A Blackbird has just landed on my TT
Posted by: Geoff P on 02 March 2004
And it flew over all the way from the U S of A!
Michael Fremer in "Stereophile" was kind enough to praise the new Sumiko Blackbird cartridge with comments such as "though it outwardly resembles the Blue Point Special and has the same output of 2.5mV, the Blackbird's performance is in another league entirely". So as a Blue Point Special owner with a need to get a re-stylusing job done and about to go to San Jose, I whipped my cartdige off my TT and took it with me to get a generous trade in allowance (195$US) which meant I paid a round 600$US (but a helluva a lot less in GBPounds) for the privelege of taking a nice little wood box back home with me, complete with the most comprehensive install and setup instructions and an alignment gauge all thrown in.
My what a nerve wracking experince it was handling it with extreme care whilst mounting it in my TT arm. As you can see from the enclosed piccy this is a "naked" cartridge and very fragile looking especially at the business end. Well after some held breathes the Bird is in place and running in. All I can say so far is WOW! This is a great sounding cartridge.
Now here we have to be fair this is probably not a cartridge that LP12 afficinados would view as competition for the 2000 GBPounds plus low output MC's out there (Linn's & Koetsu's etc), but for somebody who dabbles in Vinyl with a Project RPM TT this has been a revelation which may cause my 2000 + CD collection to gather some dust.
For a start Mr Fremer is correct when he says the Blackbird is in a different league and I take his word for it when he goes on to claim it can stand confidently against cartridges twice it's price. I also agree with his descriptions of what the Blackbird does to the music. To steal his phrases which match exactly with what I'm hearing with my added comments in italics
"The blackbirds strongest points are it's background quiet and focus of it's bass" I never thought I'd get close to the velvet black possible off CD but this cartridge does
"Throws a big wide open", very transparent sound stagë, revealing plenty of low level detail" Yesiree sure does
"What seperates it from far more expensive cartridges?. A lot can't compete with the Blackbird's Bass extension and focus, or with it's shimmering, well balanced top end and clean - but not at all brittle - transients". It has great attack and does this whilst delivering bass drive which I could not get near with my Blue point special in anything like the same way
"It gave no hint of brightness or edge"
I could'nt wax quite as lyrical as Mr F but I can heartily recommend this cartridge to anybody who is currently in MM territory running thru'an [/B]"N"[/B] model Stageline, or has a high output MC cartridge (around 2.5mV) and desires a big boost in sound. Of course this is dangerous territory because it is difficult to "demo" cartridges. I was fortunate I found a little gold mine in the bay area called "the Analog Room" where they demoed it to me on some gear I will never be able to afford and reassured me that the arm on my Project rpm was actually quite classy and would take the Blackbird no problem.
Of course I had to pick up some new vinyl to play on it and rather overspent on a box full of chosen Jazz on 160g, 180g and even 200g. I got some stuff I thought I'd lost years ago form the likes of lJohnny Hodges and Ben Webster, alomg with Nina Simone and Jacintha, oh and a pristine Steely Dan "AJA".
Expensive but great value visit.
regards
GEOFF
Michael Fremer in "Stereophile" was kind enough to praise the new Sumiko Blackbird cartridge with comments such as "though it outwardly resembles the Blue Point Special and has the same output of 2.5mV, the Blackbird's performance is in another league entirely". So as a Blue Point Special owner with a need to get a re-stylusing job done and about to go to San Jose, I whipped my cartdige off my TT and took it with me to get a generous trade in allowance (195$US) which meant I paid a round 600$US (but a helluva a lot less in GBPounds) for the privelege of taking a nice little wood box back home with me, complete with the most comprehensive install and setup instructions and an alignment gauge all thrown in.
My what a nerve wracking experince it was handling it with extreme care whilst mounting it in my TT arm. As you can see from the enclosed piccy this is a "naked" cartridge and very fragile looking especially at the business end. Well after some held breathes the Bird is in place and running in. All I can say so far is WOW! This is a great sounding cartridge.
Now here we have to be fair this is probably not a cartridge that LP12 afficinados would view as competition for the 2000 GBPounds plus low output MC's out there (Linn's & Koetsu's etc), but for somebody who dabbles in Vinyl with a Project RPM TT this has been a revelation which may cause my 2000 + CD collection to gather some dust.
For a start Mr Fremer is correct when he says the Blackbird is in a different league and I take his word for it when he goes on to claim it can stand confidently against cartridges twice it's price. I also agree with his descriptions of what the Blackbird does to the music. To steal his phrases which match exactly with what I'm hearing with my added comments in italics
"The blackbirds strongest points are it's background quiet and focus of it's bass" I never thought I'd get close to the velvet black possible off CD but this cartridge does
"Throws a big wide open", very transparent sound stagë, revealing plenty of low level detail" Yesiree sure does
"What seperates it from far more expensive cartridges?. A lot can't compete with the Blackbird's Bass extension and focus, or with it's shimmering, well balanced top end and clean - but not at all brittle - transients". It has great attack and does this whilst delivering bass drive which I could not get near with my Blue point special in anything like the same way
"It gave no hint of brightness or edge"
I could'nt wax quite as lyrical as Mr F but I can heartily recommend this cartridge to anybody who is currently in MM territory running thru'an [/B]"N"[/B] model Stageline, or has a high output MC cartridge (around 2.5mV) and desires a big boost in sound. Of course this is dangerous territory because it is difficult to "demo" cartridges. I was fortunate I found a little gold mine in the bay area called "the Analog Room" where they demoed it to me on some gear I will never be able to afford and reassured me that the arm on my Project rpm was actually quite classy and would take the Blackbird no problem.
Of course I had to pick up some new vinyl to play on it and rather overspent on a box full of chosen Jazz on 160g, 180g and even 200g. I got some stuff I thought I'd lost years ago form the likes of lJohnny Hodges and Ben Webster, alomg with Nina Simone and Jacintha, oh and a pristine Steely Dan "AJA".
Expensive but great value visit.
regards
GEOFF