Nagaoka - MP-700 MP Series Phono Cartridge

Nagaoka's 85th-anniversary flagship, and the biggest change to the Moving Permalloy design in decades — a nude MicroRidge diamond, a tension-wire suspension, and an ultra-duralumin frame. EISA Cartridge 2025–2026.

Three things are genuinely new here, and Nagaoka is specific about all of them. A magnetic flux guiding plate has been added inside the cartridge to make the magnetic circuit more efficient, increasing flux around the permalloy element at the rear of the cantilever and raising sensitivity to very small movements. That is the part of the design that governs how much low-level spatial detail survives.

Second, the suspension. For the first time in the MP series Nagaoka has adopted a tension-wire structure alongside softer damping, which holds the cantilever under controlled tension so that warps and eccentricity do less to change the effective tracking force mid-side. Nagaoka's claim is steadier tracing and more clearly drawn note outlines across the band.

Third, the frame. The cartridge body is ultra-duralumin, and both the frame and the shield case carry a three-layer surface treatment — nickel plating, black tin plating, and an insulating coating — specifically to resist static build-up. Nagaoka credits the quieter, more stable background to that, and notes the treatment also brings heat, wear and chemical resistance.

At the groove the MP-700 pairs a nude MicroRidge diamond with a boron cantilever: a very fine contact profile on a light, rigid transmission path. Response reaches 27 kHz and tracking force is a single specified figure of 1.4 g rather than a range. Output remains a phono-stage-friendly 4.0 mV into 47 kΩ, so reference-level performance does not demand a moving-coil stage — and the stylus assembly is still user-replaceable with the JN-P700, which is unusual at this level.

The MP-700 received the EISA Cartridge 2025–2026 Award and a FIDELITY Award 2026.

Features

• Nude MicroRidge diamond on a boron cantilever
• Newly developed generator with an added magnetic flux guiding plate for a more efficient magnetic circuit
• Tension-wire suspension with softer damping — a first for the MP series
• Ultra-duralumin frame with a three-layer finish (nickel plating, black tin plating, insulating coating) to resist static build-up
• Response to 27 kHz — the widest in the MP series
• 4.0 mV output into a standard 47 kΩ moving magnet input
• User-replaceable stylus assembly — genuine Nagaoka JN-P700
• EISA Cartridge 2025–2026 Award; FIDELITY Award 2026
• Also available pre-mounted on a Nagaoka headshell as the MP-700H

Specifications

• Type: MP (Moving Permalloy) stereo cartridge
• Output Voltage: 4.0 mV
• Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 27,000 Hz
• Stylus: Nude MicroRidge diamond
• Cantilever: Boron
• Body: Ultra-duralumin frame with three-layer surface treatment
• Tracking Force: 1.4 g
• Load Resistance: 47 kΩ
• Load Capacitance: 100 pF
• Cartridge Weight: 8.0 g
• Replacement Stylus: Nagaoka JN-P700
• Mounting: Half inch (1/2") standard mount
• In the Box: Cartridge body, stylus cover, cartridge case, accessory set (headshell mounting screws, washers, nuts, hex wrench, screwdriver), serial card, instruction manual
• Origin: Made in Japan
• Not Published: Unlike the rest of the MP series, Nagaoka publishes no channel separation or channel balance figure for the MP-700, and no compliance, tracking ability or recommended tonearm effective mass