Goldring 2500 Phono Cartridge
Perhaps the finest high output cartridge ever made.
HISTORY
Goldring is an 115 year old company making some of the finest phono cartridges in the world. Mostly known for their relatively affordable 1000 series cartridges that have spanned more than 20 years as a model range, the newer 2000 series offers one cartridge in particular that pushes the envelope of analog sound.
DESIGN
Most cartridges sold are of the moving magnet type where a magnet moves inside the cartridge as the needle traces the groove of the record below. Against another magnet it makes a little electrical signal which goes out to your amplifier and voila you have sound. Moving magnet designs are cheap to make and perform fairly well. You can optimize the strength, size and position of the magnets as well as the needle material and shape to quite a high degree. If you’ve heard a record you’ve probably heard a moving magnet cartridge.
Goldring employs a more advanced design philosophy in their 2000 series and it reaches its peak in the 2500 model. The technology is called moving iron. From the Goldring web site:
The cartridge employs a fixed samarium cobolt magnet and high output coil combination so that a very light iron/nickel cantilever end-piece can be used instead of the much heavier permanent magnet used in conventional designs. This reduces the moving mass allowing the stylus to trace the record groove more faithfully.
The 2500 uses a nude, square shank, natural diamond stylus in a diagonal orientation with a proprietary 2SD line-contact profile. The stylus only contacts the groove wall along the short radius ridges which are so fine that it can accurately trace details down to 4 microns
In short, this is an incredibly advanced technical design. Other than perhaps adding a boron or pure diamond cantilever for the stylus, this is top material at any price. Of course, this is not an inexpensive cartridge and there are the third design type moving coil cartridges available at or even below this cost.
Moving coil cartridges go one step further by placing the coil on the end of the moving stylus in the place of the magnet or piece of iron. This offers the lightest moving mass and thus the highest accuracy for the needle below to trace the groove. Moving coil cartridges are notoriously hard to build and thus the labour costs tend to quickly increase the price. Lower cost moving coils have their own problems as corners need to be cut.
The 2500 straddles the world between the highest price moving magnets and the lowest price moving coils and offers the best of both. A further practical advantage is that unlike on moving coils, the stylus is removable so it can be easily replaced by the user. You don’t need to take the whole cartridge off and remount a new one as with a fragile moving coil. For long term use or when you don’t have a turntable setup expert nearby, this can be invaluable.
SOUND
The sound of the 2500 is very high resolution and slightly crisper than the Eroica or Elite. Those who love detail or want to add brilliance to their system will fall in love with the 2500. This combined with incredibly low groove noise, and near perfect tracking make this a technically astounding achievement at the price. Dynamics too are forceful with surprisingly deep, lightning quick bass without being thin. Power would be one word to sum it up. As well there is a welcome dash of some of the Golding’s hall mark warmth and naturalness through the mid bass and midrange which means that this cartridge never strays into overtly analytical, which befall so many similar priced MCs.
The high 6.5mV output means that the signal to noise ratio with even a decent moving magnet 40dB gain phono preamplifier could be as much as 20x better than the typical 0.3mV moving coil cartridge. 20x is not a small factor in most things and in audio it is a gulf. Yes, there are moving coil phono preamps that can keep up and yes there are moving coil cartridges that are yet more accurate and brilliant, but they cost a magnitude more money. In many cases, your luck to find one, or certainly the combination of coil and preamp that truly does outperform a 2500 with common moving magnet preamp are exceedingly low.
CONCLUSION
The Goldring 2500 is a revelation for even dyed-in-the wool audiophiles. The ultra-linear performance tied with immense emotion, 3D soundstage and palpability is heretofore not available at the price. What’s more, the advantage of being able to use this cartridge on a wide variety of turntables and with comparably low-priced moving magnet phono preamplifiers means that average budget users can now taste the same performance as was exclusively available from much more expensive moving coil designs. For 98% of all music lovers, this cartridge can be considered the final step in your analog journey.
PRICE
$1099.00 USD
AVAILABILITY
Planet of Sound (Canada)
THE RATING
8/10 Absolute
10/10 Relative
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