Enter the Mystic
Touraj Moghaddam confirmed today that the new Vertere Mystic moving coil cartridge is now available. Retailing for £2,000 in the UK, it will be available in the USA and Europe for $2,695 and €2,498 respectively from the second week of December.
Once the decision has been made on the motor system depending on the target market and to a small extent personal predilection, the key to designing – all but the most extreme high end cartridges – is to balance the design parameters: to deliver a cartridge that stays in the groove, retrieves the maximum musical information and is least affected by worn or damaged records.
There are of course extremes in the world of hi-fi – extremes where the designer optimises one parameter almost to the exclusion of others – and these products are often the most talked about as they are loved or detested in spades. But this is not Touraj’s way: he doesn’t want a system that favours closed miked jazz over rock or symphonic over punk. He wants a system that allows most records in a collection to be played and enjoyed In his view a hi-fi enthusiast with a small record collection just does not have the right system yet.
Details:
The body is machined from solid aluminium alloy
The body is mass-tuned to the generator for optimum support and control of unwanted mechanical vibrations
Threaded body to accept the supplied stainless steel thumb screws for correct coupling of the cartridge body to the tonearm headshell
Three specifically designed contact points are machined into the top of the body that provide the exact mechanical coupling required.
Alignment ridge on the front top that assists mounting Mystic to any Vertere tonearm
The low mass generator utilises a Samarium-Cobalt magnet with a low-mass cross coil made of pure virgin copper wires
The aluminium 7000 telescopic tube cantilever maximises stiffness without a massive high Q peak
Micro Elliptical diamond stylus tip that is designed for maximum tracking ability without compromising the high frequency response or increasing surface noise
Bonded through diamond assembly maximises alignment and rigidity
Wide band frequency response of below 10Hz to 40kHz
Output of 0.5mV will provide a lifelike dynamic range with depth and precision
When Vertere launched the DG-1 turntable Touraj said: “The job of a record player is very simple, and very linear it has to allow the most accurate measurement of a something going past the stylus and throwing it from side to side over 1000 times every centimetre.”
The situation hasn’t changed except in this story the focus is the cartridge including the cantilever and diamond stylus which is the part that’s actually being thrown about over 1000 times every centimetre of record travel.