[TheChairGuy]

This model is approximately 25 years old.  I owned the first 'low mass'(hence, LM) cartridge from them, the LM-1, in 1976 or so.  This stylus-less model came on my ebay find, the JVC QL-F6  .

For old cartridges my rule is to never pay more than $100 for them.  As their (rubber) damping blocks are always less-then-pristine because it dries out condition...they never sound 'as new'.  So, pay reasonable money and test the waters a bit.  For NOS styli, I limit myself to $50.

The original styli on the cartridge (must use original as generics are bonded/bushed, not nude) are hard to come by and usually cost $80 and up.  I found finally one for $50 and it arrived yesterday. I am told that tho the cartridge is old and well run-in, new styli need several hours to wear the tip rightly.  So, my impressions are based on all of 3-4 hours on it.

My updated/moddedAPT-Holman preamp has broken in nicely.  The major issue with the phono section is the gain.....36.5db is insufficient for most cartridges. My 2 and 3mv cartridges (I now own 8 total) sound weak.  The 4mv Grado Green is barely in the right dynamic range.  My least favorite current running cartridge, the AT440ML/OCC, has been most used of late as it's 5mv output. It's 5mv output helps reach full potential with this amazingly quiet preamp.....but it doesn't sound very special, otherwise.

The ADC XLM III is a rather whopping 6.05 mv...sweetly working with the APT to provide maximum punch. That's more like it.

Okay, so that's the build up....how's the sound, you say?  Well, in tanden with the 36db gain of the APT...it's the best cartridge of my bunch.  A bunch of folks have mentioned this cartridge is in your face a bit, but get good reviews, otherwise.  Well, I can tell you with a lower gain preamp, it's the cats-meow    I never realized until now how very important getting the gain right is...it is yet another critical (damn!) step to enjoying vinyl fully.

It is no wonder, out of over 60 models tested by HiFi News in a cartridge supertest in 1980 or thereabouts, only 5 or 6 got excellent 'sound' ratings:  the ADC was the second cheapest (sold for about $100 back then in US).

It combines the wide soundstage of the Denon DL-160vdH with depth perspective only (barely) approximated by the Grado (Green and G1+) .  It doesn't have the plummy thack of bass like the Grado's, it's more akin to my Grace F-9e in that way (which is to say quite good in itself...more defined than Grado, but not thin like AT's and Ortofon X5-MC).  The Grado's are unshielded, the ADC is well shielded...much like unshielded cables where bass is a little fuller (less constricted sounding), that's about the difference I hear in the two cartridges bass capabilities.

High's are good, not perfect; the Grace and Ortofon X5's are better defined and clearer.  The X5-MC is still the clearest cartridge in the midband and treble...but it so lacks bass balls that I can't listen long to it.  The ADC is not the most clear and lucid, but you are never want for grasping the words or a song.

Capacitive load is about 285pf right now (total with tonearms leads).  I don't notice much difference dropping to 185pf.  Suggested load is 275pf by ADC.  It tracks at 1.3g and I have damping vertically and horizontally IN my tonearm.  I believe these ADC's like a light tonearm in general...most of the Japanese tables of that era should suffice.

In all, it seems to have the least issues surrounding it of all my cartridges (in the APT, at least).  I am completely stoned with delight listening to it last night and today  I believe my results would not be as good with a higher gain preamp...so user beware.

My views are subject to change as time wears on, new stuff often sound better just 'cause they are new and you are excited by something about them, but this cartridge will never fall to the bottom of my rankings.  Nope, not likely 

Ciao, John

   

[TheChairGuy]

For those of you with vintage cartridges, or intersted in them, the HiFi News supertest of 1980 can be found here: http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2224

This type of in-depth cartridge review and analysis is truly missed.  There is so much more subjectivity to the ratings now....back in the day they measured every conceivable important electrical feature of each cartridge.  Fantastic reading for those wth good eyesight still 

The ADC XLM Mk. III was actually among 8 cartridges of 82 tested to get an 'Excellent' rating.  Many of you will be surprised how poorly some of your favorites fared here (I was) 

[slbender]

Gee, it was just two weeks ago, you were claiming that my fifteen vintage cartridges which are ~25 to 30 years old couldn't possibly sound as good as new...  So is this a case of: Naysayer Bites the Dust ?

- in all, it seems to have the least issues surrounding it of all my cartridges (in the APT, at least).  I am completely stoned with delight listening to it last night and today 

Now your statements about the rubber deteriorating, are subject to question, not all rubber is as stable or leeching plasticizers as others.  Maybe break-in is a change in compliance due to physical force applied, or rapid change in the rubber, or maybe not.

Also output really has nothing to do with anything except perhaps signal to noise ratio.  Thus, a 2 mv. cartridge, all other things being equal, will sound the same as a 6 mv. cartridge if their frequency response is identical, and the preamp has no obvious non-linearities; the difference being the gain setting, the volume will need to be about 4 to 5 dB higher for the low output cartridge.

