Nagaoka MP-500 Moving Magnet Cartridge MM

Product no.: MP500

Nagaoka MP-500 Moving Magnet Cartridge MM
£589.95
Price includes VAT, plus delivery

Nagaokas were always better than ‘merely competent’, and this latest model throws the hat into the current analogue-revival ring with panache.  It also bears a sane price tag. - HIFI News

Experience the image solidity, detail resolution, and bass extension that made the Nagaoka MP-500 one of Stereophile's Editors' Top Picks -  Stereophile Recommended Component

This is an excellent cartridge that I feel is very deserving of our Gold Star Award for performance, and value. Very highly recommended. - Wall of Sound
 

The only thing not to like about Nagaoka's MP-500 is its price, but as we know all too well in the world of analogue addiction, you get what you pay for. There’s no wonder chip or new format that’s going to come along and give you more bang for your buck – as sometimes happens in the digital world. Rather, it’s good old fashioned high-end materials use and engineering that you’re buying – and it shows.Thumbs firmly aloft then, for this excellent pick-up cartridge; it’s surely the best of its type around – and certainly the finest moving magnet that I have heard. If you’re not a fan of moving coils, and/or don’t want to rejig your system to accommodate them, then this is surely as good as it gets. It’s expensive, but don’t forget that you’ll not need to replace your MM phono stage or swap your tonearm in order to use it – which effectively makes it better value, all things considered. So even if you’re in the market for something approaching a top-flight moving coil, hear this if you can. The Nagaoka MP500 phono cartridge offers the highest musical and creative expression of the new MP series. It expertly extracts and reproduces with vivid, colorful and dimensional clarity what others miss. Meet our little friend - the Nagaoka MP500 phono cartridge - the master of the grooves. Stereonet award

 The Nagaoka MP-500 phono cartridge offers the highest musical and creative expression of the new MP series. It expertly extracts and reproduces with vivid, colorful and dimensional clarity what others miss. Experience the image solidity, detail resolution, and bass extension that made the Nagaoka MP-500 one of Stereophile's Editors' Top Picks For The Industry's Best Products.

 
The Nagaoka MP500 phono cartridge offers the highest musical and creative expression of Nagaoka's MP series. It expertly extracts and reproduces with vivid, colourful and dimensional clarity what others miss
 
The Nagaoka MP-500 phonograph cartridge offers the highest musical and creative expression of the new MP series. Destined to become the benchmark by which most other MM cartridges are judged and already gaining something of a classic/cult status, the Nagaoka MP-500 even manages to challenge the supremacy of many high end MC cartridges at many times the price. Superbly musical, fatigue-free listening with refinement in spades thanks to an extended, well controlled and detailed HF response. It has superb authority too thanks to extended and detailed bass response. Redefining what’s possible with MM performance
 
Nagaokas were always better than ‘merely competent’, and this latest model throws the hat into the current analogue-revival ring with panache. It will certainly appeal to listeners with preamps lacking gain for MCs, and will surely mate beautifully with vintage units of the Radford SC22/McIntosh C22 variety. It also bears a sane price tag - Recommended HIFI News

If you audition it, ignore it's MM credentials and just compare it on an equal footing with MC carts up to a £1000. Do that and you may well find one on the end of your tonearm sooner than you think and spending the change on more vinyl.

Michael Fremer Stereophile  "Recommended Components:  

Stereophile Editors' Top Picks For The Industry's Best Products,"

In technical terms, the Nagaoka show as a excellent pickups: flawless workmanship, absolutely practical interpretation  It is also this ability to detail reproduction, which makes the Nagaoka MP-500 at a really great system and reinforces my view that it is basically up to 1000 euros loose keeps up with any MC cartridge. Audioreview

A gutsy performer with more than a touch of finesse.

