FAQ

Q1. What does the initial DT/DST in the type designation of the TEDESKA cartridges stand for?

The type designations of TEDESKA mono cartridges start with DT, and the stereo cartridges with DST. DT is an abbreviation for "Dynamischer Tonabnehmer" in German, which is like "Dynamic pickup" in English. And the DST is "Dynamischer Stereo Tonabnehmer" in German, which implies "Dynamic stereo pickup" in English. The both are general terms for Moving Coil systems which have been used to describe the MC Systems in comparison to the MM or MI systems.

Q2. Are the TEDESKA cartridges in any relationship with the historic product such as Neumann DST?

TEDESKA products bear neither technical, nor conceptual similarity to any of the makes. 

Q3. TEDESKA product line-up 

TEDESKA cartridges are currently lined-up in 5 rows. Each line represents its own timbre and a line consists of three types of cartridges that are sharing the same construction design and the engineering methods. To develop this palette of sounds, we are giving various materials or geometry, also divers design and technics multiple tries. It is not uncommon, a couple of extraordinary technics or even specially blended or treated materials are inevitable. However, we are very reluctant to make such special peculiarities unnecessarily great, because we don't think the unique sound color of a system come from a unique material or technique by itself but rather it comes from the harmony of all components. We therefore disclose only three principal materials in each product information site as a guideline and recommend customers to experience our product before purchase.

Q1. Material Procurement: Where do you get your materials? 

As we have already indicated in our product descriptions, we put various valuable natural materials to use for our cartridge construction. In the following, we will try to answer the question  above particularly regarding organic elements of our cartridges.

The question may be simpler explained if we start with the investigation why we are using such materials; The birthplace of TEDESKA handcraft is a small luthier's workshop. Hence the materials, such as wood, bone, nacre, shellac were rather the circumstances, than choices, in which the initial idea was born. And today in turn, they are what can best be handled by us. Since we make our cartridges exclusively by hand, it is also an important criteria for us in the matter of material selection that the materials are supposed to be fully manageable for us without any use of a third party.

We have maintained strong professional relationships with a handful of luthiers  worldwide. We gladly acquire unusable sections or beautiful residues from them. We do not ask for pieces of threatened or endangered species. As every luthier to comply with all applicable laws and local regulations, we also are fully aware of our obligations. TEDESKA pays great care and uttermost attention to nature preservation.

Q2. Material Development: Why do you insist on making wooden cartridge cases?

Thankfully, I could become more and more convinced myself over time of the "ingredients" of my daily work. With respect to wood, since I only need very small pieces of wood, I can accomplish my work without being severely affected by their very nature. Instead, the pieces of wood that we are using, offer satisfying lightness and steadiness providing me with various options to form them. Needless to say, there are many materials that are lighter and harder than wood, but I haven’t yet found anything which is superior enough to induce me to dispense with the unique beauty of wood.   

Q3. 

Q1. What makes the TEDESKA mono cartridges special?

The original tracking principle of laterally cut mono records (before 1958) involves a stylus that traces the record groove by sideward movements during playback. In all TEDESKA mono cartridge models, the lateral movements of the stylus are converted into rotations by means of a vertical axis generator. Our mono cartridge models are moving coil designs which involve coils that vibrate in a magnetic field. According to the physical principle of electro-magnetic induction, the energy of motion is converted to electrical energy. To achieve a higher output voltage by increasing the magnetic field strength, the coils of most conventional MC cartridge designs are wound on magnetic cores with a high magnetic permeability that guide and concentrate the magnetic field lines.

However, the utilisation of magnetic core materials is accompanied by some disadvantages. The induced alternating voltage causes energy losses due to the occurrence of hysteresis effects in addition to eddy currents inside the core. As magnetic cores are considerably heavy due to their high density, they increase the total inertia of the generator’s moving parts. The accelerations, that are created during tracking of the groove, result in inertia forces that act against the movement of the stylus and thus influence a precise tracking. The level of these forces depend on the inertia and on the accelerations itself that increase with the frequency. Finally, all these mentioned factors can have a negative impact on the playback.

The cartridges of TEDESKA "EINS" as well as "QUEMPAS" line are equipped with coils without any magnetic core. Instead, they are wound on a lightweight nonmagnetic insulator. These so-called air cored coils thus circumvent the negative aspects that are present at magnetic cores. In addition with the effective utilisation of modern materials, the omission of magnetic cores leads to a lightweight design of all generator's moving parts which reduces the mentioned inertia forces significantly. The result are fast and balanced mono cartridges with various favorable characteristics of sound. They show a wide range of dynamics with considerably low distortion which also becomes apparent for sounds of higher frequencies.

Q2. What is the specification of TEDESKA Stereo cartridges?

The TEDESKA stereo cartridges are categorized by their tonal color. To generate this color variety, We are experimenting with various techniques and materials. However, I am fully aware that extraordinary techniques or materials by itself will not produce extraordinary sound results. The distinctive tonal color of a cartridge is, I would say, a harmony of the choir of all components.

-The Solid-Core Line-

Though from time to time there are moments where a couple of technical modifications or material changes lead to an interesting result. For example, our latest development is the so-called "Solid core" generator which is used within the Solid-Core Line. In this generator, the rear part of the cantilever and the coil core, are made from one piece of solid material. 

The development started with the simple question how to reduce more partial oscillation. But the restructuring of the core itself was not the end of the task. With the change of the structural properties, the suspension wire, for example, could be fixed in another way; some more drops of adhesive could be saved. The precise manufacturing of this design and all other corresponding working processes are indeed very laborious. However, this design honored me with the stiffest possible connection between the core and the cantilever which results in an improved impulse behavior of the complete generator. Furthermore, with these models, as described for our mono cartridge models, we tried to reduce the undesirable aspects of magnetic core materials. We used a nonmagnetic and lightweight material that still reduces eddy currents, hysteresis effects and inertia forces. The result of this approach was interesting, even very interesting for me because it sounded clearly different from the past performances of our cartridges. Hearing the sound, the very first word that popped into my head was “Impressionist” I wonder what may people say about it. 

TEDESKA BERLIN GERMANY