Phono Cartridges

A phono cartridge is a small electro-mechanical component mounted at the front of a turntable tonearm. It holds the cantilever or arm and stylus, tip, or needle. 

Groovy Man!

During vinyl record production, grooves are cut in varying widths and depths that mirror the recording. The stylus follows these grooves, and the cartridge converts the vibrations into audio signals, amplified further up the electronic chain by the preamp and finally by the power amplifier to the speakers.

GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out)

An audio system sounds only as good as your cartridge, so the input's quality determines the output quality. The cartridge influences everything including tonal balance, frequency response, dynamics, stereo separation, soundstage, noise reduction, and distortion.

Mounting

Cartridges are mounted on a turntable's tonearm via a universal headshell, P-mount, or proprietary mount. The tonearm design will determine the cartridge design required. A half-inch mount or standard mount is the most common. P-mount or T4P is plugged into the tonearm and secured by a single screw. A universal cartridge is designed for either a half-inch or P-mount tonearm and includes a separate half-inch mount adaptor.