AE is proud to present - Ikeda - Living Legend of Analog in japan

Piano Tuner

Ikeda san has 50 years of solid experiences in designing cartridges and tonarms. He is a living analog legend in Japan. Ikeda
cartridges such as MUSA (flaghship model)and REX9 DO NOT employ metal core and "cantilever" at all.

According to Ikeda san, if metal core and cantilever are used, very precise element and fine details of the sound spectrum will be absorbed and killed by metal core and cantilever. Frankly speaking, Ikeda cartridges may be too precise to many. LP must be always kept at very good and clean condition before playback because Ikeda cartridges will pick up small scratch, dust and stain more audibly than other branded cartridges.

Because of no cantilever used on MUSA and REX9, the stylus of these cartridges can access
to the grooves of LPs as close as possible comparing to those having cantilever. The design of the cartridge is also integrated with the headshell to reduce further resonances.

We admit our analog experiences may not be experienced enough to deal with it but the spirit of Ikeda san matches ours well. We hope to learn more in due course when the long tonarm and the MUSA cartridge to arrive Hong Kong soon. It is planned to be mounted on the Da Vinci Aston Martin Gabriel Mark 2.

The attached picture shows the model of 9-Rex.

Piano Tuner

The comparison between long and short arm.

Piano Tuner

This is an exquisite item. Only two available in the world - 24k gold Ikeda Long arm.

Jeff

My first tonarm was made by him. It brings back many good old day memories. Ikeda san must be quite old now.

Raymond

Interesting. Cartridge without cantilever. Another unconventional step from the Shilabe. Well, the additional tonarm base for the Garbriel is dearable. I'll upgrade to mark 2 platter first.

Tubefreak

Decca London is the first cartridge without a catilever,and its about 40 years old, but its a moving iron design, this is a moving coil, I believe.

Tubefreak

Anyone who is interested in the Ikeda cartridge should consider the arm as well, its so designed with a specific purpose to carry a cartridge without a catilever, other arms may not.

wavac

That's moving coil. I agree with you the Ikeda cartridge better uses with his famous arm

wavac

Some comments on Ikdea from Taiwan on the web:

Ikeda唱頭的低頻解析力是我所聽過之最，其鋼琴觸鍵之清晰透明，令人動容。我第一次聽到米開朗基里彈奏德布西前奏曲第一冊〈沈默的教堂〉低音響板的墨色濃淡，就是用Ikeda唱頭播放的。Nathan Milstein晚年在DG錄的巴哈無伴奏小提琴，Gidon Kremer在Phlip錄音的巴哈無伴奏小提琴，在雙音部分強調低音絃，我亦是在Ikeda 9R聽到的。

我同樣很喜歡Ikeda的唱臂，12吋的it 407和9吋的345，都是我喜歡的唱臂，穩定度好，循軌佳，可以用抗滑的重量和角度，做出我要的細膩音色和墨色濃淡。在多支點臂中，Ikeda算是我使用最多的，我常開玩笑說，池田勇歐吉桑應該頒我最佳愛用者獎，我最多的時候，使用4支Ikeda唱臂，2顆Ikeda 9R唱頭。

聽音樂是一種緣分，與樂友往來亦是一種緣分，唱臂、唱頭的選擇，亦是一種緣分，我喜歡Ikeda妖冶的聲音，一逕兒的煙視媚行，讓我沈浸在美好的音樂世界。

Comment from another one:

當天我們特地的比較了三顆唱頭不同的音色表現，以音色表現而言，IKEDA屬高解析，比較像是有點淡淡的藍色，讓人十分舒暢，整體流暢感相當的好，很滑溜的感覺，在於形體感的刻劃及空間感的營造上相當的好，音質也相當的高貴，光澤度相當的夠，反應速度相當的驚人，是最能展現旱地拔蔥的神韻的，用來聽交響樂有相當的權威感，小弟對於這顆唱頭非常的讚賞，無奈他的價格也不是輕易可以染指的，不過到是讓小弟有了一個方向，IKEDA 這顆唱頭和令一顆VEN DEN HUL 的黑美人相較可說是環肥燕瘦，各擅勝場，黑美人的音色泛著濃濃的金黃色，相較之下解析不是強項，帶著泛暈的色澤，密度和質感相當的不錯，有一種柔焦的味道，在表現人聲或是小提琴方面有相當不錯的感染力，這兩顆唱頭的聲音表現，真的是想讓人有魚與熊掌之嘆啊，這也是彭教授的身材那麼有福氣的原因了.

Tubefreak

Wchow hing, are the comments referring to Ikeda's catileverless cartridge, or the other normal type cartridges. That's the kind of description I heard from a Decca, in a general sense of course, Decca won't have so many tone color as the MC's.

wavac

Comments were from actual users of Ikeda "cantilever-less" cartridge on the Ikeda arm.

Ikeda唱頭很好，直接而艷麗，低頻的密實度是我所聽過的唱頭中最佳者，我自己當然很喜歡. 但Ikeda唱頭很怕髒，如果不清理乾淨，高音會發出可怕的尖銳聲音。只要使用者能克服障礙, Ikeda是非常好的唱頭。Ikeda 9R是一顆無針桿的唱頭，直接的聲音，細節多得數不清，沒聽過IKEDA唱頭臂組的，別說古典唱片已經抽絲剝繭的聽過，不想中黑膠毒的也別輕易嘗試，IKEDA是聽古典唱片必備的利器。

Ikeda唱頭像極了日本櫻花，妖冶燦爛，日本人稱之為妖花。當櫻花祭時，坐在櫻花樹下，滿山遍野的櫻花，燦爛妖冶，煙視媚行，令人心懾。

Raymond

Some of my audio seniors told me the Ikdea is extremly explosive. A gem for classical lover as outpouring of details provide much more shading contrast on tonal color. I have never listened to a "cantilever-less" design before.

PTsang, can you share more of your experience on Decca London?

Tubefreak

The Decca London was not a sucessful design in terms of tonal bal, sample-to-sample variation, arm requirement and mounting convenience etc. It can sound sound very bright or very heavy in the bass with no high etc. The best sample has tons of details, joyful coloration and extremely dynamic, the Decca tells you what is catilever haze which you don't even know it exists.

Tubefreak

Decca evolved since its creation in the late 50's until the 80's, yes, improvements in each update, bit still can't get rid of the shortcomings. When we are talking about dynamics, there is nothing that can compare with a professional open-reel source, the Decca London comes very close.

emperor

PTsang, what is your gut feeling on this Ikeda cartridge? It sounds like it has to comply with an appropriate arm. In this case, the Ikeda arm should logically be the best match with his own cartridge without cantiliver. I have enormous interest in such design because I am solely a classical music lover.

Tubefreak

I would say its a must,when Decca developed the London cartridge, it designed a matched tonearm, unit privot and oil damped, and its the best arm at that time to sing with the Decca though there still plenty of faults associated with the design.