Cartridges — Einstein Audio Components THE PICK UP

The Pick Up is a low-output moving-coil cartridge from Einstein Audio Components, the German company founded in Bochum in 1988 by Volker Bohlmeier. It is made for Einstein by Ortofon, with support from Ortofon's chief designer Leif Johannsen and chief executive Christen Nielsen. Einstein's earlier cartridges, the TU-2 and TU-3, grew out of work on the EMT TSD15 in the mid-1980s. The Pick Up is listed at EUR 6,000.

Key specs that matter

Output is 0.4 mV at 1 kHz and 5 cm/s, with a channel balance of 1 dB or better at 1 kHz. Channel separation is at least 21 dB at 1 kHz and 15 dB at 15 kHz. The frequency range is 20 Hz to 30 kHz at -3 dB, and trackability exceeds 70 µm. Dynamic lateral compliance is 3 µm/mN. The stylus is a nude Shibata with tip radii of 6 and 50 µm, mounted on a boron cantilever. Tracking force ranges from 2.0 to 3.0 g, with 2.4 g recommended, and the tracking angle is 20 degrees. Internal impedance is 12 ohm, and the recommended load is 150 to 300 ohm. The body is black duralumin, and the cartridge weighs 13 g.

Engineering and use context

A Shibata stylus has a narrow contact line that sits in the groove wall over a greater height than an elliptical tip, which follows fine modulations and spreads the tracking force over a larger area. Mounting it nude, without a metal shank, keeps the moving mass at the tip low. Boron is one of the stiffest cantilever materials, so the movement of the stylus reaches the coils with little flexing along the way. A duralumin body is rigid and light, and the cartridge adds a moderate mass to the headshell. The low compliance means the suspension is relatively stiff, which is why Einstein recommends medium to heavy tonearms, so that the arm and cartridge resonance falls in the preferred range above record warps and below the audio band. With its low internal impedance and low output, the cartridge needs a moving-coil input with high gain and a suitable load, or a step-up transformer. The recommended tracking force sits in the middle of the permitted range.

Pairing

Einstein designed the Pick Up for its own The Tonearm, in 10 or 12 inch form, together with The Flash tonearm cable and The Record Player turntable. Other medium to heavy mass arms and MC phono stages with around 60 dB of gain suit it as well.

Alternatives

Einstein currently offers no other cartridge, as The Pick Up is the only pickup in its range.