I found an unused 57 year old cartridge in its original presentation box with all the literature including the warranty card and sealed mounting hardware bag.
ADC Model 1. The first cartridge from ADC (1961). A moving magnet design based on the Empire 108 cartridge developed by Peter Pritchard, but with a much higher compliance (30 x 10 -6 vs. 6 x 10 -6 cm/dyne) and a much lower tracking force (0.5 – 2 vs. 1.5 – 5 grams).
The ADC-130 Cartridge System consisted of the ADC Model 1 (MK II) with the R-10 stylus (0.6 mil spherical). Also included was the R-30 stylus (0.35 mil spherical) with a compliance of 40 x 10 -6 cm/dyne and a tracking force of 0.4 – 1.5 grams with a tip mass of 0.5 mg. Specifications included a frequency response of 10 – 20 kHz +/- 3 dB with a channel separation of 30 dB (50 – 7kHz)
The literature cautioned that the R-30 stylus should only be used on modern stereo recordings because many older recordings have shown to have “poor groove formation” and prevents the R-30 stylus from performing at its best.
I used a tracking force of 1 gram with antiskating set at 1. For the most part, vocals were clean but there was sibilance; not as severe as some other cartridges, but no amount of fiddling with the tracking or antiskating would fix the distortion. A strange phenomenon: while the vocals sounded clean and detailed, the background instruments sounded muddled and fuzzy, even with low modulated passages. Bass, while strong was also muddled. There was a slight sandpaper quality with vocals in the tenor or high range. Symphonic recordings were clean but solo passages had the slightest bit of distortion. Since the R-30 is a spherical stylus, I wanted to see how much inner groove distortion was present. The small tip radius probably minimized the distortion, but there was “leakage” heard between channels especially at the high frequencies. All of my “regular” cartridges have either hyperelliptical or line contact styli and I find the sound from these cartridges to be very detailed and refined. It could be the muddled sound that I’m hearing from the Model 1 was considered normal and that I’m being overly critical. I’m sure in 1961, the Model 1 was considered state of the art but much like other audio components, technical advances lead to cartridges that are far superior to their earlier versions.
ADC Model 1. The first cartridge from ADC (1961). A moving magnet design based on the Empire 108 cartridge developed by Peter Pritchard, but with a much higher compliance (30 x 10 -6 vs. 6 x 10 -6 cm/dyne) and a much lower tracking force (0.5 – 2 vs. 1.5 – 5 grams).
The ADC-130 Cartridge System consisted of the ADC Model 1 (MK II) with the R-10 stylus (0.6 mil spherical). Also included was the R-30 stylus (0.35 mil spherical) with a compliance of 40 x 10 -6 cm/dyne and a tracking force of 0.4 – 1.5 grams with a tip mass of 0.5 mg. Specifications included a frequency response of 10 – 20 kHz +/- 3 dB with a channel separation of 30 dB (50 – 7kHz)
The literature cautioned that the R-30 stylus should only be used on modern stereo recordings because many older recordings have shown to have “poor groove formation” and prevents the R-30 stylus from performing at its best.
I used a tracking force of 1 gram with antiskating set at 1. For the most part, vocals were clean but there was sibilance; not as severe as some other cartridges, but no amount of fiddling with the tracking or antiskating would fix the distortion. A strange phenomenon: while the vocals sounded clean and detailed, the background instruments sounded muddled and fuzzy, even with low modulated passages. Bass, while strong was also muddled. There was a slight sandpaper quality with vocals in the tenor or high range. Symphonic recordings were clean but solo passages had the slightest bit of distortion. Since the R-30 is a spherical stylus, I wanted to see how much inner groove distortion was present. The small tip radius probably minimized the distortion, but there was “leakage” heard between channels especially at the high frequencies. All of my “regular” cartridges have either hyperelliptical or line contact styli and I find the sound from these cartridges to be very detailed and refined. It could be the muddled sound that I’m hearing from the Model 1 was considered normal and that I’m being overly critical. I’m sure in 1961, the Model 1 was considered state of the art but much like other audio components, technical advances lead to cartridges that are far superior to their earlier versions.
Last edited:
