LP Gear ALN3600LENSS Stylus - The Divine
LP GEAR ALN3600LENSS STYLUS - THE DIVINE
The AT3600L cartridge is the most ubiquitous cartridge in the planet! It is also the most misunderstood and underrated. Because it was given as a freebie in abundance as original manufacturer installed cartridge for many low-cost record players, it established a reputation as a cheap, low-performance throw-way cartridge. That is how it has been perceived for many decades - until a few uncovered its authenticity. For example: Rega with its re-labeled Rega Carbon and LP GEAR with its CF3600LE. The latter elevated the performance bar and awareness level of this humble cartridge.
● Elevates the AT3600L to the category's best-buy cartridge
● Exceeds sound qualiy of original ATN3600L stylus and other peer alternatives
● Nude 0.3 x 0.7 mil elliptical diamond tip mounted into custom alloy cantilever
● Low-mass alloy cantilever for nuanced groove tracing accuracy and fidelity
● Tracking force: 1.5 - 3.0g (not for use with Audio-Technics AT-LP60's & Soundburgers)
● LP GEAR® stylus - Above and beyond copies and generics
LP GEAR, convinced of this cartridge's unrealized potential for greatness, continues to research the improvement possibilities for the AT3600L. This five-year endeavor has led to collaborations with convincing to formidable results and the development of two newly introduced products: The ALN3600LE and the ALN3600LENSS.
To discover these gems, LP Gear has had to re-configure our turntable audio playback system to deliver unadulterated sound quality: Rega RP10 turntable, Sota Sapphire turntable, Audience SE Phono Cable, Audience Ohno speaker cables, Odyssey amplifier, Linear Tube Audio Z40+ Integrated amplifier, Totem Element Fire V2 Speakers, Spendor BC-1 and LS8/1 speakers, Philharmonic Audio The BMR Monitor and The Ceramic Monitor speakers. We sound tested these various styli to verify that they performed better in different audio settings.
Using the above audio system, we identified the ALN3600LRNSS as the best-buy stylus and subsequently called it - "The Divine". This model name describes the ALN3600LNSS's ability to divine the grooves with fidelity and fervor, thus resulting in music reproduced with abundance and nuanced emotion/feeling that was recorded during the performance. This version has one caveat: it has a maximum tracking force of 2.5g.
Based on our listening comparatives, we have ranked the styli below:
- (1) ALN3600LENSS
- (2a) ALN3600LE*
- (2b) CFN3600LE*
- (3) ATN3600L
*Tie. The ALN3600LE was developed to replace the CFN3600LE in the event of production cessation. There are differences between the two but the overall sound quality and resulting musical satisfaction are about the same.