Audio-Technica's ESCMG29 "Red Ed" Phono Cartridge...Ed Saunders Just Eliminated Your Last Excuse!
Written: Jan 03 '06 (Updated Mar 13 '06)
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Pros: Great
sound! Super low cost! Perfect tracking at 2 grams! Durable! Cons: Plastic case needs more foam to protect the item. Not quite equal to the best. The Bottom Line: For anyone who feels that their old turntable isn't worth salvaging because of the expense of a replacement needle, you just ran out of alibis. A-T's "Red Ed" rocks! |
Explore
the internet and you will find a handful of phono cartridge dealers
selling new cartridges and styli at reasonable prices. I recently
requested a family member to purchase a few cartridges that were selling
at a ridiculously low price from a vendor on Ebay. The vendor I speak of
is one Mr. Edward Saunders who just happens to be located in Cochran,
Georgia somewhat nearby family members that live in Atlanta. Ok...they're
only 113 miles apart!
Mr. Saunders has a feedback rating of 99.8% which is quite outstanding
given the fact that the gentleman has scored thousands of sales on the
site. His dedication to customer satisfaction was confirmed when he
replaced one of the cartridges free of charge and without me having to
return the defective item as proof. I could keep the cartridge and use the
stylus assembly as a replacement needle for one of the other three
cartridges as I was only charged for two! Not too shabby...eh? My word
that the cartridge had a defective right channel was good enough and the
man responded to the email in a timely manner.
Although Saunders's business is primarily conducted through Ebay, one can
contact him via his website www.edsaunders.com to request
information on a hard to find stylus or to make a purchase. Although he
prefers PayPal, other forms of payment are accepted such as money orders
and personal checks. His shipping is timely and the price for such quick
service reasonable.
But this review isn't just about the benevolent Mr. Saunders who seems to
be highly dedicated to keeping your old record player and general interest
in vinyl alive. No, indeed this review is about a dual moving magnet
stereo phono cartridge manufactured by audio-technica as an o.e.m. model
for many Denon, Sanyo, Fisher and other brands of turntable coming out of
Japan. The fact that Edward Saunders and audio-technica have worked
together side by side over the years presented a situation whereas these
generic models were made available to him at extremely low cost. So he
purchased many...but not an endless or lifetime supply as he so states on
his Ebay website.
The burgundy coloured .7 mil. conical stylus assembly attaches to a silver
and black cartridge body easily and securely. There is nothing fancy about
the cartridge's makeup or packaging as it features no gold-plated
color-coded terminals and arrives to one's doorstep in a clear plastic
Phanstiehl case {not unlike the old Astatic and GE cases for ceramic
cartridges of yesteryear} packed with one styrofoam peanut for security
during shipment. However...Mr. Saunders needs to secure the cartridge a
bit better with perhaps another styrofoam peanut placed at the opposite
end of the cartridge. This will prevent the unit from bouncing around
inside the plastic case and keep the plastic stylus guard from popping
off. I suspect this was or at least may have been the reason for the first
cartridge I received being defective.
Since no model number has been given the unit on his Ebay auction site...I
shall hereby refer to it as the Audio-Technica "Red Ed".
In actuality...it is an ESCMG29. As stated earlier, the cartridge
is a basic conical model which upon first examination by the buyer or
audiophile might cause a rather "ho-hum" reaction. Why should
one expect anything other than what might be expected out of a cheapy
Radio Shack-like unit of the mid 80's? But indeed there is a rather nice
and pleasant surprise that accompanies ownership of this two-gram tracking
unit that sells for only $13.95!
The Specs:
Frequency Response (Hz) Output
20-20,000
4.2 (mV at 1 kHz, 5 cm/sec)
Channel Separation Channel Balance (dB)
20/15 (dB at 1 kHz/10 kHz)
1.5
Vertical Tracking Force (grams) Stylus Shape
1.0-3.0
0.7 mil conical
Stylus Construction Cantilever
Bonded round shank
Alloy tube
Recommended Load Impedance (ohms) Mount
47,000
Half-inch
Cartridge Mounting:
Before hooking up any tonearm wires to the back of this fantastic low mass
cartridge, simply mount the unit to your tonearm's headshell. Then with the
cartridge's rear right side up in full view please note the cartridge's
four terminals. The two "Left" or "L" terminals to
your left are the left side "hot" and "ground". The
corresponding right hand or "R" terminals are used for the right
"hot" and "ground".
I only state this here because one could conceivably be confused by the
rather poor markings on the rear of the cartridge body itself which are
quite faint at best. The "L" and "R" markings may be
spotted somewhat easily but the "+" and "-" ones might
not! At any rate...just remember that the two "hot" terminals
are the ones closest to the top of the cartridge and headshell itself.
