Головки звукоснимателя — HANA ML

The HANA ML belongs to the M Series of HANA moving-coil cartridges with low output, designed and built in Japan by Excel Sound. It sits above the E Series and S Series in the HANA range, pairing a nude Microline diamond with a body machined from Delrin. The US retail price was about USD 1,200, and the body finish is black.

Key specs that matter

A nude Microline tip is bonded to an aluminium cantilever. Output is 0.4 mV at 1 kHz from high-purity copper coils with an impedance of 8 ohms at 1 kHz, and HANA suggests loading above 100 ohms. Frequency response is quoted as 12 Hz to 45,000 Hz. Channel separation reaches 30 dB at 1 kHz, and output balance is held under 1 dB. Dynamic compliance is 10 x 10-6 cm/dyne at 100 Hz. Recommended tracking force is 2 g, with trackability of 70 microns at that force. Total weight comes to 9.5 g, a figure that includes the brass cap.

Engineering and use context

The Microline profile is shaped to mimic the cutter that engraves the groove in the lacquer master, so its contact edge fits the groove wall more closely than a conventional elliptical tip. It is fixed to the cantilever as a nude diamond, with no metal shank, which keeps moving mass at the tip low. Behind the cantilever sits a cross-shaped permalloy armature carrying the coils. The magnetic circuit combines an Alnico magnet with pure iron parts, and those magnetic components go through cryogenic processing, which the maker says gives a more precise flux field. The body is made from Delrin, a polyoxymethylene plastic, with a satin finish. Delrin was chosen for its mechanical behaviour compared with more common body materials, and it is a stable, easily machined engineering plastic. A brass cap with threaded metal fittings is set into the body, so mounting screws go straight into the cartridge without separate nuts and the headshell joint is rigid. Gold-plated terminal pins complete the output connection.

Pairing

The very low output and coil impedance call for a phono stage with generous moving-coil gain. The alternative is an SUT whose primary winding is intended for coils of only a few ohms, placed ahead of an ordinary MM input. With medium compliance and moderate mass, the ML is suited to tonearms of medium effective mass, and its threaded body makes installation in fixed headshells simple.

Alternatives

For a lower budget, HANA offers the SL MK II, a lower-priced low-output moving-coil cartridge that uses a Shibata stylus on a tapered aluminium cantilever.