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This item not eligible for any further discount offers!
Trade-In Pricing:
Receive a credit valued at 30% of the original retail price of any modern Sumiko moving coil cartridge towards the purchase of a Sumiko Moving Coil cartridge of equal or greater value.
Re-Tip/Exchange:
Only $1499.99
Trade instructions:
If you purchase this cartridge with a trade-in, please note when you check out your total will show the normal sale price of this item and NOT the trade in price. However, when we process your order, you will be charged ONLY the trade in price. When you have received your new Sumiko cartridge, please carefully pack and ship your trade-in cartridge to us (see our website for address).
Starling implements a nude low-mass Microridge stylus, a boron cantilever and a carefully selected damper. Sumiko chose the Microridge stylus for its even-handed approach to detail retrieval, avoiding harsh and analytical tendencies. The boron cantilever is both low in mass and incredibly sturdy. It tediously conveys the finest movement of the stylus to the cross-coil. The coil is seated in a unique damper that provides excellent resonance control and enables sweeter high frequency extension. The highly efficient magnetic circuit uses only the purest metals, thoughtfully positioned for minimal loss and distortion. The generator is secured to a PEEK mounting plate with the highest degree of mechanical stability. The mounting plate is then secured to our stiff alloy headblock, the assembly of which provides the perfect conduit through which uncontrolled resonance exits the cartridge to be dissipated harmlessly down the tonearm.
Sumiko's Reference Series Open-Body MCs
Sumiko's Reference Series open-architecture cartridges minimize the potential for coloration and distortion due to energy buildup that is sometimes propagated by the conventional cartridge body. Internal resonance is damped within the generator while remaining resonance travels up through the bonded mounting plate & headblock, then down the tonearm where it is dissipated harmlessly. The PEEK generator mounting plate provides the utmost stability and energy transfer while the stiff alloy headblock is the conduit through which that energy exits the cartridge. The generator itself minimizes distortion and losses through the implementation of pure metals and intelligent orientation of the same. The performance of this sophisticated generator is bolstered by Sumiko's multi-faceted approach to resonance control, precipitating to clean, musical, and highly listenable sonics.
Trade In or Trade Up
As user-replaceable styli are not on an option for MC phono cartridges, remember that any of Sumiko's MCs, functional or otherwise, can be returned to your dealer in a re-tip exchange — a discount on a new cartridge of equal or greater value — sparing you expense when your stylus heads south. *Note: The trade-in program is valid for US customers only.
Hand-Crafted in Japan
Each Sumiko phono cartridge is hand-assembled by the world-class cartridge makers at Excel Sound in Yokohama, Japan – a relationship they've proudly maintained for nearly forty years. They use only the finest materials that combine to deliver performance that has enlightened generations of listeners. Each design is thoroughly auditioned until it meets Sumiko's stringent standards for sound. Production is then executed by expert craftsmen with a collective eye for precision & quality. The result is a family of cartridges that render emotion through tonally balanced, refined and fatigueless analog reproduction.
The Reference Starling slapped me in the face. While I know that Sumiko has been in the cartridge business forever, and obviously should know by now how to make a good cartridge, I hadn't expected this level of performance for a (pretty much) affordable price. If you're looking for a new phono cartridge and you're dithering by $1000 to either side of the Starling's $1899 price, I think you owe it to yourself to consider either raising your budget to get into a true high-end moving-coil, or lowering it to save some bucks. Highly recommended.
…the Sumiko Starling played my records with a dark, nanodetailed refinement that elucidated whatever sophistications the recordings and the music had to offer.
…it is very crisp and detailed but it has a poise, polish and panache that is alluringly addictive.
The Reference Starling slapped me in the face. While I know that Sumiko has been in the cartridge business forever, and obviously should know by now how to make a good cartridge, I hadn't expected this level of performance
Technical Specifications
| Mass & Dimension | 7.4g (see tech drawing) |
|---|---|
| Stylus | Nude Low-Mass Microridge (2.5 x 75µm) |
| Cantilever | ⌀0.28mm Boron |
| Coils | High-Purity Copper |
| Internal Impedance | 28Ω (1kHz) |
| Load Impedance | >100Ω (determine by ear) |
| Frequency Response | 12Hz – 50kHz |
| Output | 0.5mV (3.54cm/sec, 1kHz) |
| Channel Separation | 30dB (1kHz) |
| Channel Balance | <0.5dB (1kHz) |
| Compliance | 12×10-6cm/dyn (100Hz) |
| Capacitance | 100pF – 200pF |
| Vertical Tracking Angle | 20° |
| Tracking Force Range | 1.8g – 2.2g |
| Recommended Tracking Force | 2.0g |
| Replacement Stylus Unit | Re-Tip Exchange |
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