Obviously the two remaining bottom terminals are for "ground".
You can then attach the four color-coded wires carefully using a
needle-nose pliers or tweezers using the following color-coding guide. "White"
is the left hot wire that gets connected to the top left terminal. "Red"
then connects to the right hot located to the right of the
"left" terminal. "Blue" then in turn gets
connected to the bottom "left" ground terminal while "Green"
finally connects to the "right" remaining one.
Please remember that there is no substitution for good clean tight
connections and that poor ones can render bad sound quality or no sound at
all. At any rate...some pretty weird results can happen because of bad
connections. If your turntable is old and this cartridge is replacing
another one...you may want to crimp the connectors a bit so they do not
slip on too easily causing problems if not right way...possibly down the
road.
At the same time, be careful not to crimp so tightly as to cause the
fragile clips to break or snap when forcing them onto the cartridge's rear
pins. I only state this because it has happened to me {with more than one
instance!} over the course of owning more than 100 phono cartridges in my
lifetime. Never solder these terminals directly onto the pins as the
extreme heat could cause breakage in the cart's tiny OFC internal wiring.
Once cartridge mounting has been accomplished {which is in itself quite
easy}, the unit then needs to be aligned properly on the tonearm itself.
Balance the tonearm first by setting the anti-skating device and as in
some cases the tracking force dial on the base of the tonearm itself to
"zero".
Then move the counterbalance weight rearward or forward to the point where
the tonearm appears to be precisely level and parallel to the record
playing surface...in most cases the needle tip will rest just above a
record placed on the platter mat. Then adjust or set the tracking force
dial to precisely two grams.
On some turntables this will be via a dial located near the base of the
tonearm as with the Duals and PE's while on others it will be via a dial
that rotates with the rear counterbalance weight such as the S-shaped arms
from Pioneer and Technics. Set the anti-skating dial to two grams also.
Since this cartridge features a conical stylus...there is no need to
compensate past the two gram marking as might be necessary for an
elliptical or microline type.
Regardless of the tracking force range supplied by audio-technica and Ed
Saunders, I found that a two gram tracking force to be the optimum setting
for both the PE 3048 and the Pioneer PL-518. Increasing the force beyond
this point will only make the cartridge sound a bit sluggish while not
really improving its tracking ability appreciably. Setting the force to
the upper end of the range to three grams will only force the stylus
assembly up into the body causing it to hit on slightly warped records.
Conversely...setting the force to below 1 1/2 grams will cause mistracking
on highly modulated grooves and will keep the stylus from hugging the
record groove properly. If you really feel the need to deviate from my
two-gram recommendation...try not to go over 2.5 or under 1.75 grams.
Incidentally...here is where I agree with moving coil phono cartridge
enthusiasts. I always felt that companies like Shure and ADC always made
too much of unusually low tracking forces below 1 1/2 grams. These highly
compliant styli would pick up more debris and dust off of records that
might interfere with play after midway of play during a single side of the
given record. Yes...I know...you are supposed to keep your records clean
and the turntable dust cover down during play but still...I have found
that cartridges that track around 1 1/2 or 2 grams to be ideal. Isn't that
right in the ballpark for most MC's?
Well...Shure and ADC had a war back in the day over lower record wear and
whose cartridge performed better in this regard. The fact of the matter is
that spherical, conical and Shibata type shapes pose less of a threat to
the record surface anyway when compared to elliptical or similar types.
Lower tracking forces are fine so long as mistracking doesn't occur.
Mistracking at 1 gram {regardless of stylus shape} will cause much more
record damage than a proper two gram tracking stylus that does not
mistrack! Warp tracking of the Red ED in both of my tonearms was very good
but not outstanding like the Ortofons or the Shure models that feature the
Dynamic Stabilizer.
Once the tracking and anti-skating forces are set...stylus overhang must
absolutely be adjusted precisely via the turntable's supplied protractor
or if this is not possible by downloading one to proper scale from www.enjoythemusic.com.
I used two classic turntables for testing this cartridge...a Perpetuum
Ebner 3048 {which is basically the same as the Dual 1200 Series
turntables} and a Pioneer PL-518.
The PE 3048 features a straight low mass tonearm while the Pioneer PL-518
features a higher mass "S" type. Both are high quality low pivot
bearing friction units rendering 1 gram or lower VTF capability! The PE
uses the dial type tracking force adjustment at the base of the arm that I
mentioned earlier while the Pioneer utilizes the more commonly found rear
counterbalance type.
