Empire 2000Z

Name: Empire 2000Z
Brand: Empire

The Empire 2000Z is a phono cartridge, and its reputation rests almost entirely on period reviews. Little else about it has survived in the archive. No production dates, original price or official spec sheet are documented. The record does show that several U.S. audio magazines tested it in 1976-77 and came away impressed by its neutrality and unusually flat response.

High Fidelity (July 1977, p.64) called it "the real thing" - a neutral cartridge that wasn't supposed to sound bright or warm. It just tracked. The magazine measured its frequency response as among the smoothest it had ever recorded for a stereo cartridge, with extremely smooth response across the audible range even at light tracking force.

An earlier High Fidelity lab report (December 1976, p.56) made the same point. The 2000Z was unusually reticent about revealing its intrinsic character - neither bright, nor warm, nor artificially detailed. CBS Labs data published there showed it negotiated the sweep-tone torture test at a vertical tracking force of just 0.6 grams, and tracked high-amplitude steady-state material well at a 1-gram VTF. Maximum tracking levels at 1.0 gram VTF, re RIAA 0 VU, were measured at:

300 Hz: > +12 dB
1 kHz: +18 dB
10–20 kHz: > −5 dB

HiFI-Stereo (September 1976, p.6) published its own measured curves using the CBS 100 test record sweeping 20-20,000 Hz at 1 gram VTF, 300 pF system capacitance, and the standard 47 kΩ load. The left and right channel response curves were shown essentially flat. The spread between the upper and lower curves indicates channel separation.

That's the extent of what's solidly documented. If the box, manual, or an original spec sheet surfaces, this page will grow.