Головки звукоснимателя — Kensington Audio C-900

The C-900 is the top moving-coil phono cartridge of Kensington Audio, a British company launched at UK HiFi Show Live 2025 in Ascot as part of the Talk Electronics family, which has more than 25 years of design and manufacturing behind it. Musicians build each of its cartridges by hand in Britain. At GBP 2,999.95 the C-900 sits at the top of five models. Below it are the C-500 with an aluminium cantilever at GBP 599.95, the boron-cantilever C-600 at GBP 849.95, the C-700 at GBP 1,499.95 and the ruby-cantilever C-800.

Key specs that matter

A precision-ground sapphire cantilever carries a high-precision elliptical fine line stylus, and the coils are wound from 6N OCC oxygen-free copper of 99.9999 percent purity. Output is rated at 0.35 mV at 1 kHz and 0.5 cm per second, with an internal impedance of 6 ohm and a recommended load of 200 ohm. Kensington quotes a frequency response of 20 Hz to 30 kHz within 1 dB, the widest upper limit in its lineup, along with channel separation above 30 dB and channel balance better than 0.5 dB.

Engineering and use context

The maker chose sapphire for the cantilever for its combination of rigidity and low resonance. Recommended tracking force runs from 1.1 to 1.4 grams, dynamic compliance is 15 to 20 cu, and the vertical tracking angle is 20 degrees. Tracking ability is specified at 70 micrometres at 315 Hz. The cartridge weighs 10 grams. Kensington presents the sapphire part together with the extended response as the two features that separate this model from the rest of its lineup. Kensington sells direct and runs a 30-day hire programme for the C-900 at GBP 299.95, of which GBP 450 in discount is applied if the buyer then purchases the cartridge. The company has stated that it intends to set up international distribution partnerships over time.

Pairing

The output level places the C-900 among low-output designs, so the signal has to pass through an MC-capable phono preamplifier or through an SUT placed in front of an MM input. Loading follows the maker's recommendation for the coil, and the mass and compliance range are the numbers to compare with the effective mass of the intended tonearm. The same electrical figures apply across the C-800 and C-900, so both models present an identical load requirement to the phono stage.

Alternatives

The Kensington Audio C-800 shares the same coil and stylus type but uses a ruby cantilever, is rated to 25 kHz and costs GBP 1,999.95.