What is Boron Nitride?
Boron Nitride is a high-performance engineering ceramic with extreme hardness. Research showed that Boron Nitride (white color) is lighter than the Boron Carbide (black color) used in traditional high-end cartridges:
This new generation material and the structural design of the LS10 cantilever further reduce the cartridge moving mass, increase vibrations transmission accuracy and speed, leading to better transients and micro-details resolution
The LS10 cantilevers are made in Japan, involving high-temperature casting and high-precision polishing
The LS10 MC Cartridge features a nude Shibata stylus, cut and polished in Japan
A nude stylus reduces the moving mass of the cartridge, hence optimizes the transcription of music dynamics compared to bonded styli
Invented by Mr. Shibata and patented to Victor Company of Japan (JVC) in 1973, the now famous Shibata stylus shape was originally developed to accurately track the high-frequency information on quadraphonic records (up to 45 kHz) without wearing them out
For clarity, here is a direct comparison between an elliptical stylus and the Shibata:
The contact area between the Shibata stylus and record grooves is optimum, providing 2 important benefits for the LS10 cartridge:
If there is one wood that exudes beauty and elegance, it would be ebony. This natural material is dense and durable, and some musicians prefer it over rosewood for their instruments
This wood was chosen for its subtle influence on the cartridge sound, as it removes any harshness from high frequencies, while providing deep and tight bass response
Made of one block of aged ebony wood, the LS10 MC Cartridge body is precision machined and sanded. A special varnish – analog to the ones used on violins – is finally applied to ensure its utmost stability
The LS10 cartridge body is precisely pre-threaded, enabling an easy installation and alignment with just two bolts – no nuts required
Furthermore, the straight sides of the body make it simple for you to align the cartridge on your turntable
The purchase of an LS10 cartridge includes an online support to ensure the perfect integration of your new cartridge in your system
Le Son Customer Support for the LS10 cartridge includes:
We are conscious how difficult it is to choose a high quality phono cartridge, often only relying on reviews to make your decision.
This is why we provide a 60 days return policy so you have plenty of time to listen and decide if the cartridge fits well in your system.
On any turntable, the cartridge/tonearm combination will exhibit resonance at a specific frequency. This resonance is due to the interaction of the cartridge (acting as a spring), and the weight of the tonearm (acting as a mass). The “springiness” of the phono cartridge is described as compliance, and the weight of the arm is specified as mass. The goal in matching a specific cartridge and tonearm is to have this resonant frequency to be between 8Hz and 11Hz.
The LS10 MC Cartridge compliance is 12μm/mN, which will match perfectly medium mass tonearms. Most turntables out there have a medium mass tonearm. If you have a doubt, feel free to contact us, we will check for you.
Yes, the warranty for the LS10 MC Cartridge is 2 years, and starts at reception of the package.
The detailed warranty conditions are stated in our General Terms & Conditions.
The LS10 features a nude Shibata stylus, the most famous member of the “line contact” styli family. Unlike cheaper stylus shapes (spherical, conical, elliptical), the vertical tracking force (VTF) is spread along a wider area, and therefore wears slower.
In addition, the VTF of the LS10 MC Cartridge is only 1.6g, so the pressure on both the record and the stylus is kept at minimum.
The LS10 MC Cartridge stylus lifespan ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 hours.
In other words, the LS10 stylus lifespan ranges from 3 to 4 years if you listen to records 2 hours every single day.
Yes, the LS10 MC Cartridge can be retipped at a very advantageous price.
Japanese stylus & cantilever manufacturers update their prices yearly, so when a retipping is necessary, please contact us and we will provide you with all the information.
To maintain the best signal to noise ratio, your phono preamplifier gain should complement the output of your phono cartridge.
The LS10 outputs 0.49mV at 5cm/s, and we therefore recommend to set the gain of your phono preamplifier from 56dB to 62dB.
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