LS10 MKII cartridge
990 $
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60-day home evaluation · 2-year warranty · Personal setup guidance
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Rediscover your records with the LS10 MKII
More presence, more life
The LS10 MKII brings a clear step forward in presence, texture and musical scale.
Bass feels more grounded, voices gain body, and low-level details appear without pulling the music apart.
Easy, confident installation
The pre-threaded body and straight cartridge sides make mounting and alignment simpler.
Less time fighting with tiny hardware, more confidence before the first record plays.
Personal setup guidance
Cartridge matching depends on the full system: tonearm, phono stage, gain, loading and listening priorities.
Share your setup with us before or after ordering, and we will help you find the most sensible starting point.
60-day home evaluation
A cartridge can only be truly understood in your own room, with your own tonearm, phono stage and records.
The 60-day home evaluation gives you time to listen calmly, without forcing a decision from an unfamiliar demonstration or a first impression.
Why I recommend the LS10 MKII
When a listener asks me where to begin with Le Son, the LS10 MKII is often the cartridge I name first.
It carries the qualities I value most: density without heaviness, detail without coldness, and a natural sense of musical presence.
It also remains practical to match with a serious MC phono stage or a well-chosen step-up transformer. That makes it not only a technical recommendation, but a cartridge I can suggest with real confidence.
Gregory de Richemont
Founder, Le Son
Can you buy a truly world-class moving coil cartridge for only $990?
The superb Le Son LS10 MKII proves that you can.
M. L. Gneier – TNT-Audio USA
The music has an airiness similar to a live experience.
The moment the needle drops into the groove, we can ‘see’ the room with our ears.
Yung Lie – Alpha Audio
I now have three categories:
cartridges that play records, cartridges that make music and cartridges that make magic.
And what I’m hearing now is magical.
Nels Ferre – Needles & Grooves
In a word? Enchanting.
It is detailed and resolving, yet sounds natural and free, doing everything effortlessly.
Christian Pruks – Audio Video Magazine
The LS10 MKII difference
ECC generator system
In a moving coil cartridge, unwanted eddy-current behavior can blur energy, timing and openness.
The LS10 MKII’s ECC generator system was developed to reduce this effect and preserve more of the cartridge’s speed, density and natural flow.
The result is not a technical detail for its own sake. It is part of why the LS10 MKII feels vivid and grounded at once: bass has shape, harmonics remain open, and the musical line stays easy to follow.
Boron nitride cantilever
The LS10 MKII uses a boron nitride ceramic rod cantilever, chosen for its low moving mass and fast vibration transmission.
Compared with boron carbide, which is commonly used in high-end cartridges, boron nitride offers a notable advantage through its lower density:
Density (g/cm3)
In listening terms, this supports cleaner transients, more precise textures and a feeling that quiet details arrive naturally rather than being pushed forward.
This is central to the LS10 MKII character: clarity without clinical hardness, detail without losing body.
Shibata stylus
The LS10 MKII is equipped with a Shibata V stylus, a line-contact profile designed to trace fine groove information with precision.
Point Contact vs Line Contact: The Shibata stylus offers a line contact with record grooves, as opposed to the point contact of an elliptical stylus.
This design gives the LS10 MKII two important advantages.
First, refined tracking. The Shibata profile helps the stylus follow fine groove modulations with greater contact and control, revealing texture, space and low-level musical information with more ease.
Second, gentler groove contact. Because the contact area is longer than a conventional elliptical profile, the tracking force is distributed over a larger part of the groove wall.
For the listener, this means the LS10 MKII is not merely revealing. When correctly set up, it is also designed to treat valuable records with the care they deserve.
The work of Dr. Tsai
The LS10 MKII was shaped by Dr. Ted Tsai’s long work on moving coil cartridge design and generator behavior.
One of the central challenges was the control of eddy currents, small electrical effects that can interfere with the purity and responsiveness of the signal inside a moving coil generator.
The ECC system was developed to reduce this interference and preserve more of what matters musically: timing, density, openness and natural flow.
Understanding eddy currents in audio technology
Eddy currents are electric currents circulating in conductors like eddies in the oceans.
Image: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio
These currents are induced by changing magnetic fields and flow in loops perpendicular to the magnetic field. In moving coil cartridges, these currents are generated as the conductor moves through the magnetic field.
The impact of eddy currents on sound quality
Eddy currents create their own magnetic fields, which, according to Lenz’s Law, oppose the initial magnetic field change. This reaction can adversely affect the movements of the cartridge’s cantilever, impacting the overall sound quality.
Dr. Tsai’s solution: eddy current cancellation
To reduce these effects, Dr. Tsai moved beyond conventional approaches such as laminated cores or nonconductive materials.
His solution was a generator architecture in which opposing eddy-current forces are arranged to cancel each other more effectively.
This is the principle behind ECC, Eddy Current Cancellation, first introduced by Le Son in the LS10 MKII.
Easy, confident installation
The LS10 MKII uses a pre-threaded body, so mounting does not require loose nuts.
Its straight sides also make visual alignment easier, helping the installation feel calmer and more controlled.
Careful setup still matters, but the cartridge is designed to make the process less intimidating.
