ESL Electro Sonic Laboratories Electro - Sonic " Concert " Mono Cartridge Vintage
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:24225500 | Brand: ESL |
| Type: Cartridge |
ESL Electro Sonic Laboratories Electro-Sonic "Concert" Mono Phono Cartridge Vintage.
Condition is Used.
Shipped with USPS Priority Mail
Obviously I am going to be pretty careful about mailing this off to someone. You need to have a lot of positive feedback and a verified Paypal account/address. If you have any doubts about yourself, please contact me before you bid.
My father was an early audiophile. This cartridge was on an ESL arm on ...the plinth of a Rec-o-kut Rondine Jr. L34. (By the way - if anyone knows where I can get a counterweight for an ESL tonearm, I would thank them.) The preamplifier was, I believe, an Eico, but I know for certain the amplifier was a Dynakit which he had modified with a tube balancer and an "upgraded" transformer. By the time I was a toddler that was feeding an AR-1w with a Janszen dual panel electrostatic array.
He may have been "early, " but he wasn't wealthy. There is 8mm movie film of me (I'm 60, now) conducting to a record played with this cartridge.
So then why, why, why would I be willing to part with this? Well...my father bought this and carried it around from 1954/1955 until he died in 2005. My mother then "stored" it until she passed away in 2016. I have had my own brush with mortality and I can see that it would just be another "thing" for my children to have to deal-with when I die. I fear how they will "deal" with it. I would much rather put it up for auction so that someone who values it will have it.
This "Concert" ESL cartridge is monaural, obviously.
From sales material I found available with an internet search:
""Perfection IN RECORD REPRODUCTION"
ESL CONCERT SERIES CARTRIDGE * For the audio connoisseur
The most advanced electronic technology and mechanical skills have created in the ESP Concert Series cartridge a magnificent instrument for the reproduction of sound. This superb cartridge, which is used for quality control by leading record manufacturers, can improve the finest music reproducing systems. It will fit any standard mounting arrangement.
Diamond: ESL-C1 (.001") or ESL3 (.0003") $39.59
16 to beyond 30, 000cps
Immeasurably small
6.8 x10-6 cm/dyne
.0001 grams
1.5 ohms
0.8 mv (1kc at 10cm/sec)"
I have no idea which diamond this is, or if the diamond is even still on the cantilever or if the cantilever is bent or damaged. I have no experience of this sort of cartridge and am afraid to make a judgement either way.
The Audio League of Pleasantville, N.Y. had some very nice things to say about it in 1955, "...by far the finest..."
The 1954 $39.59 price tag is about $378.20 in 2020 dollars! Maybe Dad had more money than he let-on.
Condition is Used.
Shipped with USPS Priority Mail
Obviously I am going to be pretty careful about mailing this off to someone. You need to have a lot of positive feedback and a verified Paypal account/address. If you have any doubts about yourself, please contact me before you bid.
My father was an early audiophile. This cartridge was on an ESL arm on ...the plinth of a Rec-o-kut Rondine Jr. L34. (By the way - if anyone knows where I can get a counterweight for an ESL tonearm, I would thank them.) The preamplifier was, I believe, an Eico, but I know for certain the amplifier was a Dynakit which he had modified with a tube balancer and an "upgraded" transformer. By the time I was a toddler that was feeding an AR-1w with a Janszen dual panel electrostatic array.
He may have been "early, " but he wasn't wealthy. There is 8mm movie film of me (I'm 60, now) conducting to a record played with this cartridge.
So then why, why, why would I be willing to part with this? Well...my father bought this and carried it around from 1954/1955 until he died in 2005. My mother then "stored" it until she passed away in 2016. I have had my own brush with mortality and I can see that it would just be another "thing" for my children to have to deal-with when I die. I fear how they will "deal" with it. I would much rather put it up for auction so that someone who values it will have it.
This "Concert" ESL cartridge is monaural, obviously.
From sales material I found available with an internet search:
""Perfection IN RECORD REPRODUCTION"
ESL CONCERT SERIES CARTRIDGE * For the audio connoisseur
The most advanced electronic technology and mechanical skills have created in the ESP Concert Series cartridge a magnificent instrument for the reproduction of sound. This superb cartridge, which is used for quality control by leading record manufacturers, can improve the finest music reproducing systems. It will fit any standard mounting arrangement.
Diamond: ESL-C1 (.001") or ESL3 (.0003") $39.59
16 to beyond 30, 000cps
Immeasurably small
6.8 x10-6 cm/dyne
.0001 grams
1.5 ohms
0.8 mv (1kc at 10cm/sec)"
I have no idea which diamond this is, or if the diamond is even still on the cantilever or if the cantilever is bent or damaged. I have no experience of this sort of cartridge and am afraid to make a judgement either way.
The Audio League of Pleasantville, N.Y. had some very nice things to say about it in 1955, "...by far the finest..."
The 1954 $39.59 price tag is about $378.20 in 2020 dollars! Maybe Dad had more money than he let-on.
