Mobile Fidelity - StudioTracker MM Phono Cartridge

MoFi’s most affordable moving-magnet cartridge: a V-Twin dual-magnet generator modeled on a cutting head, a bonded elliptical diamond on an aluminum cantilever, and a healthy 3.5mV output.

MoFi cartridges are designed by looking at where a record starts — on a cutting lathe like the model used at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. The StudioTracker’s V-Twin dual-magnet generator mirrors the layout of the cutting head that originally made a record’s grooves, with two low-mass magnets set in a V formation running parallel with the groove. Reversing the cutting geometry at playback is how the design pulls detail out of the record instead of guessing at it.

A bonded elliptical diamond stylus rides an aluminum cantilever inside a polymer body, and the resulting voice is smooth and slightly forgiving at the top end — a genuinely welcome trait on well-loved used pressings and on systems that lean bright. Output is a robust 3.5mV, so it drives any standard moving-magnet phono input without strain. The cartridge was developed in collaboration with Allen Perkins.

One practical note on fitting. This is the only cartridge in MoFi’s range with a polymer rather than a metal body, so unlike its aluminum-bodied siblings it is not threaded and mounting nuts are required. They are supplied in the box along with two lengths of hex screw, nylon washers and a hex driver.

Features

• V-Twin dual-magnet generator mirroring the cutting-head layout, magnets in V formation parallel to the groove
• Bonded elliptical diamond stylus
• Aluminum cantilever
• Polymer body
• Robust 3.5mV output for easy matching with any MM phono stage
• Smooth, slightly forgiving top-end character
• Mounting nuts, screws, washers and hex driver supplied
• Developed in collaboration with Allen Perkins

Specifications

• Type: Dual Magnet (MM) stereo
• Stylus: Bonded elliptical diamond
• Cantilever: Aluminum
• Body: Polymer — not threaded, mounting nuts required and supplied
• Output Voltage: 3.5mV
• Frequency Response: 20–20,000Hz
• Tracking Force: 1.8–2.2g
• Recommended Load Impedance: 47kΩ
• Recommended Load Capacitance: 100pF
• Static Compliance: 35 x 10^-6 cm/dyne
• Dynamic Compliance: 8 x 10^-6 cm/dyne. MoFi does not state the measurement frequency
• Channel Balance: 1.5dB at 1kHz
• Weight: 6.4g
• Colour: Grey
• In the Box: Cartridge, 2.5 x 20mm hex screws (2), 2.5 x 18mm hex screws (2), 2.5mm nuts (2), nylon washers (2), hex driver
• Note: MoFi publishes a channel separation figure of 7dB for this cartridge. That value is implausibly low for any working stereo cartridge and is absent from MoFi’s own manual and sell sheet, so we have not reproduced it as a specification. MoFi also publishes no recommended tonearm effective mass, no replacement stylus and no warranty term