How you hear and perceive the sonics that will depend on the absolute SPL, due to the well known Fletcher-Munson curves of the ear versus sound level.
If the absolute frequency response of two cartridges is quite different, then they will sound different regardless of the gain.  In the end if you lack an SPL meter, and can't tell if comparing two cartridges is done at equal SPL levels from your loudspeakers, then yes, the "louder" one will always sound better..  In such a case, the midrange may be emphasized relative to the other one, or due to overall capacitance effects or loading effects the frequency response may sound to you, rolled off, shrill, thin, etc... These being differences from true flat frequency response, which you interpret as "better" or "louder" or "whatever".

While I also have an XLM, a MKII if I recall, I thought it was an OK, but not quite neutral, maybe even fairly colored sounding cartridge, ( probably what you call "punch" ) having a somewhat emphasized midrange, when compared to a truly flat cartridge, in the same system.

Glad you now have eight vintage cartridges, and get to play them all.  I still stand by my prior statements, only now more forcefully - that by 20, or 30 years old, they should be fully broken in, and also that, many vintage cartridges were made really, really well made. 

I mostly use a B&O SP-12 nude diamond elliptical that is now 35 years old and it is fabulous, has never sounded better; my AR XA, has a straight Japanese made Carbon Fiber Arm ( from the 1980's ).  This combination is simply the sweetest, most detailed, most beautiful sounding combination - the heavy monster of a cartridge, and the almost weightless, massless, thin CF Arm, on the old AR XA belt drive spring isolated transport and tracking at 1.25 grams.

I also have a Micro-Acoustics 3002 and a MA-2002e, both look and sound like new almost 30 years later.  I have a second SP-12, a conical B&O SP-14, and a Signet 5.0MR that are somewhere between 25 and 35 years new and all these are right as rain, etc, etc..


-Steven L. Bender, Designer of Vintage Audio Equipment

This model is approximately 25 years old.  I owned the first 'low mass'(hence, LM) cartridge from them, the LM-1, in 1976 or so.  This stylus-less model came on my ebay find, the JVC QL-F6  .

For old cartridges my rule is to never pay more than $100 for them.  As their (rubber) damping blocks are always less-then-pristine because it dries out condition...they never sound 'as new' ... The ADC XLM III is a rather whopping 6.05 mv...sweetly working with the APT to provide maximum punch. That's more like it.

Okay, so that's the build up....how's the sound, you say?  Well, in tanden with the 36db gain of the APT...it's the best cartridge of my bunch.  A bunch of folks have mentioned this cartridge is in your face a bit, but get good reviews, otherwise.  Well, I can tell you with a lower gain preamp, it's the cats-meow    I never realized until now how very important getting the gain right is...it is yet another critical (damn!) step to enjoying vinyl fully.

It is no wonder, out of over 60 models tested by HiFi News in a cartridge supertest in 1980 or thereabouts, only 5 or 6 got excellent 'sound' ratings:  the ADC was the second cheapest (sold for about $100 back then in US).

It combines the wide soundstage of the Denon DL-160vdH with depth perspective only (barely) approximated by the Grado (Green and G1+) .  It doesn't have the plummy thack of bass like the Grado's, it's more akin to my Grace F-9e in that way (which is to say quite good in itself...more defined than Grado, but not thin like AT's and Ortofon X5-MC).  The Grado's are unshielded, the ADC is well shielded...much like unshielded cables where bass is a little fuller (less constricted sounding), that's about the difference I hear in the two cartridges bass capabilities.

High's are good, not perfect; the Grace and Ortofon X5's are better defined and clearer.  The X5-MC is still the clearest cartridge in the midband and treble...but it so lacks bass balls that I can't listen long to it.  The ADC is not the most clear and lucid, but you are never want for grasping the words or a song.

Capacitive load is about 285pf right now (total with tonearms leads).  I don't notice much difference dropping to 185pf.  Suggested load is 275pf by ADC.  It tracks at 1.3g and I have damping vertically and horizontally IN my tonearm.  I believe these ADC's like a light tonearm in general...most of the Japanese tables of that era should suffice.

In all, it seems to have the least issues surrounding it of all my cartridges (in the APT, at least).  I am completely stoned with delight listening to it last night and today  I believe my results would not be as good with a higher gain preamp...so user beware.

My views are subject to change as time wears on, new stuff often sound better just 'cause they are new and you are excited by something about them, but this cartridge will never fall to the bottom of my rankings.  Nope, not likely 

Ciao, John

[TheChairGuy]

Hey Steven,

The rubber damping in any cartridge dries out in exposure to air ( as you must know that as tape machine pinch heads require Rawn Re-Grip or similar cleaner/revitalizer to restore its original frictional properties) .  It is only more recently that some makers are using synthetic rubber to perform this function in cartridge damping blocks.  Any maker 20 years ago used rubber, so every single cartridge made in that era or earlier will not have 'new' performance.  It may still be wonderful sounding, but never as good as newly made. I said that a couple weeks back and I said that yesterday, too.

