CES 2015

Is the New Fuuga MC Cartridge a Re-imagined Miyabi?

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 9, 2015  |  First Published: Jan 8, 2015

The lineage of this cartridge was explained to me over dinner by Lyra cartridge designer Jonathan Carr, but due to Sake the details escape me. As i remember the conversation, the Miyabi's fate was sealed when the designer retired some years ago.

The original was a highly regarded moving coil design with a dedicated fan base. A young team of Miyabi enthusiasts worked for a few years to come up with a new design that honored the Miyabi sound and the result is the Fuuga, distributed by 47 Labs. Audioart is the exclusive North American distributor. The Fuuga outputs .35mV and has an internal resistance of 2.5 ohms. Compliance is relatively low. The cantilever is of aluminum alloy. The cartridge tracks at 2 to 2.2 grams.

As I recall the conversation, the Fuuga is also related to the Chorale cartridge Mark Levinson (the person) distributed some years ago. The price is $9000.

COMMENTS
decameron's picture
Submitted by decameron on Fri, 2015-01-09 10:17

Will you be able to review this cartridge?

ccaquest's picture
Submitted by ccaquest on Fri, 2015-01-09 10:18

9K asking is double the price of late Miyabi/47's offering.

cgh's picture
Submitted by cgh on Fri, 2015-01-09 17:10

I love innovation and I love great sound but it is always funny how price can vary by 100%-500% while the technology and underlying parameters remain the same.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Sat, 2015-01-10 11:15
Much is different between the original and this cartridge.
Brother John's picture
Submitted by Brother John on Sat, 2015-01-10 18:14

Can't wait to read your review Mikey.

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