Could that old wives tale about mounting too many cartridges with ever-shorter cantilevers making you go blind be true? But they sound so good that I just can't quit!
     How difficult is mounting the Miyabi/47 in the VPI JMW-12 Memorial Arm? If ease of installation was rated on a scale with 1 being the most difficult (to wit, the original Transfiguration with a round body and for all intents and purposes no cantilever) and 10 being the easiest (such as plug 'n' play P-mount cartridge), then the Miyabi/47 would score a 4. (OK, I'm in a good mood after listening to the cartridge and will add an extra point to the score for the inclusion of mounting screws.) The main reason for the cartridge's low score? The Miyabi/47, unlike most modern cartridges (and even its brother cartridge), uses a plastic body and as a result lacks a threaded top plate. Translation: The cartridge is "bolted" to the headshell. The problem is, there are no holes in the cartridges top plate to slip the screws through and hold it in place while mounting. Miyabi instead provides a rectangular slot in the side of body-which does little to allay fear of the screw slipping out from the groove while aligning the cartridge. In addition, that last turn of the nut always throws the alignment out of whack.
     Aside from the fears and trepidations of mounting, the rest of the cartridge's set-up was unremarkable. While experimentation is always recommended, the Miyabi/47 sounded best in the JMW-12 tracking at 1.9g and loaded into the Premier 15, as is my usual preference, at 47K.
     Once in place, the cartridge's suspension takes roughly 50 hours to loosen up---and believe me, you'll know when that time is up. In my case, the cartridge began mistracking because it was actually grazing the disc. This problem was easily solved by raising the arm up so the bottom of the cartridge cleared the LP. Even so, the Miyabi/47 is a looooooow rider, even lower than the new Lyra Hericon.
     At this point, it's time to adjust VTA and cartridge damping. When all is said and done, the Miyabi/47, in contrast to most modern MCs, is fairly VTA sensitive and sounds best with the back of the cartridge slightly elevated. When VTA is low, the midrange sounds washed out---and a whitish coloration permeates the soundstage.
     One last thing about the Miyabi/47:The stylus accumulates dust bunnies like it's mating season. If that happens, I suggest cleaning with the stylus with the superb new Immedia/Lyra SPT stylus cleaning fluid.

I hate that analog front-ends are hardly plug 'n' play. On the other hand, I love that aural high you get paying attention to the smallest detail!
     First, forget about playing the Miyabi/47 with the stylus guard in the "up" position (BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL when removing the stylus guard---and only after the cartridge has been mounted). With the guard in place, the midrange sounds slightly washed out and inner detail is diminished.
     The other tweak---and I can't emphasize enough that ANYONE with an analog front-end should try this gizmo---is a set of Walker Audio's Damping discs. A pair of these one-inch-thick, steel/lead/silicone discs for the turntable will set you back $70, but they are essential for digging out that last couple of percent of performance from your turntable. Even with the latest VPI TNT Mk.VHR (HR=hot rod version=no armboard), these discs sharpen up instrumental focus, aid in the recreation of a sense of space around instruments and improve transient attacks and inner detailing. Patience and experimentation are the key to using these discs. Take the first disc, place it on the plinth and listen;then move the disc around until you find the sweet spot. Repeat again with the second disc.

