Gold Note Tuscany Red MC cartridge

The Gold Note Tuscany low output MC cartridge is the embodiment of the Italian brand’s expertise in terms of very high-end phono cartridges.

Like on most products from Gold Note’s range, it’s available in two finishes: Red which is more “modest”, and Tuscany Gold for Gold Note’s most demanding customers.

GOLD NOTE TUSCANY RED: DESIGN

Of course, the Tuscany Red is a low output MC cartridge. The manufacturer started from scratch for the design which required more than 3 years of work and development. It meets the highest standards to ensure the greatest audio performance possible.

The Gold Note Tuscany proposes a completely innovative design partly performed by computer modelling. The objective of the Italian manufacturer is to offer a high-performance and uncompromising low output MC cartridge.

GOLD NOTE TUSCANY RED: BODY

The chassis of this moving coil cartridge was milled from a solid duralumin 7000 block with injected polymers. It provides complete mechanical resistance and optimum damping while limiting the formation of resonance or vibration within the generator or the moving system.

The shape, cutting and perforations were made according to precise specifications following testing and measurements. These cavities help reducing the weight of the phono cartridge and eliminating vibration nodes. Moreover, this cubic shape greatly facilitates the alignment and adjustment of the VTA.

GOLD NOTE TUSCANY RED: STYLUS AND GENERATOR

This Gold Note Tuscany is provided with a Micro Elliptical stylus named Micro Ridge. This extra-thin stylus was developed by the Japanese manufacturer Adamant-Namiki. This major stylus is the only one which guarantees perfect profile and therefore best performance in this category.

It’s mounted on a hardened boron cantilever held by a titanium tube, further increasing the rigidity of the whole structure.

The generator is designed around copper coils and very high-quality samarium-cobalt magnets. The generator was limited in terms of winding, allowing the moving system to be lighter. And, of course, it also helped making the internal impedance drop, and thus the output level as well.

GOLD NOTE TUSCANY RED: COMBINATION

A 63-dB gain MC phono preamplifier is required due to the cartridge 0.35 mV output level. This phono preamplifier also requires an adjustable load impedance because the conventional 100 ohms are too low. We recommend a load impedance superior to 250 ohms.

The weight and tracking force associated with its compliance make this Gold Note Tuscany Gold pretty versatile; it’s compatible with most high-end tonearms having average effective mass.

GOLD NOTE TUSCANY RED: TESTING AND LISTENING

From the first few measures, the Gold Note Tuscany Red allows you to be fully immersed in music while making you forget its mechanics and electronics! It doesn’t want to charm you or make some useless demonstration. Everything is in its place with rigour, precision and finesse.

The quality and precision of the timbres are worth mentioning! It favours in part the resulting emotion.

We also notice excellent dynamics across the entire spectrum. Gold Note didn’t want to highlight a certain part of the spectrum to artificially increase a sense of dynamics. On the contrary, the tempo is strong and precise, we easily stamp our feet without realising it.

We can easily consider the Gold Note Tuscany Red as one of the best high-end low output MC cartridges on the market!

This phono cartridge fits exactly between Japanese major productions, that can be considered too “soft” and romantic with a lack of transparency and precision, and famous European cartridges, which may lack of timbre and refinement. Gold Note achieves the feat of combining the best of both worlds with superb balance! It’s truly rare enough to be highlighted… Bravissimo!

And for the most demanding of you, there’s the Tuscany Gold MC cartridge! A favourite.