At first glance...I noticed the bottom of the cartridge to be not parallel
to the record surface and noticeably tilted backward after mounting the
unit on the Pio. Thanks to this situation plus the fact that recently when
testing a P-Mount/Universal type, I noticed the adapter bottoming out...I
then realized that the original PL-518 headshell supplied with the table
had somehow been slightly bent or warped upward over the course of twenty
five plus years! I am not the original owner.
In fact I purchased the unit over a year ago at an internet garage sale
for the staggering sum of $4.25 plus s+h! This of course represented my
life's savings at the time...don't laugh...ok, go ahead. I have since
restored the bad pitch control, scuffed dustcover and am still repairing
the rotted feet. The unit weighs in at a hefty thirty plus pounds.
At any rate...I had a spare universal A-T type headshell which enabled
easy sure-fire installation of the "Red Ed". Because of the
cartridge/headshell's unusually low mass, I found it necessary to add a
small weight in the guise of a shiny copper penny and super glue to the
top of the headshell. Otherwise the combo would be out of the Pio's proper
VTF range.
I found azimuth to be perfect by ultimately not adding any shims on either
turntable and by setting the cartridge hardware roughly midway of the PE
3048's standard-mount headshell slots while keeping the cartridge body
perfectly straight but on the PL-518...I had to force the assemby to the
right while tightening the collar to keep the cart/headshell from leaning
to one side with the cartridge turned slightly inward just barely past the
mid point of the headshell's slots. This is in opposition to the sometimes
popular myth that proper stylus overhang adjustment is achieved by
positioning the cartridge all the way forward.
Hogwash! I hate it when iognorant sales people instruct buyers as such and
believe me...plenty of them used to. Every phono cartridge is different.
Each must be checked and aligned properly at its own "best"
position rendering the least amount of coloration and inner groove
distortion possible. No wonder so many listeners complain about the IGD
blues...their cartridges are not aligned properly because of this
misinformation! You might get away with it to some degree using a
cartridge featuring a higher grade of stylus but with a conical
stylus...proper alignment is simply a must.
Listening Tests:
Both turntables were hooked up and grounded to a standard Radio Shack
stereo auxiliary selector switching box that in turn was hooked up to the
single set of "phono inputs" on my Yamaha R-500 amp for quick
A-B comparison between the same cartridge mounted in both turntables. This
would give me a good idea of how the A-T Red Ed would perform in a
wide variety of 1/2 inch standard mount tonearms.
The PE 3048 is a rubber idler wheel drive unit while the Pioneer PL-518 is
a direct drive type. These two turntables represent the analog portion of
my reference stereo system which includes two Polk Reference 30 cherry
towers and a cherry Yamaha Reference 500 stereo receiver that sports the
best magnetic phono preamp I've heard! In the final analysis, both
turntables sounded equally outstanding with the A-T.
Yes, there were a few subtle differences that only I could recognize from
extended ownership but yet the results were surprisingly close as each
tonearm has its own sound and damping causing similar cartridges to
perform differently. For example the high-tracking Shure M70B does a
noticeably better job in the PE as compared to being mounted in the Pio.
Yet the Pio's tonearm makes the Ortofon OM5E sound better than the PE's.
Go figure! But the A-T Red Ed sounded equally great in both
tonearms. But what really surprised me was that the A-T outperformed the
M70B in the PE tonearm! My copy of Duane Eddy's "20 Terrific Twangies"
on RCA International confirmed this observation.
I tested hum rejection by turning the amp's volume all the way up with no
record in progress. On the PE 3048 the cartridge's hum was very good as
only a slight trace could be heard while on the Pioneeer PL-518 the cart's
hum rejection reached outstanding proportions as only the faintest trace
of hum was detected if at all! This no doubt was also in part due to the
Yamaha R-500's outstanding phono input stage.
Speaking of low frequency stuff...sometimes my beloved Ortofon OM5E is
criticized for being bass shy by more than a few critics. I heartily
disagree with this assessment as I found the OM5E to be very detailed on
bass...just not phonied up as some others would prefer. It is what I
consider to be quite discrete.
However...having stated this...I will tell those of you who agree with
these critics that you will no doubt find the audio-technica Red Ed
to be the cure for these so-called bass-shy blues. Don't get me
wrong...this warmth does not indeed overshadow the cartridge's ability to
keep things in balance and detailed...but to me...it's just not as perfect
as the OM5e or the OM10.
