SETO-HORI ceramic cartridge is hand-crafted in Japan with precise expertise to achieve maximum fidelity. Covering the high output voltage MC cartridge engine with SETOMONO ceramic-ware, SETO-HORI suppresses excess vibration of the cartridge engine itself.

Specifications

• Output voltage:2mV

• Output balance:<1.5dB/1kHz

• Stylus force:2.0g

• Channel separation:25dB/1kHz

• Frequency response:15-32,000Hz

• Output impedance:130Ω/1kHz

• Boron cantilever

• Product net weight:11g

• Shielding case:Ceramic ware from Seto and Walnut tree.

For the best sound results, it is recommended to adjust the phono input impedance.

JICO, as a long-standing stylus manufacturer established 140 years ago, now launches the “SETO-HORI” Moving Coil (MC) type cartridge.

The SETO-HORI MC cartridge is made in the heart of the city of Seto, Japan. This city is famous for its pottery and ceramics. So much, that the generic word for ceramics in Japanese is “Setomono”.

For long it was thought that it was impossible to use ceramic for cartridges. Moulding (“Kata-Tori”) and firing (“Yaki-ire”) are key processes for ceramic ware. However, during the firing process, the ceramic shrinks in size a lot, and this is why it had been said that ceramic is not suitable for the cabinet of cartridges. For two years, the stylus experts of JICO cooperated with a laboratory in Seto and studied the shrinkage together with a pottery. The result is the SETO-HORI, an MC cartridge with a beautifully designed ceramic body, a splendid sound and a truly Japanese philosophy.

The unique pattern of the SETO-HORI cartridge resembles fishing nets of the fishermen in Japan. It follows the philosophy of capturing happiness by capturing beautiful sounds. The detailed pattern imitating the fishing nets is not painted with a brush, but drawn by the mould with a technique called “Hori-Tsuke”.

The Setomono ceramic cabinet suppresses excess vibration of the high output voltage MC cartridge.The SETO-HORI cartridge uses a special “micro ridge diamond tip”, which has a polyhedral shape. Being a line- contact stylus, its life time is at least three times longer compared to ordinary conical or elliptical shaped styli. The cantilever is made of Boron which has low mass and great stiffness. These characteristics allow the tip to trace the groove more accurately and reproduce low, mid-range and high-frequencies with true fidelity.

The cartridge body is mounted on a base made of natural walnut tree wood and is processed near Hamamatsu, the city famous for its world- class musical instrument factories. Combining traditional Japanese ceramic and natural wood gives an additional charm to the sound.