Goldring’s new E4 cartridge is the single most cost-effective upgrade owners of budget or midrange turntables will ever make, claims the maker.
Analogue audio specialist Goldring has introduced its new flagship E Series moving magnet cartridge: E4. Designed as the ultimate upgrade for any modern budget or midrange turntable, E4 represents the pinnacle of E Series engineering and performance.
E4 is designed to be compatible with all medium-to-high-mass tonearms of the type found on the majority of budget to midrange turntables. And because it’s constructed using the same high-quality core as the other E Series cartridges in the range, its creator says E4 is ideal both for those who wish to upgrade an obsolete cartridge in its entirety or those who want to boost the performance of their existing E Series cartridge by replacing the stylus.
Key features
The new super-elliptical nude diamond stylus features lower effective tip mass, improved rigidity and better high frequency detail retrieval than ‘bonded’ elliptical alternatives. The lightweight and superior stiffness of the hollow aluminium cantilever allows the stylus to trace medium-to-high frequencies with greater accuracy. Magnetic Duplex Technology allows a more accurate transcription of the stereo groove which results in a more accurate soundstage.
Unlike most designs, E4 allows micro-adjustments to be made during the production process, ensuring each cartridge leaves the Goldring factory with optimised channel balance and crosstalk settings.
New super-elliptical nude diamond stylus
The E4 also features a ‘nude’ super-elliptical stylus of just 7.6 x 18 microns (0.3 x 0.7 mil), cut and polished from a single homogeneous piece of diamond. This makes for a lower effective tip mass of improved rigidity, which in turn means its ability to retrieve high-frequency detail is improved when compared to the ‘bonded’ elliptical stylus alternative. It’s far less likely to ‘mis-track’ or overshoot when tracing high-frequency groove modulations, and because of its finely polished 7.6-micron profile it can more effectively fit into closely packed inner grooves, says Goldring. Lower distortion, improved transient response and a flat frequency response all contribute to superior fidelity.
Hollow aluminium cantilever
To complement its low tip-mass stylus, the E4 features a hollow aluminium cantilever tube. The light weight and superior stiffness of the material allows the stylus to trace medium-to-high frequencies with greater accuracy, while simultaneously reducing distortion and mis-tracking.
Magnetic Duplex Technology
Stereo information is contained in a single ‘V’-shaped groove that has perpendicular sidewalls angled at 45º. Conventional cartridges, which use a single large magnet interacting with two vertically mounted coils (one for left-channel information, one for right) to extract a stereo signal from the groove, can permit high levels of crosstalk – and consequently only a modest amount of left- and right-channel separation. E4 uses Goldring’s Magnetic Duplex Technology that positions two low-mass magnets at the same angles as the coils – so each magnet interacts only with its partnering coil. The maker says this allows the E4 to transcribe the information in the groove more accurately and results in greater stereo separation and a more accurate soundstage.
Expert adjustment facility
‘Azimuth’ describes the angle that the vertical centre line of the stylus makes with the record’s surface – it must be exactly perpendicular to the groove. Owners of budget and midrange turntables usually have no facility to adjust the azimuth, so it’s vital the cartridge has been precisely adjusted before it’s fitted to the turntable’s tonearm – badly adjusted azimuth can cause increased crosstalk and uneven channel balance. E4 is designed to allow micro-adjustments to be made during the production process, ensuring each cartridge leaves the Goldring factory needing no further azimuth adjustment.
The Goldring E4 moving magnet cartridge is available in June/July, end user price is quoted as £199 / €259 / $299. The Goldring E4 stylus is available in June/July with an end user price of £145.00 / €185.00 / $275. The Goldring E4 cartridge will be on show at the High End Show 2023 in Munich (May 18-21) in room A (Atrium) 4.1, F110.