineup.
Here’s some of the specs:
| Specifications(H = High output version, SB2 = silver base, adds 3.9gm extra weight) |
DIAMOND-X -XH, DIAMOND-S -SH, DIAMOND-G -GH OMEGA-X -XH, OMEGA-S -SH, OMEGA-G -GH 4D-X 4D-XH, 4D-S 4D-SH, 4D-G 4D-GH |
| Type | Moving Coil (Dynamic)/Real Stereo Generator System |
| Cryogenic Treatment | Temperature: -196C (-320F) |
| Output Voltage | 0.24mV (H = 0.48mV) (3.54cm/sec., 1kHz) |
| Frequency Response/( +/- 1dB) | 10Hz ~ 100kHz (20Hz ~ 20kHz) |
| Channel Separation | >30dB (1kHz) |
| Channel Balance | <0.5dB (1kHz) |
| Recommended Tracking Force | 2.0gm [20 ~ 25 degrees Celsius] |
| Tracking Force Range | 1.7gm ~ 2.5gm |
| Compliance horizontal (vertical) | 15 x 10-6cm/dyne (12 x 10-6cm/dyne) |
| Trackability | > 80micro m/2.0gm |
| Internal Impedance | 4.0 ohm (H = 8.0 ohm) |
| Recommended Load Impedance | >100 ohm |
| Coil Wire | S type: 5N silver 0.035mm dia./CRYO X type: 6N crystal copper 0.035mm dia./CRYO G type: 24K Gold 0.035mm dia./CRYO |
| Cantilever Material | Natural solid square Diamind 0.30mm dia (DIAMOND) Boron solid 0.30mm dia (OMEGA, 4D) |
| Stylus | Micro-Ridge Solid Diamond 0.07 sq.mm |
| Contact Radius | 3micro m x 60micro m, 2000 Hour/2.0gm |
| Output Terminals | 1.25mm dia. Gold plated (EIA) |
| Net Weight: | 7.8gm (DIAMOND, OMEGA) 4.0gm (4D) |
The cartridge is brand new and still sealed. It is the gold edition with: solid gold coil wires, gold output pins, pure silver base and low output – .24mv. My current Zyx R100H is .48mv output.
I will make an un-boxing video when I get a chance. Look for a full review coming soon after I get it installed and broken in.
You can follow the discussion and hear samples when you join the forum here.
