Vertere Ruby One – Flagship MC Cartridge with a Ruby Cantilever

British manufacturer Vertere Acoustics has introduced the Ruby One, its new flagship moving-coil cartridge positioned above the XtraX in the company’s lineup. Development took around five years, during which the engineers tested various generator, suspension and body designs, as well as cantilevers made from boron, diamond and ruby and several different stylus profiles.

Vertere ultimately chose a two-piece telescopic cantilever combining a thin 0.3 mm ruby rod with an aluminium section. A solid diamond stylus with a 2.4 × 73 µm Micro Ridge profile is mounted at its tip. According to the company, this design combines the high rigidity of ruby with the low moving mass of aluminium. The cantilever is directly connected to the generator’s coil former, while the generator itself is secured to the cartridge body at four points to improve mechanical stability and reduce unwanted resonances.

The Ruby One delivers an output voltage of 0.45 mV at 5 cm/s and has a coil resistance of 40 ohms per channel. Vertere recommends a load impedance of between 1 and 1.5 kOhms. The specified frequency response extends from 10 Hz to 50 kHz, channel separation exceeds 30 dB, and dynamic compliance is rated at 12 × 10⁻⁶ cm/dyne at 100 Hz. The recommended tracking force is 2.05 g, with an operating range of 1.90 to 2.10 g.

The cartridge weighs 11.8 g and uses Vertere’s proprietary three-point mounting system with M2.5 threaded inserts, while the generator is held in place by a separate four-point system using steel screws. The Ruby One is therefore not simply an upgraded version of the XtraX, but a more sophisticated design featuring a revised cantilever, body structure and generator assembly. The recommended retail price in Europe is approximately €12,000.