To adequately achieve this level of mechanical integrity, all aspects of the body design was considered, to minimize standing waves and eliminate any resonating air pockets within the cartridge assembly. Therefore in the design of the Audio Note cartridges very considerable attention has been paid to the rigidity and structural strength of the body, and to ensuring that the adopted mechanical construction stores the absolute minimum of resonant energy, which will degrade the signal derived from the disc being played. Any extraneous excitations arising as a result of vibrations in the cartridge housing must be eliminated. To ensure that the stored information on the disc is precisely recovered it is essential that the mechanical movement of the stylus is accurately translated into an electrical signal. The basic design criteria can be described as follows:Īs a basis for the designs the moving coil principle was chosen, as it offers greater linearity in terms of electrical output from the mechanical movements of the stylus. The following paragraphs outline the distinctive design features of the IoIIv, but also apply to the IoIv and the IoLtd. (UK) Ltd., and after substantial investment in tooling, both for cantilever and body parts, as well as in measurement equipment, the first IoIIv made in the UK was ready in April 1991. This has now changed, as of July 1990, the license for making the cartridges was transferred to The Audio Note Co. An annual Production of about 40 - 50 pieces speaks for itself. The cartridge designs do not lend themselves to mass production and as a result are not in-expensive, they require a tonearm of very substantial rigidity, and must be combined with a matching transformer, in order to achieve the best possible linearity and dynamic signal transfer without which it seems pointless to own cartridges of this quality.Īll the above make the cartridges relatively costly to acquire and use correctly, but the results are so illustrious and their music making so fine that Audio Note have never found selling them a problem, generally they have been very scarce and hard to find. The result is a small range of moving coil cartridges, which are second to none in dynamic range, tonal balance, separation, timbral reproduction, and lack of colouration and surface noise. The revolutionary nature of the design runs contrary to most accepted design criteria, now, as they did then. Kondo of The Audio Note Company, Japan, introduced his Io cartridge design.
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