I have several recordings in my vast repertoire I use for testing phono
cartridges but the bulk of my testing is via the "Professor
Johnson's Astounding Sound Show" record printed in 1979 on
Reference Recordings number "RR-7"at 45 rpm. The three tracks on
Side A of the record represent just under fifteen minutes of splendid
musical entertainment with enough tonebursts and dynamic range to give any
cartridge a hard time if not up to snuff! The recording is very useful in
determining timbre accuracy, channel and frequency balance, soundstaging,
subtlety and tracking ability without suffering through long and tedious
technical stuff in abundance on other more commonly found test records
like the Shures and audio-technicas.
The A-T Red Ed breezed through the entire side of the LP with nary
a trace of harshness or mistracking. The opening number features "The
Battle Hymn Of The Republic" {Fanfare} with climatic finish. This
phono cartridge displayed solid bass and dynamic range on both turntables.
Track Two displayed superior transient response for which audio-technicas
have been particularly famous! Accuracy of musical timbre was first rate
while channel balance and high frequency tracing were very good but not
equal to the best. Detail amidst complex musical passages was excellent to
outstanding especially toward the inner grooves where lesser conical and
spherical styli cartridges fall flat on their shells!
I decided to break out two old recordings that I had not listened to in
years...the original 1967 Andrew Lloyd Weber/Tim Rice "Joseph And The
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat-A Rock Cantata" on Scepter records
#SPS-598 and a great Russian Folk LP that my dearly beloved late Aunt May
had given me as A christmas gift back in 1978 entitled "Ivan Rebroff-At
Carnegie Hall" on Columbia Masterworks #M33364. The ESCMG29
Picked up some surface noise but behaved famously on the Pioneer Pl-518!
Ivan's voice has quite a range and the cartridge gave it such an
effortless clarity without any stringent harshness. Track 4 on Side
1..."Traditional-Woina" features Ivan's mandolin with a
lightening fast attack that the A-T reproduced with the utmost "in
your face" precision! It made the hairs on my back stand on end and
my spine tingle like no tomorrow! This is an emotional involving cartridge
for sure.
The former was also a pleasant surprise with the widest most in-depth
soundstage I have ever heard while listening to this recording...and clean
clean clean with magnificent stereo separation to boot! I thought to
myself that "Joseph" never sounded better. This is not what a
conical stylus is supposed to do but where the stylus gives itself away a
bit is on the innermost of grooves where the soundstage just barely
commences to break down...still...not to the degree as other low cost
elliptical types and is quite tolerable.
In fact...in many cases where some of my vinyl had been damaged by
mistracking from marginal cartridges of both the past and present...these
tracks seemed to come to life verifying the fact that some owners of the
Red Ed have observed the stylus tracing or contacting undamaged parts of
old worn groove walls!
Stereo separation is much better than anticipated but not quite equaling
Ortofon's OM5E or Super OM10 which I recently reviewed. While the Ortofons
reach a mark of 20/25 db at 10 KHz and 1 KHz respectably...the A-T Red
Ed falls just short of their mark coming in at 17/23 db. But then
again...the Ortofons are five to six times the price! Certainly the
cartridge outperforms its published spec of 15/20 db.
Soundstaging was very three-dimensional but admittedly not the equal of
the Ortofons or more expensive units. It does break down slightly on the
inner grooves which I would expect of a conical stylus anyway.
Nonetheless...it is quite impressive! Cymbals and brushes sound clean
clean clean...without smearing...quite a remarkable feat for such an
inexpensive transducer!
The third and final track on the Professor Johnson recording features an
African ensemble with some pretty mean bells and percussion A bad or even
fair cartridge will show signs of buzzing, crackling or even abnormal
ringing in the form of clanging but not this little audio-technica!
However...I have a couple of recordings in my collection that present a
real obstacle to phono cartridge tracking of sibilants...you know...those
harsh sss-sss-ssounds that seem to splatter all over the artist's
microphone and the listening room itself when they occur? "Danny's
Song" from Loggins And Messina's "Best Of"is one while
Smokey Robinson And The Miracles "Save Me" from their "Away
We A-Go Go" album is the other. These highly modulated ssss-ssounds
can be downright annoying and reveal just how good a cartridge's ability
to reproduce high frequencies is or how well placed the cartridge's high
frequency resonance is.
Although many more expensive cartridges exist, only a handful of top
moving magnet cartridges can handle such sibilants effortlessly. The Shure
V-15 V, ML-140He, Ortofon OM Super 40, Stanton L847S, 881S, Pickering
XSV-3000, 4000 and 5000 are certainly at the head of this elite group. The
little Red Ed hung in there but did indeed mistrack slightly. This showed
the cartridge's frequency limitation above the audible range as its
resonance frequency is placed just above 20 KHz while other more expensive
models like the ones mentioned have their peak well above 20 KHz. But wow
am I being picky here!
