Goldring E4 Moving Magnet Cartridge – First Look
All Image Credit: Goldring
Analogue audio specialist Goldring has announced its flagship E Series moving magnet cartridge, the E4. It has been designed as a significant upgrade for any budget or midrange turntable, with the E4 representing the pinnacle of E Series engineering and performance.
The E4 features include a super-elliptical nude diamond stylus with lower effective tip mass, a hollow aluminum cantilever and the company’s trademarked Magnetic Duplex Technology, which is said to allow for a more accurate transcription of the stereo groove. Additionally, micro-adjustments to the E4 azimuth are able to be made during the production process to ensure each cartridge leaves the Goldring factory with a claimed “optimized channel balance and crosstalk settings.” A badly adjusted azimuth can cause increased crosstalk and uneven channel balance.
Designed to be compatible with all medium-to-high-mass tonearms and because it’s constructed using the same high-quality core as the other E Series cartridges, the E4 is ideal both for those who wish to upgrade an obsolete cartridge or those who want to boost the performance of their existing E Series cartridge by replacing the stylus.
Key Features At A Glance:
- New super-elliptical nude diamond stylus features lower effective tip mass, improved rigidity and better high frequency detail retrieval than ‘bonded’ elliptical alternatives.
- The lightweight and superior stiffness of the hollow aluminum cantilever allows the stylus to trace medium-to-high frequencies with greater accuracy.
- Magnetic Duplex Technology™ allows a more accurate transcription of the stereo groove which results in a more accurate soundstage
- Expert adjustment facility: Unlike most designs, E4 allows micro-adjustments to be made during the production process, ensuring each cartridge leaves the Goldring factory with optimized channel balance and crosstalk settings
The E4 features a ‘nude’ super-elliptical stylus of just 7.6 x 18 microns (0.3 x 0.7 mil) and is cut and polished from a single homogeneous diamond. This is said to make for a lower effective tip mass of improved rigidity providing lower distortion, improved transient response and a flatter frequency response.
Complementing the low tip-mass stylus, the E4 features a hollow aluminum cantilever tube. The light weight and superior stiffness of the material allows the stylus to trace medium-to-high frequencies with greater accuracy, while simultaneously reducing distortion and mis-tracking.
Finally the E4 cartridge uses Goldring’s Magnetic Duplex Technology that positions two low-mass magnets at the same angles as the coils ensuring that each magnet interacts only with its partnering coil. This allows the E4 to transcribe the information in the groove more accurately, which is said to result in improved stereo separation and a more accurate soundstage.
Specifications:
- Frequency range: 20Hz to 20kHz
- Channel balance: <1.5dB at 1kHz
- Channel separation: >20dB at 1kHz
- Sensitivity: 3.5mV (1kHz at 5cm/s)
- Static compliance: 20mm/N
- Vertical tracking angle: 20°
- Stylus radius: 7.6micron (0.3 x 0.7mil)
- Stylus type: Nude elliptical
- Load resistance: 47kΩ
- Load capacitance: 100 to 200pF
- Internal inductance: 400mH
- Internal resistance: 410Ω
- Cartridge mass: 6.9g
- Fixing center: 12.7mm (0.5in)
- Playback weight: 1.5 to 2.5g (1.75g recommended)
Availability
June/July 2023
MSRP (Cartridge/Stylus):
- US: $299.00/$275.00
- UK: £199.00/£145.00
- EU: €259.00/€185.00
For more information visit the UK Goldring web site.
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