Login/My Account
Contact Us Nagaoka MP-500 (MP500) phono cartridge
NAGAOKAMP500
"Its combination of broad and neutral frequency response, exceptional high-frequency detail,
and its way with both wide dynamics and the subtle details of musicianship lead to great music making.
A very very easy and very very enthusiastic recommendation." 1
"First time installation on a Rega Planar 3 was successful. Had to use a 2mm shim.
Still breaking in the cartridge but so far sounds great compared to the Exact it
is replacing. Love this cart and will be getting a replacement stylus soon."
- Product Info
NAGAOKA MP500 MP 500 MP-500 PHONO CARTRIDGE
The Nagaoka MP-500 phono cartridge offers the highest musical and creative expression of the new MP series. It expertly extracts and reproduces with vivid, colorful and dimensional clarity what others miss. Experience the image solidity, detail resolution, and bass extension that made the Nagaoka MP-500 one of Stereophile's Editors' Top Picks For The Industry's Best Products.2
The Nagaoka MP-500 features an exclusive super-rigid body for ultra low resonance and superlative fidelity with a superfine polished line contact diamond stylus. Its characteristics include a powerful samarium cobalt magnet, low-mass high-strength boron cantilever, carbon fiber reinforced plastic shoe and anti-ferro magnetic perm alloy shield casing.
Nagaoka MP-500 Phono Cartridge Specifications
- Type: Moving magnet
- Cantilever: High-strength boron
- Stylus type: Superfine line contact diamond
- Output voltage @ 1kHz,5cm/sec: 3mV
- Frequency response: 20Hz-25kHz
- Channel balance @ 1kHz: > 1dB
- Channel separation @ 1kHz: > 27dB
- Recommended loading: 47k ohms
- Dynamic compliance: 8.5 x 10-6 cm/dyne
- Tracking force range: 1.3 - 1.8 g
- Weight: 8 g
- Break-in period: 30 hours
- Stylus replacement: Nagaoka JN-P500Break-in time: about 20 hours and after 50 hours it really sings
Note: Nagaoka created the MP cartridges for use with their specified stylus. Thus using a MP200 stylus (JNP200) with a MP150 cartridge may upgrade its sound quality (SQ) BUT will not turn it into a MP200 cartridge. Same for the MP100 and MP110, MP300 and MP500.
_______________________________________
Footnote 1: Paul Shabady, Nagaoka MP500 Phono Cartridge, Stereo Times, May, 2018.
Footnote 2: Michael Fremer et al, "Recommended Components: Editors' Top Picks For The Industry's Best Products," Stereophile, Vol.34 No.4 (April 2011): 66.
 phono cartridge at LP Gear){kind=link}