Tweet
With all the talk about entry level cartridges, the latest incarnation of the Blue Point cartridge never is mentioned any more. Not competitive? I reviewed the original cartridge 20+ years ago and found it properly setup to be a pretty good performer. Have times changed?
-
Myles B. Astor, PhD, Administrator
Senior Editor, Positive-Feedback.com
________________________________________
-Zellaton Plural Evo speakers
-Goldmund Telos 300 stereo amp
-Goldmund Mimesis 37S Nextgen preamplifier
-Doshi EVO and Goldmund PH3.8 phonostage
-VPI Vanquish direct-drive turntable
-VPI 12-inch 3D Fat Boy dual pivot tonearm, VPI 12-inch 3D Fat Boy gimballed and SAT LM-12 arm
-Lyra Atlas SL Lambda, Fuuga Mk. 2, vdh Colibri Master Signature, MutechHayabusa, MOFI Master Tracker, Sumiko Songbird cartridges
-Technics RS1506 with Flux Magnetic heads, Doshi V3.0 tape stage (balanced)
-Assorted cables including Transparent XL Gen. 6, Skogrand, Viero, Kubala-Sosna, Audience Au24SX, Genesis Advanced Technologies and Ensemble Power Cords
-Accessories including Stillpoint Aperture panels, Cathedral Sound panels, Furutech NCF Nano AC receptacles; Silver Circle Tchaik 6 PLC, Symposium ISIS and SRA Craz 3 racks, Audiodharma Cable Cooker, Symposium Ultra and assorted SRA OHIO Class 2.1+ platforms. -
I owned the original Blue Point many years ago and it was a fun cartridge to listen through. Not in the same league as my vdH MC-10 I owned at the time, but it brought home the music in its own way.Micro Seiki SX-8000 table with flywheel, SME 3012R arm, SME 312S arm, Lyra Etna SL and Dynavector XV-1S cartridges, ARC Ref 3 phono stage, Otari MX-55 tape deck, Ampex 350 repros, Roon Nucleus Plus server, PS Audio DSJ DAC, ARC Ref 6 pre, ARC Ref 75 amp, JBL 4345 speakers, and Def Tech Ref subs. -
I remember when it was one of the go to budget carts, seems times have changed.Magnepan 1.6 QR Loudspeakers, Amherst A-2000 MOSFET 150 WPC Amp, Conrad Johnson PV-10A Modded Tube Line & Phono Stage, Electrocompaniet MC II Class A Head Amp, Audio Technica AT-OC9XML Cart (Stereo) , Graham Engineering 2.2 Tonearm (Stereo) , VPI Aries-1 Turntable (Stereo) , VPI Clamp, Denon DL-102 Cart, (Mono) , Luxman Tonearm (Mono) , Kenwood KD-500 Turntable (Mono) , Michell Clamp, Marantz 20B Analog FM Tuner, Pioneer SACD, Onkyo DX-6800 CD Transport, DIY 24B/192K DAC, Sennheiser HD-650 Headphones, Headroom Max Balanced Headphone Amp, DIY Silver InterconnectsComment
-
Who in Stereophile wrote that review sending up the BPS? It was a nineties cartridge, iirc. I bought my sample circa 1997. Mounted to my trusty Thorens TD160C. The BPS was a good compliance match to the somewhat heavy TP16 (mk1) tonearm on the Thorens. No footfall issues with this cartridge mounted. SQ, I finally concluded, was just about average. Regardless of its moniker, there wasn't anything special about the Blue Point Special.
Above pic; after the dust-rag snag incident circa 2000 February, iirc. I still have it.
-Steve
webmaster at The Analog Dept.
system list:Classe' CAP 151 integrated, Carver TX-11b Tuner, NHT 2.9 Speakers, Thorens TD124 ( plus other Thorens models), Otari MX-5050 BII-2 R2R, Jolida JD100 cd player, ML-9600 digital recorderComment
Comment