Yamaha MC-1X and MC-1S phono cartridge

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• I've used several Yamaha moving coils, including the MC1s. My first mc was the MC 7, which was a not quite entry level mc, and was clean, precise and well balanced, but didn't have the warmth/oomph/frequency extension that the MC 1s did. It was one of the best cartridges I've encountered, even though I got it used. I plan to have it retipped, but right now I'm working through a stock of cartridges and stylii that I already have, so the cost benefit ration doesn't work.
  Yamaha's cartridges have a good reputation. If you want wackiness in a Yamaha, you should look at their 'ear' speakers, which had a flat styrofoam driver that was sort of shaped like an ear, as the ill conceived advertisements put it. In fact it was more like a rounded off rectangle with one corner cut off, which both broke up resonant modes (which can be severe in styrofoam) and allowed a place to put a tweeter. The drivers were typically in a very shallow box with no real back, so they were functionally dipoles, with all the complexities of placement that implies. They tanked on the market, but I suspect that properly set up (which they probably rarely were) they might have some real appeal. That's just a guess based on my other experience with open baffle drivers -- I've never heard them.

• I have a Yamaha MC-1S with < 10 hours use on it. Is it worth anything to anyone??

  • Please yes, I am interested..

    Dirk ( Netherlands)

  • Shure, if you're willing to part with it.
    I have a Yamaha PF-800 table with a MC-9 that already sounds great. The MC-1S should complete the front end.
    That goes back to a A-1000 speaking through a pair of NS-1000M.

• I have a Yamaha MC-1S on a FR-64S tonearm on a Luxman PD-441, serving backup vinyl playing on a multi-hundred K $ system. It sounds amazingly close to a 30K modern vinyl rig through the same system. The Yamaha MC cartridges of the 70's were all good, and the MC-1S is the best of the bunch. It competes with almost anything, past or present.

• Oh, I had the lovely Yamaha MC-1 Cartridge in the late '70 and early '80. Beautiful Cartridge with a delicious sound to it. The only thing was, that I also had a couple of Fidelity Research MC-201's - they made every listening experience an almost religious revelation. Can't believe I threw them out just last year - should have tried to make for instance Sound Smith rebuild them ...