Yamaha MC-9 cartridge, any opinions?

Phototone

Super Member
In my stash of phono carts I found a Yamaha MC-9 cart. I have never mounted it (it is used), and my current favorite is a Shure V15vXMR. I have several head amps, so I could easily use the Yamaha.

Has anyone ever used this cart? Opinions? Where does this fall in the Yamaha cartridge line-up?
 
Quite high I think, but check on the cartridge database on Vinyl Engine

No personal experience from me here (unfortunately)
 
i used mc 9 (about 100 $ in 1990 ) and mc 11 (70$ ) on a technics sl 1210 mkII with very good results :music:
 
Whilst I hope that you get an answer to your questions,I also hope that you will try using the cartridge.Please remember that some of the highest regarded cartridges in the world are made in Japan.The Yamaha will sound distinctly different to the Shure.

Have a listen to it,then get-back to us and tell us how the Shure and the Yamaha campare. :thmbsp:
 
PT: The MC-9 was the model above the base LOMC model MC-11. Yahama classified it as upper middle class model, which for my taste seemed pretty much spot-on. In fact it was very good for the price and measured pretty well, too. I never had one of these myself, though - but I had an MC-505, which was the successor of the MC-3 and MC-5 and sounded excellent to my ears. It's really a pity these thingies are hardly available anymore. If I knew a NOS source for these, I'd be happy...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
The MC-9 was the 5. out of 6 carts in the line up (they never did low-end carts), MC-1000, MC-3, MC-5, MC-7, MC-9 and MC-11 (the MC-21 is a high output version of the MC-11).

Yamaha did not manufactur the carts themself, this was done by Audio Technica and some of the Yamaha carts are relabled AT carts. So expect an open sound with a good amount of treble.

BTW. The cart can be quite old, the MC-9 was the longest running in the Yamaha lineup. It came with the 2. generation in 1981 and ran until the end of Yamaha carts in 1998.
 
Last edited:
t-m-r: The 21 had a different enclosure and was a good bit lighter than the 11, though...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
I went through two MC 7s with genuine appreciation -- tidy, neutral sound with good tracking. I suppose a bit more calling attention to itself might have made more of a vivid impression, but that's not what I wanted from it. On the other hand, the one MC 9 I picked up as NOS I never liked -- it just didn't track well, and when it distorted it was pretty noticeable. Now I suspect the damper was dried up, but a decade ago, I wasn't so aware of the effects of aging. But of course, age is an issue for all older cartridges, and so if it sounds good, then you've lucked out.
 
t-m-r: The 21 had a different enclosure and was a good bit lighter than the 11, though...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

Yes true, but try take a look at the specs. You will find the only difference is the body and output, the body was properly changed to eliminate problems due to the high output.
 
t-m-r: Well, I did look at the specs: Another difference is that the 21s use sendust coil cores like some of the more expensive LOMC models, whereas the 11s use permalloy cores. So, if you'd ask me, I'd rather say that all of the Yamaha MCs are technically related to some degree - whereas I don't see enough specific parallels to call the 21 the high output version of the 11...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
Yes they have to make the high output somehow, but look at all the other data. The 2 carts are the only one's shareing all data execpte output and weight (I even think the price was the same) and then there is the funny thing with the 21 name, why that number and not another one?

But enough about this, the talk was about the MC-9; Phototone let us hear what you think about it.
 
Last edited:
Yamaha MC9 cartridge

In my stash of phono carts I found a Yamaha MC-9 cart. I have never mounted it (it is used), and my current favorite is a Shure V15vXMR. I have several head amps, so I could easily use the Yamaha.

Has anyone ever used this cart? Opinions? Where does this fall in the Yamaha cartridge line-up?

When I sent my Supex in or a stylus/exchange, I bought one of these MC9's new and still use it. It is quite good, but certainly not as good as the Supex 900, which I now save mostly for my Direct to Disc albums. These have been run through Audire POCO and Mark Levinson JC something or other head amps with no difference in sound (of the head amps) between them. The bass is a bit tighter on the Supex and the extreme high end is lacking on the "Smooth Sound" Yamaha, but it is quite listenable.

My Buddy has a Grace F-9 MM,which sounds as good, if not better than the Yamaha, even with my relatively cheap replacement stylus (eBay). I also like the Grace better than my Shure V-15.
 
Back
Top Bottom