AT440MLa

[RED_One]

AT440MLa

Just had this yesterday and although I realise I may be a bit quick off the mark my comments are as follows ..

Very clear, articulate, noticed a little more detail, excellent soundstage. Spacious. Do you feel a “but” coming? But .. I can’t say I am totally in love with it. I am comparing with a Shure M95ED & the Shure has more warmth to it. The 440MLa has far less warmth than I am used to, a bit too clinical sounding for my tastes. If you like very clear sound & are looking for detail in the recording it is superb, & I suppose if I had nothing to compare it to I would be more than happy with the 440MLa.

To give some background I have an old Mission DAD 7000 as my Cd player. Although it is old around 1986 I like the sound of this player very much, & in head to head comparison playing CD / LP the Shure 95 & the Mission CD are a very near match in terms of timbre. The LP wins in terms of broader soundstage & space but tonally & listenability they are near equal, & switching between the CD &LP is confusing as I tend to lose track of which one I am listening to. I am more aware when the 440MLa is playing.

Test run of the 440MLa at 1.4 gram Trackability Test on the Shure Era 1V I noticed some break up & increasing the tracking force to 1.6 gram solved this. I never experienced the break up with the Shure 95 & I normally set this 1.2 – 1.5 gram. The 440MLa went through the Tone Arm resonance test much better than the Shure 95 with far less oscillation. I suppose this is down to the line contact stylus.

It just shows it is really all a matter of taste & personal preference & what your objectives are in listening to music. Don’t get me wrong I love hearing extra bits in the music that I haven’t heard before & the 440MLa does that .. but I still want the music to grab me by the proverbials. I do not listen to analyse the music. Like I said if I had nothing to compare it to I would be more than happy with the 440MLa and if you have a newer CD player you may find the 440MLa a closer match.


So sorry if this upsets anyone but it really is each to their own. If anyone wants an AT440MLa .. I know someone who may be selling a new one. (UK based)

[bauzace50]

Hello all,
Yes, there's a lot of personal preference involved in each acquisition! I tend to prefer sound free from treble excess, and free from treble softness, also...in other words...neutral. All of the Shure units I've owned have had the neutrality I looked for (except for the M97xE which was somewhat soft up top for my taste...however, the original M97-HE was much to my liking, and it had a lighter-mass aluminum cantilever and tip).
Happy Listening!
bauzace50.

[RED_One]

Good advice & I promise to practice patience ChairGuy

[blakep]

My suggestion would be to track it higher, around 1.7 with the anti skate set around 1. Then, give it a bit of time (at least 25-50 hours) as the AT's are notorious for being a bit shrill and aggressive out of the box and requiring break-in. I have an AT 120E on my son's system that just about drove me nuts out of the box and after about 2 hours on the Cardas burn-in tracks (probably about the equivalent of 50 hours or so, I'd guess, of regular LP's) sounded like a totally different cartridge.

That being said, this is a subjective hobby and the Shure's do have quite a different presentation from the AT's; the AT may just not be your cup of tea.

[sreten]

My suggestion would be to track it higher, around 1.7 with the anti skate set around 1.

Why antiskate at 1 ? it should be set higher than an elliptical tip, /sreten.

[blakep]

The microline/line contact stylus should require less antiskate:

http://www.vandenhul.com/artpap/phono_faq.htm#9

I'd probably start at around 1 and experiment a little bit either side of that. That, in itself, may have contributed to the breakup that the original poster was experiencing with the cartridge tracking at 1.4 grams. My experience is that most cartridges benefit from being tracked at the high end, as opposed to the low end of the manufacturer's recommendation, so I'd look at tracking the 440 MLa at around 1.7 or 1.8, and alignment, obviously is really critical as well with that stylus profile. While I find that my Denon 103R with its spherical needs antiskate closer to VTF, I find that you can really back the antiskate off with a lot of the other stylus profiles as AJ VandenHul states above.

[RED_One]

Hmmm .. I will up to 1.7 gram but don't have antiskate labelled as antiskate. The TT is a Connoisseur with SAU2 arm .. I tried adjusting the bias weight before I did anything on tracking force & it had no appreciable effect. At moment bias weight is set in middle of the bias arm & alignment is spot on as far as I can tell.

[smee4]

My experience is that most cartridges benefit from being tracked at the high end, as opposed to the low end of the manufacturer's recommendation

I agree, and do so with my Shures. AT however, give a min and max vtf, but also give an optimal force of 1.4 grams. I know I will experiment when mine arrives.

[smee4]

The 440MLa went through the Tone Arm resonance test much better than the Shure 95 with far less oscillation. I suppose this is down to the line contact stylus.

I would put it down to different compliance and masses.

[sreten]

Hmmm .. I will up to 1.7 gram but don't have antiskate labelled as antiskate. The TT is a Connoisseur with SAU2 arm .. I tried adjusting the bias weight before I did anything on tracking force & it had no appreciable effect. At moment bias weight is set in middle of the bias arm & alignment is spot on as far as I can tell.

Hi,

The old "maltese cross" bearings and unusual implementation of bias.
Make sure you have the outer gimbal ring correctly aligned (twist),
The bias weight should be at the back position of its range.
Fully forward suits the then still popular Connoisseur ceramic cartridge.
Optimally adjusting the bearings is a good idea if you know what your doing.

I'd also ignore the "optimum" tracking force of 1.4g.
I'd say its around 1.6g to 1.8g which is still low for a line contact stylus.

/sreten.

[RED_One]

Thanks all
Sreten .. The Bias Weight is the smallest one (large one lost) would position still apply it does not seem to give audible difference. ?

Gimbal ring looks ok .. do you mean you just twist it to align it ?

Adjust bearings .. ??

Info is sparse on this arm & not that well explained & I have not seen others to compare to

Thanks

[sreten]

Hi,

Small bias wieght should be near the end of the bias arm.

From what I remember the gimbal should be 90 degrees (i.e. arm is straight through it) towards the inner null point, not the centre of the record. This
makes the bias work better and prevents tilt on the innner grooves where
it has more (minor) effect than the outer grooves.

Adjusting arm bearings :
Minimum free play, a little friction but no stiction.
If you don't know what your doing leave well alone.

/sreten.

[NewOldVinyl]

I received my 440MLa yesterday, installed it last night (Origin Live OL1 arm with all upgrades, on a Technics SL-1200MK2). It's replacing a Shure M97xE. First impression is the AT is more detailed and quite a bit "brighter". The Shure is "relaxed" in comparison.

I'm tracking at 1.4g, antiskate set to 1. I suspect the VTA is a little off. I think this gives me the excuse I need to get the VTA adjustment option from Origin Live.

Nitpicking: The stylus cleaning brush supplied by AT needs a 90 degree angled head on it like the one supplied by Shure. Also, if this cartridge is new to you, you might want to look at how the replaceable stylus assembly attaches to the cartridge body very closely before you install the cartridge on the arm. I removed the stylus prior to installation, then had trouble lining things up when reinstalling it. It's a little tricky, and you don't want to use too much force.

The cartridge itself looks very precision-crafted. Impressive.

[RED_One]

Never had any toolkit with a cartridge before so full marks to AT on this
take your point on the brush but I'm still grateful
especially useful are the cart headshell leads does anyone know if these are of good / better quality compared to standard leads?