New generation yokeless moving coil cartridge whose incredile sonic capabilities make significant contribution to the state-of-the-art in analog recording reproduction.

Orpheus is the new top-of-the-line cartridge from Transfiguration. It is made in limited quantities due to the precision of the parts selected, and hand-made nature of production. It has an elegant body design carved out of solid aluminum.

Many LP lovers would consider the golden age of recorded music to be the 1950's to 1970's. This was when recording companies could afford long-tem contracts with the leading artists and groups, afford the time for extensive rehearsals and trial recording sessions, indulged in little or no complex multi-channel mixing (which so often distorts natural musical timbres and perspectives, and causes phasing distortions) and took a real pride in producing premium quality pressings.

The moving coil cartridge has become to be accepted internationally as the ultimate transducer of these and other fine analog recordings.

However, despite increasingly sophisticated cartridges being developed, especially in recent years, there has remained a number of aspects which persist in intruding into the special magic possible with premium analog sound reproduction.

The principal offenders have all been to do with the interaction of the coils and magnets, with the prime cause being the yokes and pole-pieces of the magnet which focus the field around the coil.

The yoke system is unable to focus the full power of the magnet into the coil. This affects not only the strength of the signal, but also its accuracy. The resulting distortion inherent in moving coil designs to date results from a typical moving coil high frequency rise, overshoot, ringing on higher notes, a high level of distortion, tracking distortion at high and low signal levels and music.

There is also a masking of the frequency response, especially in the high range. The inter-relationship of magnetic field and coils is simply too "loose". The magnet and coils are too far apart to be able to capture the very subtlest details. On the other hand, very dynamic passages tend to cause coil saturation, especially if the coils are wound on formers. Increasingly powerful magnets, or special coils, bodies and suspensions, are in themselves no solution.

"Accuracy" defines precisely the ability of a cartridge to recreate the original recorded sound. Greater accuracy provides more of the music - the direct sound, and the myriad of recording environment subtleties which are the intimate detail. Ultimately, a more musical sound. Ideally, the music, immutable. Indeed, it seemed the ultimate moving coil design was already with us. Only to be continuously re-refined.

Design Concept

Now, in these final days of the glories of analog, there is a whole new frontier to the music of recorded music. The great complexity and crudeness of magnetic fields, yokes and coils is replaced by a new concept. The vast and costly magnets, magnetic-field-dispersing yokes and coils suffering variable magnetic influences of all other moving coil designs are replaced by a single assembly.

• No yokes
• Coils inside the magnet
• No magnetic irregularities
• Coils at the crux of magnetic focus
• Intimate coil/magnet coupling
• Low internal impedance
• High output
• Elegantly simple body design

Technical Details

1. Unique ultra grade SS-µ-metal core for coil assembly
   Newly developed ultra grade SS-µ-metal square core increases sensitivity by 35dB, improving the signal to noise ratio and eliminating a usual source of distortion.
2. Special 7N copper coils
   A newly developed 7N copper wire used in the coils eliminates a common source of distortion and increases transparency.
3. Push-pull damping
   A special quality compound has been meticulously designed and fabricated to provide total stylus/coil alignment and control. Its non-sensitivity to temperature change keeps the damping co-efficient stable and improve trackability.
4. Anti-resonance cartridge body shape.
   A resonance controlled 'simple' design for lower tonal colouration and a new-generation image.
5. Boron cantilever
   Newly developed rod for a more natural sound.
6. Low mass tip
   Ogura PA (3 x 30um) tip. It's function is to reproduce the character of the original recorded sound - not add or subtract its own deficiencies.
7. Ultra tight magnet-coil coupling
   The coils are not just close but literally right inside, with coil-magnet proximity of only a few thousandths of an inch. With the precision magnetic field focusing possible only with a ring magnet and superbly accurately wound coils, the ultra tight magnet-coil coupling enables far greater electromagnetic efficiency.
8. Dynamic mass minimized and coil saturation eliminated
   Much faster, more accurate stylus response to groove formation. Rising dynamics or sharp transients never mask detail.
9. Twin coils on cantilever fulcrum
   Ultra low dynamic mass and mechanical impedance for instant, accurate reaction to every groove detail, including the ability to handle massive transients without overshoot or break-up.