Any chance an Ortofon Super OM 40 will work with CD-4

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Stumbled about this thread accidentally today. While I can't answer the original question, I can ascertain everybody in the forum that I had and still have the best CD-4 results with non Shibata good quality MC cartridges like Ortofon MC-30 Super and similar with Van-den-Hul or other "modern" styli plugged into a MCA 76 before it goes into the CD-4 demodulator. I recently compared this cartridge to a AT-20 SLA, which is for many the best CD-4 cartridge, on the same arm and turntable and the result was so much in favor of the MC-30 that I probably will start to offer all my original CD-4 cartridges soon. None of the difficult CD-4 records like Barry Manilov or the last track on BW Stevensons Calabasas are a problem with such a MC cartridge.
When I started into Quad more than 20 years ago I tried an MC-30 accidentally, because it was mounted on my turntable and the results were good, but I didn't know how good because I had no comparison. When I learned more about quad I bought and tried many of the CD-4 cartridges, most of them were still new. The results were not so good and for years I've blamed my setup for it. But now, since more than 2 years I've returned to the MC-30 again and CD-4 was never better!:sun

I too have had the best luck with a stereo MC cartridge, a Sony XL-MC3. The carrier never drops out on any records I've tried so far, but still the recovered audio is not as clean as I would like. I recently purchased an Othofon SL-20Q which is a vintage moving coil CD-4 cartridge, I haven't tried it out yet, I also have the Othofon MCA-76 pre-preamp (with the CD-4 filtering switch). I think that because of the lower impedance of moving coils vs moving magnet designs cable capacitance is much less of a problem. Still I've ordered a capacitance meter and so will be able to check the capacitance of all my turntables & cables. I've never tried using a purpose built CD-4 turntable but I might eventually try that as well, as some are selling on eBay. I've always thought that CD-4 was much too finicky a system, if any detail is wrong you get poor results. The Marantz CD-400B is the best demodulator that I've tried, but some complain about the automatic carrier level, so I might revisit the JVC 4DD-5.
 
So I pulled out one of my spare turntables a Kenwood KD-2055 "The Rock". If I remember right I found this unit some years ago at "Value Village", for a time a lot of people were dumping their vinyl for CD, deals even freebies could be had easily! It was already installed with my Grado F1+ cartridge. The factory cables consist of very thin wire and insulation, very high capacitance I'm sure. I took a single component video cable cut it in half, then shortened each piece a bit more; replacing the original cables. This video cable should have very low capacitance, it's much like RG-59 coax but with a stranded centre conductor. I plugged it into my Marantz CD-400B demodulator, seems to be working perfectly on my brief initial test! Then I swapped the headshell with the one with my spare Sony XL-MC3 on it, hooking up the Ortofon MCA-76 pre-preamp before the CD-400B, again excellent results. No grungy or sandpaper effects, just the best CD-4 that I've ever been able to achieve. I then tried the Ortofon SL20Q and again excellent results, although I think the Sony still sounds a bit better! The moral of the story is to use the lowest capacitance cables you can find, even with a MC or a Grado CD-4 cartridge.
Component video cable seems to be available all over for ridiculously low prices. I guess that it's no longer in high demand as most people are using HDMI. Two such component video cables are perfect for 5.1 audio, or to connect a to Quad decoder 2 for inputs and 4 for outputs. The only drawback is the colour code is wrong, but that's a very minor inconvenience. The Ortofon Pre-Preamp can be bypassed by front mounted switch and so makes it easy to swap from MC to MM and back again, just remember low capacitance from the pre-preamp to the demodulator, or MM results will suffer.
 
For any cartridge to work well for CD-4 playback, it MUST have adequate ultrasonic (30kHz ~ 45kHz) channel separation. It isn't enough to just be able to play those frequencies.

Does anybody know of any test records that would have a left only and a right only ultrasonic test tracks?
Would want to test to see the separation for my cartridges.
I believe the test records I have use a 30kHz signal for both channels.
 
Does anybody know of any test records that would have a left only and a right only ultrasonic test tracks?
Would want to test to see the separation for my cartridges.
I believe the test records I have use a 30kHz signal for both channels.


I just picked up a Lafayette CD-4 Demodulator that came with a sealed NOS JVC Adjustment Record.

The four programs included on this 45 RPM disc are:

Band 1 : Warble tone for left channels adjustment

Band 2 : Warble tone for right channels adjustment

Band 3 : PART 1. Channel identification

...............PART 2. Balancing signal

Band 4 : 400Hz single tone for carrier level adjustment

Included in this deal was a matching
Lafayette LR-440 receiver.
 
Let us know how you like your Lafayette CD-4 demodulator.

I’m sorry, I don’t know when I will get a chance to try it out - having no CD-4 encoded vinyl.. but there it was, in very mint condition sitting at my local used record store. I figured I might find a use for it in the future.

When I agreed to buy the CD-4 unit, I believed I was getting only the little demodulator box, but as it turned out, the LR-440 receiver was part of the deal, plus a factory-sealed NOS test-tone & set-up disc to boot!

I haven’t done any research on these devices, can anybody make a short list of the better CD-4 units ranked in order of excellence??? I’ve heard of the JVC and Marantz models but I wouldn’t know why any one of them were better or worse than any other.
 
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