Analog Gear News

We’ve been waiting semi-patiently to sing about a cool new phono cartridge that we got a heads up about a few weeks ago — and now that the embargo period has officially lifted, the time has come for us to fill you in on Sumiko’s Oriole MC cartridge.

Handcrafted at Excel Sound in Yokohama, Japan, the Oriole moving coil (MC) cartridge — which Sumiko points out is positioned between their rightly acclaimed Songbird and Starling models — sports a nude Shibata stylus (6.5 x 40µm), a reinforced aluminum pipe cantilever (0.5mm), and high-purity copper coils. The Oriole weighs 7.3g.

The Oriole also has a low-impedance generator rated at 5.5Ω (0.3mV output). These refinements are said to, quote, “reduce moving mass, improve groove tracking, and yield greater depth, transient response, and spatial information.” The Oriole also has a low-impedance generator rated at 5.5Ω (0.3mV output). These refinements are said to, quote, “reduce moving mass, improve groove tracking, and yield greater depth, transient response, and spatial information.” And, as you can clearly see above, below, and all throughout this story, the Oriole cart sports an eye-catching orange housing.

Furthermore, Sumiko posits that the Oriole is “ideal for turntables in the $1,000-$5,000 range.” Spoiler alert: We are so intrigued by the Oriole that I’ve already assigned a review of it to our stalwart chief product reviewer Ken Micallef, so keep an eye out for his hands-on report here on AP sometime in the not-so-distant future.

Sumiko explained their cart design philosophy as follows: “Our Reference Series open-architecture cartridges minimize the potential for coloration and distortion due to energy buildup that is sometimes propagated by the conventional cartridge body. Internal resonance is damped within the generator, while remaining resonance travels up through the bonded mounting plate and headblock, then down the tonearm where it is dissipated harmlessly. The Peek generator mounting plate provides the utmost stability and energy transfer while the stiff alloy headblock is the conduit through which that energy exits the cartridge.”

Other specs for the Oriole MC cart include an internal impedance given as 5.5Ω (1kHz), load impedance as >55Ω, frequency response as 12Hz to 45kHz, output of 0.3mV (3.54cm/sec, 1kHz), channel separation as 30dB (1kHz), channel balance as <0.5dB (1kHz), capacitance as 100pF to 200pF, vertical tracking angle as 20°, tracking force range as 1.8g to 2.2g, and a recommended tracking force as 2.0g.

Finally, the SRP for the Sumiko Oriole MC cartridge is $1,699. And, as I noted earlier, review to come!

For more about Sumiko, go here.
To find an authorized Sumiko dealer, go here.