Remove the stylus by pulling downward from the cartridge body. (safer with the cartridge off the arm) - as opposed to forwards for the Shure style cartridges.
There can be substantial differences with higher spec versions of the same body... and they are all to do with balancing the channels.
There are two inductors and pole sets inside each cartridge body, and their resistance and inductance are NEVER identical.
In the old days Audio Technica used to make a heap of AT15's, they then handpicked the ones with the best matched channels and labelled them AT20.
With the cheaper bodies, it can be pot luck, sometimes they are well matched and sometimes there can be 10% difference between the channels.
If the difference is in the inductance rather than the resistance, then it is hard to measure, and the resulting sound differs primarily in a slightly different frequency response / tonality - rather than being an output level difference.
Sneaky, and messes with imaging and soundstage in subtle ways.
Technics used to do the same with the ubiquitous EPC-P22/23/24/28/30/33/153/328.... series
I have more than a dozen of these bodies lying around
I have one P24 which has inductance of 357/327mH (8.8% variation)
I also have a P33 which has inductance of 348/348 - a perfect match within the measurement ability of my meter... (but the resistance on this one is 606/583ohm - so still not a perfect match)
What I am saying is that if the new AT95SE is a handpicked body, with very closely matched channels... it is worth going for, and worth paying extra for. :yes:
If on the other hand it is just another marketing exercise... (which is likely) - then choosing on the basis of the colour you like best makes a lot of sense!
bye for now
David
