Cartridge Man Isolator - any toughts

Hi all,
anyone got any experience of using this device? just be interested to know peoples thoughts on this and people results with it.

Cheers
P

 

Never used one, but it looks interesting if not cheap for what it is.

Looking at it, it seems fairly chunky and I'd be a little concerned about getting proper VTA, particularly if you mated that with a tall cart.

 

You can make yourself one very easily.

 

got any plans?

 

i admit its a bit agricultural in appearance , and not cheap at £85, any ideas or experience appreciated,

 

The whole thing goes back many years. Essentially the cartridge isolator is a neater version of tying your cartridge on with a bit of bubble wrap on between the cartridge and the headshell. I remember reading about this tweek in Hi-Fi Answers (Jimmy M. Hughes I think). Get a couple of bubbles of bubble wrap, sandwich them between the cartridge top and the headshell and tie (yes with string) the cartridge to the headshell via its mounting holes and headshell slots.

To make your own you will need to visit B&Q (other DIY stores are available). Buy a small sheet of thin aluminium sheet (B&Q definitely sell this - mine does any way). You will also need a couple of spare cartridge bolts and some double sided tape. Finally you will need some material to do the isolating - lots of stuff can be used and all will sound slightly different. Here are some material suggestions; rigid foam (as the CM used to use) the rubber from an old table tennis bat (as he now uses) a bit of rubber mat, a bit of cork tile etc. Cutting the thin aluminium will be the hardest bit; a pair of old scissors should do it though. The cartridge is held in place by the bit of double sided tape (yes I know this sounds a bit iffy). The CM Isolator has a couple of locating lugs but you don't really need them if you stick the cartridge on neatly.

You can probably get most of the way there by just fitting long cartridge bolts and sandwiching a couple of old layers of table tennis bat rubber between the headshell and cartridge (dots together as the CM does) - do the bolts up so they only just bite, or use rubber washers to help isolate them.

If you like the results you might want to buy the real thing – if you don’t like the results I wouldn’t waste your money.

 

If you buy the real thing, be careful: over time, the adhesive dries up and you can easily come home to find a cartridge hanging from it's headshell wires - it happened to me, anyway.

Maybe things have been improved over the last couple of years?

Personally, I'm now wary of this device, although it did appear to work as claimed when I used it with my SP10/SME4 set-up.

 

Could you not utilise number plate sticky pads in making this?

Just a thought.

 

Yes I suppose you could. I've tried Dynamat and the sticky pads that came with my wall shelf. Couldn't be bothered with the metal though so they looked a bit shite and were hard to align properly.

I got a proper one from walrus for £30.00 when the new material version 2 came out. I liked it and have kept it on.

It wasn't 'magical' or 'stunning' but I think it lowered the noise floor a bit without damaging the music or losing information. It may make more difference on a suspended deck.