A Flagship Mono Cartridge from Miyajima Lab

by Roy Gregory | August 20, 2019

oriyuki Miyajima, founder of Miyajima Lab, has developed quite a reputation for his exotic, wood-bodied moving-coil cartridges -- especially the mono models. While experience with the latest Destiny stereo design produced impressive (and arguably more modern-sounding) results on my recent visit to Hong Kong, many fans of the brand will be more excited by the arrival of a new flagship to sit above the established Zero Mono in the monaural line.

The Infinity Mono ($3350) marks a further step along the ultra-traditional, high-mass, low-compliance path when it comes to mono replay. While one school of thought uses lateral-tracing versions of modern cartridge designs like the Lyras, with high-tech bodies, cantilevers and stylus profiles, another cleaves to vintage solutions, using reconditioned turntables and original, high-mass tonearms for replaying mono LPs. It’s this latter group who so admire Miyajima’s traditional approach, materials and sound. But even by the standards of the Japanese iconoclasts, the Infinity Mono represents a substantial step beyond. At 24mm wide and 28mm deep (nearly an inch in width more than an inch in depth) the cartridge weighs in at 14.8 grams and has an output of 0.3mV. Compliance is 8cu with an internal impedance of 6 ohms and a recommended tracking force of 3.5 grams. That makes the Infinity Mono ideal for use in the likes of original Fidelity Research or Ortofon tonearms, or more modern designs such as the Ikeda.

Although the Infinity Mono uses a resolutely traditional conical tip, that stylus is available in two different sizes: 1.0 mil to suit mono records cut with a mono cutting head (most, but not all, mono discs pressed pre-1967) and 0.7 mil to suit those discs cut with a modified stereo head (post 1967 and virtually all modern mono reissues). For those who take collecting and replaying mono LPs seriously, such attention to detail will be welcome indeed.