I still stand by my prior statements, only now more forcefully - that by 20, or 30 years old, they should be fully broken in, and also that, many vintage cartridges were made really, really well made. As well, don't fool yourself into thinking they perform as new, because they inherently cannot, but they still may sound splendid 

In ADC's case, they used very soft rubber and there is no doubt if I opened it up, the damping block would be less-than-stellar condition now.  I drop one single 1000cst silicone drop  into the body of the my vintage cartridges to partially restore functionality of the rubber within the housing (kudos to Frank van Alstine on that idea ).  Plexus, Armor-All, Nu-Vinyl (my favorite), etc that you use to clean and restore automotive rubber and plastic are all different formula's of silicone polymers.  No surprise that silicone - at least partially - restores the original rubber damping properties.

Volume, and perceived volume, are functions of several factors in one's system: gain, wattage, current, speaker efficiency, room size and shape and subjective needs of listener.  Most MM preamp phono sections of today are typically 38db and higher for a  reason....less than this is insufficient to produce sufficient dynamics (punch) and volume in many cases.  The 36db gain of the APT is insufficient to produce meaningful sonics from any cartridge below 5mv output in my system, in my room, to my ears.  As far as my system goes - it exists only to impress me, not anyone else - so what only matters to me is whether I like it or not.

http://www.cartridgedb.com/tools.asp  There is a helpful voltage gain calculator there to use.  I have found that output voltages, as applied to solid state preamp phono stages, need to be in excess of 300mv to sound right in my system, in my room.  True to form, it takes about 4.8mv to produce an output of 300mv with the APT.  It's not wholly subjective; it is reality-based, too.  Sufficient gain is needed to produce realistic dynamics in one's system   

I have a wonderful vintage (ss) Mitsubishi DAC-20 Tuner/Preamp now with much higher phono stage gain and I need to turn down the level (gain) controls down considerably as the ADC is very much overboosted in it otherwise (I suspect it's 40db).  If you use that same calculator, you'll see that combination (unless you reduce it's level/gain) produces 600 mv output. As I've found in the past, the sweet spot for my (which may be different for everyone) system seems to be in the 300-400mv range.  Less than this and it sounds soft and unrealistic; more than this and it is strident, overboosted and equally unrealistic.

My comments pertain to SS-based preamp systems as tube preamps seem to be significantly less prone to voltage overload issues.  With SS preamps, you need to carefully dial in the gain to what is right for your system.

My particular version of the ADC XLM is actually the Mk. III 'Improved'.  Reportedly, the improved versions were hand selected versions that measured best of the lot originally.  So, there may well be differences between Mark II and III versions, and the particular cartridge I have may be a bit better performing than other Mark III's from the outset in channel balance, separation and other important elements. 

No naysayer here.  My entire system is now vintage (my speakers are young'uns at only 10 years old ).  But, I didn't do so because I believed the sonics of the old gear to be inherently better, nor did I wax nostalgic either about it ...I just believed that that vintage components offer a better bang for my audio buck than new gear.  There has been very little in the way of real significant innovation in audio in decades, so why not buy components at fractions of new product costs (all things equal, of course)?

I paid $0 for the ADC as it was apart of a JVC TT purchase from ebay...it was only incidental that the $50 stylus made it the best performer in my cartridge stable. In fact, it may well be that the 1 year old Grado Green indeed is a better sounding cartridge, but it's 4mv output and the fact that my phono is loaded at 47K (rather than Grado's preferred range of 10-12K) makes it a second tier performer to the ADC XLM Mk. III Improved when using my APT preamp as my phono stage centerpiece.   

   

[Johnny2Bad]

The ADC XLM III is one of my favourite phono cartridges, and amongst moving magnet units perhaps my favourite period. It properly shines with a true low mass tonearm, set to the highish range of it's recommended tracking force. I even preferred it to the ZLM, the premium cartridge in ADC's lineup of the late 1970's.

I no longer have one, and as mentioned I am not convinced that vintage cartridges offer the best value, but if a circa 2017 copy sounds like they did back in the day, I'm sure it would surprise many people. Alas, I doubt that it would ... the cantilever was supported by rubber that tended to deteriorate, especially when mated to a high mass arm, more often than not it was the collapse of the cantilever rather than the stylus wear itself that mandated replacement.

[orthobiz]

Gosh I miss TheChairGuy!

Paul

[S Clark]

Gosh I miss TheChairGuy!

Paul

Absolutely.  I still use a JVC QL F6 turntable that I bought on his recommendation (though I moved on from the ADC XLM MK3 cartridge long ago).  He is still remembered warmly around here. 
Scott