MC addition....

[Bernd]

...to my ever growing cartridge family.
Last year, and just after I had purchased my Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua I read about a superb new cartridge. Too late, money spent and choice made. Anyway, just last week an opportunity presented itself to get one of those at a decent price. A friend of mine from NYC has one and said that it dislodged his Koetsu Onyx at $ 8k (He has deeper pockets than me) and his Transfiguration Orpheus.
Well on Friday the nice Fed-Ex man delivered my new Phase Tech P-1. I installed it and dropped the needle onto Neil Youngs-This Notes For You and picked my jaw up off the floor. Here is a true high end bargain (if you can call $ 1800 a bargain) compared to my other MCs. And it surpassed their performance by some margin. It just plays everything so right. The whole musical spectrum somehow sounds very correct. It's not warm or rose tinted nor cold. Just very very acurate, silent and musical. One of those things that come along once in a while and make you rediscover your whole music collection. This cartridge tells you what is on the record. Everything. I believe my cartridge hunting days are over. Happy boy - you bet.

Here is a review excert:
"Phase-Tech's P-1 moving-coil cartridge is a heavyweight in many respects. At 12 grams, it's physically heavy. Its sound is 'heavy' (in the best sense of the word) with weight and authority…when called for. And it's a heavyweight as a competitor. This is one of those rare audio components that could challenge your thinking about the nature of your entire audio system. At its $1800 price, this phono cartridge gets you very, very close to what's on an LP, and much closer than many other cartridges at this price level." – Curtis Leeds, Hi-Fi+, Issue 45

Phase Tech P-1