Hana SL Review Update

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure here.

During the initial installation and alignment of my Hana SL I noted that it would not track the +18dB lateral levels and that a number of HF sine sweep tests showed distortion on the left hand channel at frequencies above 1KHz. No amount of azimuth, zenith or bias adjustment improved these issues and any excessive changes made the L/R separation and balance much worse.

Despite theses issues I could not hear any problems when listening to music, irrespective of its level, dynamics or frequency content.

In frustration and thinking that the Hana may in some way be damaged, I re-fitted my Lentek Entre 1 only to determine that several of my vinyl test albums were less than stellar:

Hi-Fi Sound – Stereo Test Record – HFS75
CBS Laboratories – Technical Series – Professional test Record – STR100
EMI – Technical Test Record – TCS102

These albums all contained several poorly mastered sine wave sweeps and test tones that showed poor left channel waveforms. Now that’s coincidence! Finally I found a number of test tracks that measured and looked correct using the Entre 1. (The Entre 1 came with its own set of factory measurements showing its frequency response and separation, so I have always considered it as my reference.)

As my unipivot arm had been significantly disturbed during this quick swap of cartridges I took the opportunity to set the Hadcock arm up from scratch and take a second look at the Hana stylus under a powerful medical microscope. The good news was that the diamond stylus shank was perfectly mounted square on the cantilever in all plains. However, the cantilever flat mounting area for the stylus was tilted about half a degree when viewed from the front. It is very minor and can easily be compensated for by adjusting the cartridges azimuth during alignment. It also confirmed my previous measurements in that I needed to tilt the head shell by about 0.5 degrees in order to obtain virtually identical L/R separation.

Test Results

Upon re-assembling the arm, headshell and cartridge I again set the overhang and cantilever zenith using the manufacture supplied templates, the stylus azimuth by mirror, the VTA (SRA) by having the arm (and headshell) parallel to the vinyl and finally VTF to 2grams.

Using The Ultimate Analogue Test LP, and a Leader LMV185A AC millivolt meter the headshell azimuth was rotated anti-clockwise a little less than 1 degree achieving significantly higher separation compared to using HFS75. (This may be related to using cut levels that are almost 10dB lower than those on HFS75.)

HFS75 – original crosstalk measurements. In the meter readings below red 0dBm = either 0dB or -30dB.

Left level = -3.0dB
Right crosstalk > -32dB
Right Level = -2.5dB
Left crosstalk > -31.5dB
Channel balance 0.5dB @ 1Khz.
Separation >28dB.

The Ultimate Analogue Test LP crosstalk measurements:

Left level = -11.5dB
Right crosstalk > -45dB
Right Level = -12.0dB
Left crosstalk > -45.5dB
Channel balance 0.5dB @ 1Khz.
Separation >33dB.

Crosstalk @1KHz – LH Channel -3dB, RH Channel -32dB

Crosstalk @ 1KHz – RH Channel -2.5dB, LH Channel -31.5dB.

(All equipment, including the MX-VYNL preamplifier, were previously calibrated and/or measured using a Leader LAG120B audio signal generator.)

Using The Ultimate Analogue Test LP, STR100, HFS75 and a Leader T935A dual beam oscilloscope the left and right waveforms were measured from 10Hz -20KHz:

No visible distortion was seen on either channel.
L/R phase accuracy was essentially constant and excellent. (It was not possible to significantly improve the phase accuracy due to the very small zenith rotation that the headshell provides. (Changing the cantilever zenith from its ‘eyeball’ alignment to the template degraded the channel separation.)
L/R crosstalk remained consistently low.
No signifiant arm resonance was noted.

L+R Lateral 1KHz Phase & Amplitude

20KHz LH Channel Only

The bias calibration had not been changed since my original setup. To my surprise the cartridge now tracked both the +18dB lateral and +11dB vertical 300Hz cuts on HFS75 and all lateral and vertical levels on The Ultimate Analogue Test LP with no visual or audible signs of tracking distortion. (see first comment)

+18dB L+R Lateral Cut @ 300Hz.

Comments

I noted that any attempt to increase the VTA/SRA by raising the arm pivot/base and causing the arm to be above parallel to the vinyl surface, prevented the +18dB RH lateral cut from being traced without distortion. This problem was not apparent on the LH channel. Changes to the bias and alignment would not correct the RH channel distortion unless the arm was very slightly below parallel to the vinyl. Cut levels up to +15dB could be tracked even with an increased SRA and the arm set above parallel. – This maybe a none symmetrical +18dB cut, or stylus profile. Clearly the SRA is impacting this. (The VTF was maintained at exactly 2gm and the bias thread was adjusted to be parallel to the arm for all tests.)
For all my listening the arm is now set at about 0.5mm below parallel at its pivot.
The other issue noted was that as a unipivot is essentially not stable in the horizontal plane, tiny misalignments to the bias thread, I.E. not being perfectly parallel to the arm tube, would cause the arm to twist a microscopic amount, causing the azimuth to change and reducing channel separation.
My Entre 1 is not this sensitive to the arms setup but it’s an elliptical stylus, not a Shibata stylus profile. – These exotic profiles are notoriously much more sensitive to correct arm geometry than conical or elliptical stylus profiles.
As I had concerns as to the accuracy of my 40+ year old test discs I ordered The Ultimate Analogue Test LP from Acoustics Sounds. This was used for many of the re-measurements and comparisons to my old test disc cuts. This $39.99 test album is a must for the serious audiophile.

After this second alignment I listened to the Hana again using the Shelby Lynn, Harry James and several other albums and just as before the Hana sounded amazing, open and detailed, but now provided even more precise and solid stereo imaging.

I think that I can live with this cartridge forever!