[Mister Pig]

Am waiting the delivery of an Accuphase AC 1 from England. I knew very little of the history of the AC 1, but decided to take a bit of a gamble. Didn't know these were produced in 1979, I was thinking they were from the late 1980's. Imagine my surprise and a bit of uneasiness when I found out this cart was produced when I was 13 years old.

This Accuphase has been rebuilt by Expert Stylus company, and fitted with a Paratrace diamond. Original cantilever and coils are used, the rubber shroud at the body/cantilever junction being replaced. From others description of Expert Stylus work, they don't retip a cartridge that is dodgy, but they don't do cantilever and suspension replacements either. So either a cartridge is in good condition and a candidate for retipping, or it goes back to the customer. From my understanding, the original cantilever was a combination of aluminum, with a boron rod in the center....but cannot get any verification on that. Would be curious to see if anyone knows.

Expert Stylus company seems to be quite the company. I understand they were the semi official re tipper of Koetsu when the company was in flux. The elder Sugano had passed away, and the son had not begun to make cartridges. Here is a link to an interesting article I found on vinyl engine regarding cutting diamonds for audio cartridges. Follow the link and just click on the download button, its a pdf format.

http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15646

Another thing that I would like to find out is the differences between the AC 1 and AC 2. They have almost identical specifications, with the AC 2 being .02mv less output. Can't find a description of its cantilever material either. Only the AC 3 has that info.

Part of what motivated me to make this purchase is the reputation and work of Hisayoshi Nakatsuka, who is the designer of the AC cartridges from what I understand.

I guess part of what I am interested in finding out is how good a restored vintage top of the line cartridge can sound? Is it still worth its esteemed pedigree? Or has time and technology moved so far beyond that these cartridges are well past their glory years? If not, then this appears to be a good way for a financially prudent hobbyist to have a chance to experience high quality analog playback.

For what its worth. The analog rig this is going into consists of a Townshend Audio Rock Mk III, with a Rega 251 + Incognito rewire and Riggle Engineering VTAF and counterweight. Phono stage is a Hagerman Coronet w VCAP upgrades and a Piccolo step up.

Thoughts/Opinions/Experiences are welcome. I would like to hear others thoughts about these vintage high end cartridges.

Regards
Mister Pig

[jimdgoulding]

Mine, too.  I have a first generation Koetsu Black.  That was the only model Koetsu at the time.  A company has to keep em coming if they want much of a life in this business.  I think there are about 10 models today.  Had an Accuphase (had to be the 1) in the early 80's but all I can remember about it is that it had superb detail. 

[Uptown Audio]

I am not familiar with the AC1, so I won't comment directly about it. I too have owned quite a few older cartridges though. I have collected records for 30 years and while my budget was smaller way back at the begining there, I still had some decent Denon MC cartridges which I paid dearly for. They were not the top of the line but were as good as the budget LOMC units made today. I have also had quite a few vintage MM carts, most of which I have sold. I only have a couple left which are still quite old.

My take on it is that performance has only changed by narrow margins in the general sense of the phono cartridge world since 1980. Turntables and tonearms have certainly evolved. Phono cartridges however have only seen remarkable improvement at the very high end of the scale. Some things are always learned along the way when building products and some new materials and technologies come around and some older ones which worked particularly well have resurfaced and have been combined with modern materials and proceses. The companies still making some great cartridges have the benefit of the older designs as it is a mature technology. There is always room for small improvements and new tools such as CNC machining and laser trimming are making it possible to achieve even finer tolerances on classic designs. Materials are also advancing and new polymers are making for higher performance units. Computer modeling and analysis at a level not previously available is also helping to progess the cartridge makers art. Occasionally all of this leads to a remarkably good new cartridge design.



One of the other things that have improved and perhaps by a more substantial margin, are amplifiers. The newer phono preamplifiers have available much higher quality components and some new topologies which have made the currently in use cartridges sound much better. Other improvements in loudspeaker technology have had a similarly boosting effect on the perceived sound quality of modern cartridges. Had the amplifier and loudspeaker designs of today have been available 30 years ago, perhaps many of us would not be so impressed with the more recent cartridge designs. You will have an opportunity to listen to an older cartridge design on modern equipment (if you choose to use it... and so will have a chance to compare it to a new high end cartridge if you have one available. System synergy may not make that a fair playground but perhaps it will be possible, especially if the designs are similar.
-Bill
 

[Mister Pig]

I am not familiar with the AC1, so I won't comment directly about it. I too have owned quite a few older cartridges though. I have collected records for 30 years and while my budget was smaller way back at the begining there, I still had some decent Denon MC cartridges which I paid dearly for. They were not the top of the line but were as good as the budget LOMC units made today. I have also had quite a few vintage MM carts, most of which I have sold. I only have a couple left which are still quite old.

My take on it is that performance has only changed by narrow margins in the general sense of the phono cartridge world since 1980. Turntables and tonearms have certainly evolved. Phono cartridges however have only seen remarkable improvement at the very high end of the scale. Some things are always learned along the way when building products and some new materials and technologies come around and some older ones which worked particularly well have resurfaced and have been combined with modern materials and proceses. The companies still making some great cartridges have the benefit of the older designs as it is a mature technology. There is always room for small improvements and new tools such as CNC machining and laser trimming are making it possible to achieve even finer tolerances on classic designs. Materials are also advancing and new polymers are making for higher performance units. Computer modeling and analysis at a level not previously available is also helping to progess the cartridge makers art. Occasionally all of this leads to a remarkably good new cartridge design.



One of the other things that have improved and perhaps by a more substantial margin, are amplifiers. The newer phono preamplifiers have available much higher quality components and some new topologies which have made the currently in use cartridges sound much better. Other improvements in loudspeaker technology have had a similarly boosting effect on the perceived sound quality of modern cartridges. Had the amplifier and loudspeaker designs of today have been available 30 years ago, perhaps many of us would not be so impressed with the more recent cartridge designs. You will have an opportunity to listen to an older cartridge design on modern equipment (if you choose to use it... and so will have a chance to compare it to a new high end cartridge if you have one available. System synergy may not make that a fair playground but perhaps it will be possible, especially if the designs are similar.
-Bill
 

I have had quite a bit of difficulty finding technical information on the AC1, with the exception of basic specifications from the Accuphase webpage and Vinyl Engine. Cantilever composition has completely eluded me, although from the pictures it looked like an aluminum cantilever, which is somewhat uninsipring. But this is a cintage cartridge, circa 1979, so what would you expect.

Well last night I finally found a site that described the cantilever. Built from a combination of aluminum and magnesium, and has a boron rod through the center. So even in this respect it appears to be a sophisticated arrangement. Is it the equal or even superior to whats found on mid to upper line cartridges from today? No way to know, and in some ways I guess it doesn't matter. All that can be judged is the overall performance.

What I am appreciative of is that the original owner used Expert Stylus as the retipper. From what I have read, it appears that ES is going to be able to return the cartridge to as close as stock performance as possible. This AC1 received the paratrace diamond, so thats a bit of a deviation. However, it appears that this stylus shape closely resembles a VDH1 and has gotten favorable comments by owners.

Still waiting for it to arrive, so hopefully this week I can get it mounted up and playing.

Regards
Mister Pig