I mean this little $10 cartridge sounds great and certainly does a
considerably better job in this respect than anything even remotely close
to its ridiculously low price tag! No...it does not outperform the better
Ortofon OM's but does beat out Ortofon's $40 OM3E. Even the popular low
priced Empires, Stantons and Pickerings of both today and yesteryear that
are notorious for sandpapery quality in this respect and some lower cost
Shure Hi-Tracks of yesteryear to a notably lesser degree along with the
modern under $300 Grados cannot hold a candle to the Red Ed. However... I
believe the Hi-Track Shure M75ED T2 and M95ED to be better focused on
voices.
I guess you now know why Shure "was" my favorite cartridge
manufacturer back in the day! The bottom line on this matter is that the
little audio-technica while not perfect is certainly an improvement over
former lower cost models when it comes to handling sibilants with much
less sandpapery-like quality and with emphasis placed more on sheer
musicality than ever thought possible at this price level!
For those of you who have found endearment with the co.'s former AT 10,
11E and 12E excellent models need not long for their return as this Red Ed
is everything and better than they ever were! And that famous transient
attack and A-T sound is all there. Yes folks...even though each component
in a well designed sound system is not supposed to introduce
coloration...they all have their own sound.
While this is less apparent when comparing top-of-the-line models...they
each maintain a certain sound characteristic which gives various
manufacturers an identity making audio loads of fun! The Red Ed is no
different in this respect. However...its stereo separation is noticeably
better than its published spec would suggest while its frequency response
has to be considered quite exemplary for a cartridge in this price
range...20 to 20KHz plus or minus 1db {non-published real-world spec}.
I only state this because many audiophiles well know how modern-day phono
cartridge manufacturers are now making models with basic low performing
conical/spherical styli in abundance while paying less attention to their
more expensive elliptical models. Apparently with the need for these lower
priced spherical types...audio-technica and Ed Saunders have developed
enough technology to take this basic stylus shape to the max. So much so
that this low cost well designed generic cartridge will eat up a much more
expensive Grado Reference "Sonata" that features a so-called
advanced elliptical shaped stylus!!! So please do not be put off by the
stylus shape of this "Red Ed".
Dee Jays will no doubt find its precise surefire backcuing to be a huge
plus while leaving little or no backburn on the vinyl's surface. As a
matter of fact, I was just thinking how perfect this cartridge would be
for "On Air" use at FM radio stations although I don't know of
any that still have analog equipment in use. I was thinking of ways to
improve this already low cost impressive performer and thought that
perhaps adding a white or florescent line to the middle of the red plastic
stylus assembly would aid its visibility while backcuing. Then I realized
that this was unnecessary as the stylus cantilever and tip is highly
telescoped and quite visible as is!
Even so...the cartridge is not appropriate for scratching purposes. Others
are. Audio newbies that are getting their turntable feet wet for the first
time may very well be shocked by its performance level and windup
questioning why they ever put up with the digital compact disc and its
shortcomings along with their cd players just folding after only a few
years for no apparent reason.
In Conclusion:
Seasoned audiophiles will be pleasantly surprised if not indeed shocked at
just how musical this cartridge is for the money and realize the virtue of
having this little guy as a spare while their top-level moving coil model
is out for re-tipping. Even owners of top-rated Shure V-15's and Pickering
XSV's could certainly keep this model as a spare as we audiophiles like to
tinker just a wee bit...do we not? Transcription is certainly not out of
the question either.
The cartridge will perform well in most turntables of classic well-made
design...the original AR Xa come to mind as they had no anti-skating
device and cuing lever. So...this cartridge with its conical stylus and
two-gram TTF would render a rather good feel here. However...by the same
token...it is not ideal for older cheapy Garrards and BSRs that require 3
gram or upward tracking forces. There is where a more h.d. but sluggish
ADC QLM, Pickering PAT. XV-15 AC or Shure M3D or Stanton 505SK come in.
Although no fancy packaging accompanies this unit, I really believe that
at $13.95 the audio-technica "Red
Ed" has no peer! As for do-it-yourselfers who have indefinitely
procrastinated and postponed the project of turntable restoration because
of expense and availability...I really do believe Mr. Saunders just
snuffed your last excuse for not restoring your classic turntable indeed.
Mounted properly and securely, the cartridge should give an indefinite
number of years of pleasurable service to its owner. This cartridge would
be a great buy if it were selling at the more commonly found price of $30
to $40. A best buy at under ten bucks?. Now honestly...you tell me!...PJS2
Recommended:
Yes
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