MC Two

I have collected many and various random cartridges over the years, and I always lose track of where they come from. I do actually remember where this one came from though, a Thorens TD-160 Super I bought from an acquaintance about twelve years ago. This Van Den Hul MC Two I actually thought was dead. That is what I had been lead to believe, but I do remember firing it up on the Thorens way back then and thinking it sounded pretty good to me. I evidently took it off and put it in the stash, and forgot about it, until I was ferreting around looking for my Grace F-9E the other week. I did think I needed to send it off to be rebuilt, but I thought it prudent to test it out first, and I am pleased I did.

I mounted it into my Yamamoto headshell and put it on the Technics for a listen. It sounds amazing! Huge bass and shimmery detail. There’s definitely nothing wrong with this cartridge at all. Very very quiet, low surface noise as well.

Considering I am currently running via the Technics internal phono stage it is pretty amazing actually. I will have to hook up the Sentec and see how it sounds that way when I get some time. Also, this cartridge has to be over 30 years old, so I am impressed it is working as well as it is.

Lucky me I guess.

It uses a VdH Type 1 stylus, which is a pretty fancy line contact type:

“After several technological steps like the Pramanik and Shibata
tips, the Van den Hul type VDH-1 line-contact stylus was made
with several advantages compared to other designs in the
market. The vertical radius (that makes the vertical fitting in the
groove) was maximized to 85 micron: the highest value possible
to fit all the variations of cutters around. The minor radius
(allowing to track the highest frequencies possible) was brought
back to 2 micron, achieving a stable frequency range of 80 kHz. And this 2 micron was constant (along the stylus edges
contacting both groove walls) far beyond the point where no groove could ever touch the stylus anymore.”

The MC Two is a high output (2.0 mV), and has a coil resistance of 85Ω. At 18cu it is a medium compliance cartridge, and it tracks between 1.35-1.5 grams, which is ridiculously light. However all this adds up to some seemingly good times on the Technics arm, running through the Technics MM phono stage. A highlight are the threaded mounting holes on the all metal body. Why all cartridges can’t have this is beyond me in this day and age.

Upshot is that it sounds excellent and is a great addition to my selection of cartridges. Especially since I thought it was dead.

SPECIFICATIONS

Stylus Shape:	VDH – I
Stylus Radii:	3 x 85 Micron
Frequency Range:	5 – 50.000 Hz
Tracking Force:	13.5 – 15.0 mN
Static Compliance:	28 Micron/mN
Tracking Ability at 15mN at 315Hz:	70 – 80 Micron
Output Voltage at 1 kHz at 5.7 cm/s eff.:	2.25 mV RMS
Channel Unbalance:	< 0.5 dB
Channel Separation at 1kHz / 10kHz:	> 35 / > 30 dB
Equivalent Stylus Tip Mass:	0.35 Milligram
System Weight:	8.2 Gram
Vertical Tracking Angle :	22 Degrees
Optimum Load Capacitance:	see (*2)
Recommended Load Impedance:	47k (> 1k) Ohm
Recommended Eff Tone arm Mass:	8 – 12 Gram
Moving Coil Resistance per channel:	96 Ohm +/- 10%