Moving Magnet Cartridges

Moving magnet cartridges (MM) are favored by audiophiles for their warm sound, durability, and compatibility with standard phono inputs. But what is a moving magnet cartridge? Based on Faraday's Law of electromagnetic induction, an MM cartridge features a small magnet suspended near coils with an iron core. As the stylus tracks the grooves of a vinyl record, a cantilever transfers these vibrations to the magnet, creating a changing magnetic field. This, in turn, induces an electromotive force (e.m.f.) in the coils, generating a tiny electrical signal that reproduces the recorded sound.

Connected to a turntable and a phono amplifier, which boosts the cartridge’s low voltage output (around 5 mV), MM cartridges easily integrate with many standard amplifiers that have a 47 kΩ phono input, delivering rich audio with minimal effort. For amplifiers without a built-in phono input, affordable external phono preamps are available