Personal setup guidance
With every LS10 MKII cartridge, we are happy to help you review the key setup points before listening seriously.
This may include mounting, alignment, tracking force, anti-skate, phono-stage gain and loading.
If you are unsure about your tonearm, phono stage or SUT, please contact us before ordering. A few system details are often enough to confirm whether the LS10 MKII is the right direction.
This direct guidance is part of the Le Son experience.
60-day home evaluation
The LS10 MKII can be evaluated where it matters most: in your own system, with your own tonearm, phono stage and records.
You have 60 days to listen calmly, allow the cartridge to settle, refine the setup and decide whether it belongs in your analog front end.
If it is not the right match, please contact us within the evaluation period and we will guide you through the return process according to our return conditions.
Specifications
Physical
- Cartridge Type: Moving Coil (Stereo)
- Body: Aluminum & Carbon Fiber Socket, Ebony Wood Casing
- Stylus: Diamond, Shibata V Shape
- Cantilever: Boron Nitride Ceramic Rod
- Coils: 6N Copper
- Weight: 7.9 grams
Electrical
- Output Voltage: 0.40 mV at 5 cm/s
- Internal Impedance: 6.8 ohms
- Frequency Response: 15 – 45,000 Hz
- Channel Separation: Better than 30 dB at 1 kHz
- Channel Balance: Better than 0.5 dB
Dynamic
- Tracking ability: 80 μm at 315 Hz with 2 g tracking force
- Dynamic Compliance: 15 μm/mN at 10 Hz
Setup
- Recommended Loading: 75 ohms minimum
- Recommended Gain: approximately 56–65 dB, or a suitable step-up transformer
- Recommended Vertical Tracking Force (VTF): 1.7 – 2.1 grams
- Reference Vertical Tracking Force (VTF): 1.9 grams
- Recommended Tonearm Mass: Medium
- Run-in Period: 30 hours
Accessories
- 1 x Stylus Brush
- 1 x Hexagonal Screwdriver
- 1 x Stylus Guard
- 2 x Short Mounting Screws & Washers
- 2 x Medium Mounting Screws & Washers
- 2 x Long Mounting Screws & Washers
Frequently Asked Questions
- Where can I read reviews of the LS10 MKII cartridge?
- Is there a warranty for the LS10 MKII cartridge?
- With which turntables or tonearms can I use the LS10 MKII cartridge?
- What is the stylus lifespan of the LS10 MKII cartridge?
- Can the LS10 MKII cartridge be retipped?
- What is the recommended phono preamplifier gain for the LS10 MKII cartridge?
- How does the LS10 MKII compare with the LS10 MKII “S” and “G”?
Independent reviews of the LS10 MKII are available from TNT-Audio, Needles & Grooves, Alpha Audio, Audio Video Magazine and HiFi Knights.
You can also read customer feedback on Trustpilot.
Together, these sources give a broader view of how the LS10 MKII has been received in different systems and by different listeners.
Yes. The LS10 MKII is covered by a 2-year warranty under normal use.
Warranty coverage applies to defects in materials or workmanship. It does not cover misuse, improper installation, unauthorized modification, external damage, or normal stylus wear.
If an issue appears, please contact us with your order details, serial number and a clear description of the symptom.
The LS10 MKII has a dynamic compliance of 15 μm/mN and is generally intended for medium-mass tonearms.
The ideal match still depends on the full setup, including tonearm effective mass, headshell, mounting hardware and phono-stage configuration.
If you are unsure, send us your turntable, tonearm and phono-stage details before ordering. We will be happy to help you check whether the LS10 MKII is a coherent match.
Stylus life depends on setup accuracy, record cleanliness, tracking force, handling and hours of use.
With careful setup and clean records, the Shibata V stylus is designed for long service life, but it should still be treated as a precision wear component.
If tracking, distortion or tonal balance changes noticeably after extended use, contact us and we can advise whether inspection or retipping may be appropriate.
Yes. The LS10 MKII can be retipped or serviced where appropriate.
When the stylus is worn, or if performance changes after long use, please contact us and we will confirm the most suitable service path.
Current conditions, pricing and timing are confirmed before any work begins.
The LS10 MKII has an output of 0.40 mV at 5 cm/s and is intended for a suitable MC phono stage or an MM phono stage used with an appropriate step-up transformer.
If step-up transformers are new to you, learn how an MC step-up transformer works.
As a practical starting point, many systems will be comfortable with MC gain in the approximate 56 to 65 dB region, with loading at 75 ohms or above.
If you share your phono stage or SUT model, we will be happy to suggest a sensible starting point.
The LS10 MKII is the core low-output Le Son reference and the most balanced starting point in the LS10 family.
The LS10 MKII “S” offers a more open and refined silver-coil expression, while the LS10 MKII “G” is the most exacting version and requires a carefully matched high-gain phono stage or suitable step-up transformer.
If you are unsure where to begin, the LS10 MKII is often the most natural recommendation.
Not sure whether the LS10 MKII suits your system?
Our Before You Buy guide covers the main compatibility questions, including tonearm mass, phono-stage gain and loading.
If you would like personal advice, send us your turntable, tonearm and phono-stage details. We will be happy to help you choose with confidence.
