State of the Art MC Phono cartridge from Kuzma!

The Kuzma CAR 70 is Kuzma’s flagship low‑output moving‑coil cartridge, designed as a no‑compromise transducer focused on ultra‑low resonance, precision tracking, and maximum retrieval of musical detail.

Design and construction

At the heart of the CAR 70 is a one‑piece diamond cantilever with an integrated diamond stylus tip, machined from a single crystal to eliminate glued joints, increase rigidity, and improve internal damping. This diamond cantilever is encased in a rigid sapphire tube that supports the coil plate, creating a highly stable, low‑loss mechanical structure intended to minimize energy storage and resonances.

The body uses a precisely machined metal structure with a 17 g mass, giving the cartridge a solid interface to the tonearm and helping control vibrational behavior at the generator. Kuzma specifies 4N silver coil wire for the moving‑coil generator, chosen to maximize conductivity and preserve low‑level detail and transient definition.

Stylus, generator and specs

The CAR 70 employs a Micro Ridge stylus profile, allowing extremely fine groove contact for high resolution, low distortion, and excellent tracking across the record surface. It is a low‑output MC design with an output of 0.3 mV at 3.54 cm/s, an internal impedance of 6 Ω, and a recommended load of more than 100 Ω, making it suitable for high‑quality MC phono stages or step‑up transformers with appropriate gain and loading.

Key specifications include a frequency response of 10 Hz to 45 kHz, channel balance better than 1 dB at 1 kHz, channel separation greater than 30 dB at 1 kHz, recommended tracking force of 2.1 g, compliance of 10 × 10⁻⁶ cm/dyne, trackability exceeding 70 μm, and a cartridge weight of 17 g. Together, these parameters position the CAR 70 as a reference‑grade cartridge aimed at systems where absolute resolution, imaging precision, and tonal neutrality are priorities.