It expertly extracts and reproduces with vivid, colorful and dimensional clarity what others miss. Experience the image solidity, detail resolution, and bass extension - Stereophile 

The MP-500 is the vocal champ in this group, solo singers sitting bang in the middle of the stage with lovely warmth, air and believability, inviting you to listen intently to their song and their singing. It’s very, very engaging I can see some listeners falling in love with the beauty and centrality of its vocals - The Audio Beat

It’s hard to recall a time when I was more slowly, but firmly seduced by the charms of a piece that initially seemed to be somewhat plain or unremarkable. It’s not that I ever disliked the MP-500. I thought all along, this is a very competent, balanced performer. It just didn’t “grab me”, until….well, until at some point, it did. A month or more into using it, and I really don’t know exactly when, I started to notice that I was relaxed and smiling while listening to my records with this cartridge. That got my attention, and I started listening more closely, and to a wider selection of musical styles  In fact, if you’re primarily keen on acoustic music – jazz, folk, classical, etc. – this is a cartridge that I think will have few, if any peers in its price range. It gets the tonal colour of instruments and voices very right, and should give years of listening pleasure   Lastly I want to touch on value. . Given that this cartridge comes in at 75% of my reference Charisma Audio MC-1, I have to say I consider it to be a superb value. Still, it’s on the high end of the price scale for a high-output cartridge. . This is an excellent cartridge that I feel is very deserving of our Gold Star Award for performance, and value. Very highly recommended. - Wall of Sound
 
Features:
Exclusive superrigid body for ultra low resonance and superlative fidelity
SuperFine polished line contact diamond stylus tip
Powerful samarium cobalt magnet
Low-mass, high strength boron cantilever
Carbon Fibre reinforced plastic pole shoe
Anti-ferro magnetic permalloy shield casing
 
Technical data:
Principle: MM
Cantilever: High-strength boron
Frequency response: 20 - 25,000 Hz
Channel balance: better than 1.0 dB
Channel separation: better than 27 dB at 1kHz
Output voltage: 3 mV (5 cm/sec)
Tracking force: 1.3 - 1.8 g
Impedance: 47 000 ohms
Dynamic compliance: 8.5 x10-6/dyne
Weight: 8.0 g
Mounting: 1/2 inch
Microsection: super-fine, line-contact diamond
 
Replacement stylus JN-P500

 

 
Nagaoka MP-series cartridges and Nagaoka audio accessories with the authentic vinyl sound 
 
With Nagaoka cartridges you can experience the concert hall in the comfort of your home. 
 
Nagaoka is unique in the cartridge business having produced styli, cartridges and accessories for records since 1940 thus more than 70 years!  Moreover all the very high precision parts used in manufacturing the cartridges and styli are made in Nagaoka’s  own factories, from the diamond tips, the cantilevers, the samarium cobalt magnets, even the coils.
 
The phonograph stylus is the most important link in your vinyl sound system to capture the information stored in the grooves of the vinyl record and translate this information into an electrical current. The quality and shape of the stylus and the tolerances in the manufacturing process are of the utmost importance to ensure that the translation of the information in the grooves is perfect and no information is lost or added in the process. Nagaoka is the world’s only cartridge producer
Making all the required parts in house and having 100% control over the quality of each individual part.
 
Each of the above models offer the highest possible music reproduction in their class.
 
The new high performance Nagaoka MP-series cartridges incorporate the most up-to-date materials including the ultra-light weight Permalloy oscillator at the rear end of the cantilever and the very strong samarium cobalt permanent magnet mounted in the cartridge body. The cartridges of Nagaoka’s MP-line produce an equal sound reproduction in all frequency ranges from the super deep low tones to the crystal clear high notes, clearly accentuating and separating every detail, however small, of the musical instruments and voices of the artists.
 
The accuracy of the MP stylus keeps all the details of the music separate so each detail can be heard clearly. of Nagaoka's continuous pursuit of perfect sound reproduction  will not fail to provide you with the utmost musical satisfaction.
 
 
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