Monster Cable Alpha 2 cartridge...

cmalak

cmalak

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For those of you deep into the analog realm, anyone have any experience with Monster Alpha 2 cartridge. Believe it was designed by the current founder/president/chief designer of Zyx cartridges - Hisayoshi Nakatsuka - and it came out in 1988 I believe. Supposedly was a very good cartridge at the time and is quite sought after today. Apparently it's strong suits were speed, articulation and resolution but also set a new standard for sound staging at it's time. That's all I know.

Anyone here owned or heard one? For those who have, I would appreciate any sonic impressions/description of the cart. They normally go for $500-550 in used market nowadays (not bad for a 27 year old design) in good condition. Have the opportunity to get one for $400. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Cyril
 
Just to add to the question, if I don't get this, I will likely just get a Dynavector 20X2 ($1K) instead, so any comments as to how it would compare to the Dyna cart would also be appreciated.
 
cmalak said:
For those of you deep into the analog realm, anyone have any experience with Monster Alpha 2 cartridge. Believe it was designed by the current founder/president/chief designer of Zyx cartridges - Hisayoshi Nakatsuka - and it came out in 1988 I believe. Supposedly was a very good cartridge at the time and is quite sought after today. Apparently it's strong suits were speed, articulation and resolution but also set a new standard for sound staging at it's time. That's all I know.

Anyone here owned or heard one? For those who have, I would appreciate any sonic impressions/description of the cart. They normally go for $500-550 in used market nowadays (not bad for a 27 year old design) in good condition. Have the opportunity to get one for $400. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Cyril
Click to expand...

The Alpha 2 was a magical cartridge in its day for all the reasons you cited. The cartridge was, however, handicapped at that time its low output (IIRC ~0.44 mV). There weren't a lot of low noise, high gain phono sections (especially tube) back then and well SUT, the less said the better.

I've always wondered how some of these older designs would hold up given the huge improvements in tables, arms and phono sections. I would be cautious though about buying an older cartridge because the elastomer could have easily dried out by now and thus the cartridge would need to be rebuilt.
 
Myles...thank you for the feedback. As to the condition of the cartridge, this is coming from the personal stash of the turntable specialist at Goodwins High End. He says it's in very good condition and has at least 2-3 years if continuous play left in it. I trust him and his judgement so not very worried about that. I might give it a try and see how it goes. My Nagra BPS phono has enough gain I believe and is very quiet so should be a good match. He has my TT in the shop now and he says it matches very nicely with my Graham 2.2 arm so I may ask him to mount it and I'll give it a listen.

Does it have an analytical edge to it? Is it forward or aggressive in any way?

Thanks for the thoughts Myles :thumbsup:
 
cmalak said:
Myles...thank you for the feedback. As to the condition of the cartridge, this is coming from the personal stash of the turntable specialist at Goodwins High End. He says it's in very good condition and has at least 2-3 years if continuous play left in it. I trust him and his judgement so not very worried about that. I might give it a try and see how it goes. My Nagra BPS phono has enough gain I believe and is very quiet so should be a good match. He has my TT in the shop now and he says it matches very nicely with my Graham 2.2 arm so I may ask him to mount it and I'll give it a listen.

Does it have an analytical edge to it? Is it forward or aggressive in any way?

Thanks for the thoughts Myles :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

A little in its day but I think so much of that was especially the arms in those days inability to deal with the energy imparted into the arm (ringing of tube, bearings, etc.). I'd expect it to be a different cartridge in a modern arm and of course phono stage. One thing that it did that I've heard few cartridges before or since be able to do is layer instruments, particularly when it comes to orchestral music.
 
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