I'm addicted to the rush of reviewing cartridges.
     Even more thrilling than writing about the plethora of new audio cartridge is experiencing the Miyabi/47's explosive dynamics! For some reason, and memories of the older Benz Ruby come to mind, the Miyabi/47 sounds far more dynamic than one would expect from its lowish 0.3 mV output. Just as harmonics bloom with some cartridges, dynamics swell without drawing attention to themselves. Whether it's a pianissimo or crescendo, lower or upper octaves, the Miyabi/47 excels.
     Couple that sense of dynamics with the 47's ability to recreate the original recording's sense of space---and a promising picture emerges. This cartridge renders absolutely holographic images, whether it's Jonny Cash bemoaning offing poor Delia (American Recordings 9362-45520-1) or June Tabor singing that plaintive tune "The Banks of Red Roses" on Aqaba (Topic Records 12 TS449). Images are so realistic and holographic that you can actually "see" Cash's mouth opening and closing as he sings 'bout poor Delia.
     Add to that mental picture the guitar and mandolin on Picaflor (Titanic Records Mn-5), or trumpets, trombones and the like on a big band recording like "La Nevada" from Gil Evans' Out of the Cool (Alto 003) floating unencumbered in space. There's a refined sense of air and spaciousness whether it's a close-miked recording of Hopkinson Smith playing lute (Telefunken 6.42122A---originally recorded by Astree) or the orchestra filling the hall on La Fille Mal Gardee (Decca SXL 2313). When the recording calls for it, there's simply unlimited depth and width. A live jazz piece such as Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival (Classic records V6-8762), really serves to illustrate the Miyabi/47's ability to holographically reproduce a huge stage and, at the same time, solidly lock the piano, drum set and bass in space.
     Throw into the mix the Miyabi/47's neutral and natural midrange and you can begin to sense why this cartridge makes my head spin. The Miyabi/47 strikes an interesting balance between the two extremes, giving more midrange fullness and less stridency, yet retaining that sense of attack and resolution. This isn't a Koetsu with its attendant colorations, nor is it a stereotypical moving coil with a slight edge and emphasis in the upper midrange area. There's a relaxed feeling to the cartridge, but not a laid-back quality. Strings on La Fille Mal Gardee are rich without that edge that so often accompanies other MC cartridges. However, the Miyabi/47 isn't quite as smooth compared to, say the Helikon. In the lower octaves, the Miyabi/47 is maybe a hair more romantic than real, but that's in contrast to other cartridges that are etched and lose the bloom and woodiness of cellos or double basses---or those with fat and tubby bass.
     Where the Miyabi/47 falls a little short of ultimate is in the area of inner detailing. Transient attacks are ever-so-gently rounded, which isn't as much of a problem with a sax as it is with a plucked instrument such as a guitar---or with an instrument with even more transient energy, such as a mandolin or harp. In the end, strings just have a little less articulation. The cartridge is still capable of great delicacy and revealing previously unnoticed differences between tracks and albums that speak worlds about its neutrality. The cartridge also has the ability to unravel previously unheard nuances within a dense orchestral mix---such as a harp playing along with and softly in back of the string section on La Mal Gardee.
     Upper octaves of the Miyabi/47, however, are slightly more detailed than lower down the frequency spectrum. From the midrange up, say on Double Music: Music for Strings and Percussion (New World NW330), the cartridge is extremely fast, especially with the Martin-Logan Prodigys. Perhaps the most interesting demonstration of the cartridges upper octave resolution, articulation and speed comes when comparing a Classic Records 45 rpm test pressing I happened to have laying around of Cage's Second Construction to the original Double Music LP. With the Classic, there's a nice sense of extension and dynamics at the extremes with a trace of hardness to the percussion instruments. It's a whole 'nuther ballgame, as they say, with the original---and the Miyabi/47 just ruthlessly reveals the differences between the two LPs. The original pressing has flat out more harmonic information, articulation, ambiance and resolution. Cymbals don't sound washed out, but move and resonate in space like the real thing. There's a much greater sense of the splash and echo of the percussion instruments off the wooden side walls of RCA's now extinct Studio A.
     The Miyabi/47 also falls slightly short of ultimate in transparency. Don't get me wrong: The Miyabi 47 is quite good. In fact, unless you've experienced the quietness and vanishingly low noise floor of the Lyras, you might not even notice or be bothered by the Miyabi/47's slight loss of transparency. It's transparency is extremely dependent upon VTA, but overall, it is a hair short of the standards set by the Parnassus D.C. or the newer Herikon. With the Miyabi/47, there's just splash of whiteness compared to the vividly black background of the Herikon. Yet this slight loss of transparency never interferes with the music---and in most cases, one's too absorbed enjoying the sense of the hall and holographic staging to even notice.
     As I was wrapping up the review, I had the opportunity to listen to the Miyabi/47 using the recently arrived Martin-Logan Prodigys and the latest incarnation of the VPI TNT Mk. VHR turntable. This combination--- particularly the lowered noise floor of the TNT coupled with the simply astonishing transparency of the new Martin-Logan Prodigys---only reinforced the Miyabi/47's musical nature. Not only does every record sounds different, but suddenly the differences from track to track are painfully obvious. For instance, when playing American Recordings I noticed a great sense of air and space in the upper octaves than in the midrange. "Aha," I thought "an area to nitpick!" Then on the next track, the air was back in the midrange. Other cartridges just didn't have this level of resolution to reveal this sort of spatial difference between tracks.

Cancel that room at the Betty Ford Clinic---unless it has tubes and a turntable in it!
     Being a jock, and a bodybuilder at that, it's inevitable that I have to use a sports analogy to describe the Miyabi/47's performance. Here goes. Picture a champion bodybuilder. The athlete bringing home the overall pose down trophy is not the competitor with the biggest arms, pecs or legs. No. The competitor with the best overall muscularity, symmetry and proportion wins the final pose down. The same qualities apply to the Miyabi/47. When you dissect the various qualities one might look for in a cartridge---such as transparency, speed, resolution, dynamics, and soundstaging---the Miyabi/47 would score nothing less than a 7 in most areas and a 10 in a few categories. Everything is in perfect balance; where it deviates from perfection doesn't detract from its overall picture. Or, to paraphrase Arnold in Pumping Iron: "My body is perfect, I can't make these arms any bigger because if I added an inch to my arms, I'd have to add an inch everywhere."