After a long reflection and a long series of hesitations I decided to change the cartridge of my system. In my local cultural association, The Music Loft, I have a listening room where members can listen to the records I have on display. I had a Sublima cartridge, a Denon 103 modified by Alex Cereda, which had given me great satisfaction but which, after 7 years of use, was starting to show signs of age. So I returned to Alex who in the meantime had developed a new head, of a new concept, which in addition to the modifications made by Alex, stood out for its elegant bicentenary olive shell with magneto-mechanical tuning, an absolute novelty! My priority was to have a sound that faithfully reproduced the original timbre of the instruments and highlighted the perspective distance between them.
In terms of price, I was looking for something that had an “affordable” cost, compared to that of medium-high range cartridges. I carried out the listening test using various records of different genres, trying to verify the ductility of the cartridge. Pike’s Peak by vibraphonist Dave Pike is a “difficult” record to play. In BesMe Mucho, the sound of the vibraphone on the right channel hides the supports of Bill Evans’ piano located on the left channel which in fact only reveals itself when the solo starts. With the new cartridge, however, the faint phrasing of the piano is clearly distinguishable and the dialogue between the two instrumentalists becomes clear. The pleasure of listening is at a peak.
The second disc is Grieg’s Holberg Suite conducted by Willi Boskovski. The whirlwind beginning of the piece with its full orchestra, the violent arches of the double basses and the sweet pizzicato of the violins was thrilling. In particular, the arches of the double basses are clearly distinguishable below the violins and the detail is such as to highlight the attack with the resonance of the note that arrives a moment after the bow touches the string. The different orchestral levels are clearly distinguishable and the ear can freely choose among the orchestral sections.
The third album to test was Gaucho by Steely Dan, one of the albums whose acoustic performance is legendary. The choice was made to really put the head to the test. It has often happened to me that I was satisfied by listening to acoustic music and remained dissatisfied with the performance of the electrical one. The song chosen was Hey Nineteen. Even though I know the song perfectly, it felt like I was “really” listening to the song for the first time. I was able to enjoy a myriad of details, which I had never noticed before and which enriched and made the song even more extravagant. The clearness of the instruments is at its best as is the definition of the soprano, contralto, tenor and countertenor voices in The Second Booke of Songs by John Dowland in the edition of L’Oyseau Lyre. The melodic lines of the song are perfectly distinguishable but the subtle delicacy of the accompanying lute is not penalized.
All things considered, my system experienced a tremendous upgrade using the adaptable Sublima cartridge. Its precision and delicacy made me think of the harmony of cherry trees in bloom in Japanese gardens, so I took the liberty of suggesting to Alex the name Sakura for his creation.
Marco Giorgi – The Music Loft
