Featuring technological and material improvements, including our first use of die-cast zinc in the cartridge base to prevent unwanted resonance and enhance expressiveness in the mid and low frequencies, the AT33x series cartridges allow you to hear the most subtle details across the entire audio spectrum.
With its nude-style microlinear stylus and solid boron conical cantilever, the AT33x MLD is capable of capturing the finest details recorded in the groove of a record. This high-resolution tracking capability is particularly noticeable when listening to orchestral recordings, as it allows you to distinguish each instrument in a piece, or when playing records recorded from the late 1970s onwards, which benefit from advances in hi-fi recording and manufacturing.
Our newly developed suspension mechanism utilises piano wire for even greater tracking precision, which slightly reduces the dynamic load to deliver a more substantial sound, particularly in the lower-midrange.
The cartridge’s composite body, made from die-cast zinc, aluminium and high-rigidity polymer, reduces and disperses resonance throughout the body, resulting in balanced and natural sound reproduction that does not favour any particular frequency.
The AT33x’s dual-voice-coil cartridge design features separate PCOCC (Ohno Continuous Cast Pure Copper) voice coils for the left and right channels, providing exceptional channel separation and pure, seamless signal transmission.
A neodymium magnet and a permendur yoke create a strong magnetic field that maximises power generation efficiency, resulting in high-resolution, highly responsive analogue reproduction.
Like all cartridges in the AT33x series, the body of the AT33x MLD includes threaded holes for easy mounting (only two screws are required). These threaded holes are particularly useful when mounting the cartridge on an integrated tonearm.
The AT33x MLD’s solid duralumin cantilever, which tapers towards the microlinear stylus tip to improve response, is attached to a rigid suspension mechanism, which slightly reduces the dynamic load. Two separate PCOCC coils are positioned at the cantilever’s pivot point to ensure pure signal transmission for each channel.
The body of each AT33x series cartridge is manufactured from three distinct materials (die-cast zinc, aluminium and high-rigidity polymer) arranged optimally to reduce and disperse resonance throughout the cartridge body, so that no single frequency dominates during playback. The body features threaded holes for easy mounting.
The redesigned AT33x series capsules deliver that classic analogue sound, rich in detail across the entire audio spectrum, with realistic expressiveness in the mid and low frequencies. The AT33x MLD is ideal for use with rock and jazz records produced in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
In the early 1960s, at the Bridgestone Museum of Art in Tokyo, curator Hideo Matsushita organised LP listening sessions, where the public could enjoy vinyl records played on high-quality audio equipment. Matsushita was moved by the guests’ positive reactions to the music, but he was frustrated that the cost of high-fidelity listening prevented many people from enjoying it.
In 1962, Matsushita founded Audio Technica with the vision of producing high-quality audio for everyone. In line with this vision, he soon created the first truly affordable phono cartridge, the AT-1, in the company’s small flat in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Features:
- Dual moving coil (MC) stereo cartridge with a nude-type microlinear stylus.
- Coils made from PCOCC (pure copper using the Ohno continuous casting process).
- Design featuring two independent coils, left and right, for improved channel separation.
- Neodymium magnet and permendur yoke to maximise energy efficiency.
- Housing made from die-cast zinc, aluminium and high-rigidity polymer to reduce resonance.
- Threaded mounting holes to facilitate fitting the cartridge to a headshell.
- Nude-type microlinear stylus, which delivers a more nuanced sound than elliptical and conical styluses.
- Conical duralumin cantilever.
- The suspension mechanism and the newly developed rubber damper design (with a lower dynamic load than other A-T cartridges) allow the cartridge to be used with a wide variety of tonearms.
- The double-pass armature structure increases the rigidity of the cantilever for better resonance suppression.
- Gold-plated terminal pins reduce contact resistance and improve sound quality.
- Frequency response: 20 Hz to 42 kHz.
- Output voltage: 0.4 mV (1 kHz, 5 cm/s).
- Channel separation: 27 dB (1 kHz).
- Output balance: 1 dB (1 kHz).
- Tracking force: 1.8 to 2.2 grams.
- Coil impedance: 12 ohms (1 kHz).
- Resistance: 12 ohms.
- Recommended load impedance: 100 ohms or greater.
- Coil inductance: 26 µH (1 kHz).
- Dimensions: 16.1 mm × 16.6 mm × 26.1 mm (H × W × D).
- Weight: 10.1 grams.
- Handcrafted by artisans in Japan.
- Accessories included: Non-magnetic screwdriver, washers, fixing screws, cleaning brush and stylus guard.
Note: The stylus on the AT33x MLB cannot be replaced on-site, but Audio-Technica offers a paid moving coil exchange programme to properly repair your moving coil cartridge.
