Головки звукоснимателя — European Audio Team (EAT) JO N°5

The Jo N°5 is a phono cartridge of the moving coil type made by European Audio Team, or EAT. It was designed in-house, with Jozefina Lichtenegger, the company's CEO, acting as chief designer, and the generator inside was built to EAT specifications. The body and the matching stylus guard are made of polyamide by selective laser sintering, a 3D printing process in which the part is built up in layers, and the cartridge is finished in the mint green used as the brand's house colour. Its UK list price was GBP 999, while in the USA it was offered at USD 1,295 in the standard box or USD 1,395 in a limited edition walnut box.

Key specs that matter

A nude Fine Line diamond is carried on a conical aluminium cantilever, while pure 4N copper wire is used for the coils. Internal impedance is 5 ohm, and EAT recommends a load resistance above 20 ohm. Channel separation is better than 25 dB at 1 kHz and better than 16 dB at 15 kHz, with channel balance quoted at 1.2 dB. Dynamic lateral compliance is 12 μm/mN. The cartridge weighs 15 g.

Engineering and use context

EAT names 2.4 g as the recommended tracking force and 20 degrees as the tracking angle. Tracking ability is rated at 80 μm at 315 Hz, the figure the maker uses to express how large a groove modulation the stylus can follow at that frequency. Using additive manufacturing for the body lets the company form the shell as one piece in a shape set by its own drawings, and the stylus guard is produced the same way from the same material, so the two parts match in colour and fit. The polyamide body sets this model apart from the Jo N°8 above it, which uses a chestnut and aluminium body instead, along with a different stylus, cantilever and coil wire. The combination of a fine line diamond, a conical aluminium cantilever and 4N copper coils makes the Jo N°5 the entry point to the Jo series. EAT also fits the Jo N°5 to some of its own turntables, and the cartridge is sold on its own for use with other decks and arms.

Pairing

Being a low output MC cartridge, the Jo N°5 should feed a phono stage offering moving coil gain, or a transformer placed before MM circuitry, with a load above the minimum the maker states. The fairly heavy body needs a tonearm and counterweight that can balance it at the recommended force.

Alternatives

The EAT Jo N°8 is the moving coil model above it in the same series, using a boron cantilever with a nude Shibata tip and 8-Nines copper coils.