Vertere's Mystic Moving Coil cartridge has been unveiled by company founder and CEO, Touraj Moghaddam, who openly states that “the Mystic Moving Cartridge is not revolutionary – no wheels have been reinvented – the Mystic is a combination of experience, common sense, science and a little art. And of course a rather fetching sapphire blue anodised finish.”

Touraj continued, “The key to designing cartridges is to balance the design parameters: to deliver a cartridge that stays in the groove, retrieves the maximum musical information and is least affected by old or damaged records.” In typically Touraj fashion, the resulting cartridge is said to allow a broader selection of records to be played and enjoyed, rather than favouring a particular genre such as orchestral or pop - something that many high-end cartridges seem to do. As far as he is concerned, a hi-fi enthusiast with a small record collection just does not have the right system yet. 

Vertere says the Mystic Moving Coil's solid aluminium alloy body is mass-tuned to the generator for optimum support and control of unwanted mechanical vibrations. The cartridge is attached to the tonearm using the supplied stainless steel thumbscrews for correct coupling of the cartridge body to the tonearm headshell. Furthermore, there is a trio of specifically designed contact points that provides the exact mechanical coupling required.

A micro Elliptical diamond stylus tip sits on an aluminium 7000 telescopic tube cantilever. It feeds a low mass generator that utilises a Samarium-Cobalt magnet with a low-mass cross coil made of pure virgin copper wires. 

Vertere quotes a wideband frequency response of below 10Hz to 40kHz, and output of 0.5mV. The 9.1g cartridge has a recommended tracking weight of 2g. A super-nice touch is the alignment ridge on the front top that assists mounting Mystic to any Vertere tonearm. 

2019 has been an exceptionally productive year for Vertere Acoustics with the affordable but revolutionary DG-1 Dynamic Groove Record Player (AUD $5,995 with Audio-technica AT-VM520 cartridge) which was launched at the Munich High End Show. Billed as the company's most affordable design, it's also reported as the brand’s most straightforward to set up and use. 

The North-West London-based brand took a back to fundamentals approach. Simply, reducing material quality and slackening tolerances would not be the Vertere way. From the plinth to the arm and its bearings, everything has been redesigned and re-engineered, developing some of the basic principles of a record-playing system while completely rethinking others. StereoNET will take a closer look at this turntable and the new Mystic MC cartridge soon.

The Vertere Mystic Moving Coil cartridge is available now for AUD $4,295 RRP. 

For more information, head over to Vertere Acoustics.   

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