Apheta 3

The Apheta 3 is an undamped moving-coil cartridge with no tie wire and no foam damper. Its generator uses a neodymium magnet and a hand-wound coil on an iron micro cross, which is half the size of the one in the first-generation model. The lower moving mass is meant to help the stylus follow the groove.

The stylus is a fine line nude diamond profile mounted through 90 degrees, the same technique used on the Aphelion 2 reference cartridge. The body is machined from a single piece of anodised aluminium, and a smoked rigid cover protects the fine internal wires while the cartridge is being fitted.

It tracks at 1.9 to 2.0 g and has a nominal output of 350 μV, so it needs a moving-coil input or phono stage. The recommended load is 100 Ω and 1000 pF, with high gain selected on adjustable stages. It can be supplied factory fitted to the Planar 8 and Planar 10 turntables.