Audio Technica AT 33PTG/II MC cartridge

Audio Technica's AT-33PTG/II is a step-up to the AT-33PTG. It uses its solid aluminium body with internal damping with extra synthetic resin.

The coils have been doubled to minimise crosstalk and thus, channel separation. The coils feature a high purity PCOCC copper conductor. It is coiled to reduce internal impedance to 10 ohms only!

But the real change comes with the use of a great square Microline stylus fully integral to the boron cantilever. The system is shorter, stiffer and lighter than the previous PTG version. The stylus provides a line of contact with the groove that remains constant, regardless of the position on the record. Audio Technica has proudly announced that the life of this stylus exceeds 1,000 hours! This stylus is also used with the famous AT OC 9 MLII. The suspension has been doubled and optimised for best dynamics and placement in the low frequencies. The low impedance combined with the 0.3 mV output level make this cartridge compatible with most MC preamplifiers (good quality ones). 

We recommend a fifty-hour break-in period to get the full measure of the cartridge's capabilities (like with most MC models).

From the first minutes, we were taken by the overall natural balance. The bass is deep, the mids are present and the treble is fine and precise. The distortion and surface noise are low, almost inaudible with most records, even near the end of playback.

The sonic performance is vibrant and natural, regardless of the music you play. It is also quite airy. Typically, this Audio Technica can easily reproduce the reverberation of the recording location.

The excellent channel separation delivers an amazing and very credible soundstage.

We also market (and so do Audio Technica!) more efficient cartridges on all accounts, but at this price, the AT-33PTG/II is a top pick.

Just can't recommend it enough!