EMT JSD VM Cartridge

The JSD VM is a reference stereo cartridge with a feature no other cartridge in current production offers: a variable-mass body. The listener can tune the cartridge's resonance behaviour to the tonearm — and to personal preference — in the room, without a workbench trip or a re-cartridging.

The mechanism is three interchangeable inlay bolts, each machined from a different material. Fitted in turn, each bolt shifts the cartridge's mass distribution and its interaction with the tonearm — a small change on paper, an audible one at the seat. It gives the listener a level of control over the front-end resonance that has historically belonged to the cartridge-alignment specialist, not the owner.

Underneath the tunable body, the JSD VM is the most current EMT generator among the Reference-tier products. The stylus is an MR HP diamond — multi-radius, high-polish. The cantilever is sapphire — the same single-material discipline EMT has held to when maximum stiffness at minimum mass is the goal. The coil is pure 4N copper. The magnet is AlNiCo, gold-plated. The body — aluminium, in the variable-mass configuration — ships in the range of 10 to 12 grams depending on the inlay fitted.

Output is 1 mV at 5 cm/s. Coil impedance is 2 × 24 Ω per channel. Recommended load is 200 to 300 ohms. Tracking force is 2.4 grams. Compliance is 12 µm/mN.