Technics EPC-305MCII
A moving-coil cartridge that arrives pre-mounted in its own headshell, pairs with a dedicated step-up transformer, and — by one reviewer's measure — came within shouting distance of a laboratory reference costing far more.
Overview
The first thing a collector notices about the EPC-305MCII isn't the cartridge at all — it's the packaging decision. Technics shipped this top-of-the-line moving-coil already mounted in one of its own headshells, so the buyer's only setup chores are vertical tracking force and anti-skating. Anyone who has spent an afternoon swearing at tiny mounting screws and a protractor will recognize that as a small mercy. The cartridge itself is a coreless twin-ring coil design riding a tapered pure-boron cantilever, with a 0.2 × 0.7 mil block-diamond elliptical stylus and a recommended tracking range of 1.00 to 1.50 grams.
The numbers that matter for matching are modest and specific: 0.18 mV output at 1 kHz at 5 cm/S (or 0.5 mV at 10 cm/S, DIN 45-500), 25 ohms d.c. resistance and 25 ohms impedance at 1 kHz, compliance of 12 × 10⁻⁶ cm/dyne at 100 Hz, and a 20° vertical tracking angle. Weight is 6 grams, effective mass a scant 0.098 mg — the boron tube is only a few thousandths of an inch in diameter, and that lightness is the whole point. Rated frequency response is 10 Hz to approximately 10 kHz, ±0.5 dB, with the usable range stretching from 5 Hz to approximately 100 kHz. Channel separation is specified at greater than 25 dB at 1 kHz and greater than 20 dB at 10 kHz, balance within 1 dB.
Two design details deserve attention. The damper is Technics' TTDD — Temperature Defense Damper — which the company says is insensitive to temperature, and the specified temperature characteristic backs the claim: 5° C to 35° C within ±1 dB at 10 kHz. The magnet is high-energy samarium cobalt, which is also why the manual carries a genuine warning: keep screwdrivers and tweezers away from this thing, because ferromagnetic tools get yanked toward the magnet and can wreck the stylus-cantilever assembly. That is not boilerplate caution.
Because 0.18 mV is a whisper, Technics built a companion step-up transformer, the SH-305MC, using an amorphous toroidal core with laminations tens of microns thick. It offers three impedance ranges — a 3-ohm low setting for loads of 10 ohms or less, a 15-ohm medium for 10 to 20 ohms, and a 30-ohm high for 20 ohms or more — with frequency response of 3 Hz to approximately 300 kHz (15 Hz to approximately 100 kHz within ±0.2 dB), THD no more than 0.001% at 1 kHz, channel separation greater than 90 dB at 1 kHz, and balance within 0.2 dB. Four layers of special shielding are there to keep hum out, and the reviewer who tested it reported being unable to induce any hum components at all. The transformer is a substantial piece of kit at 9.9 lbs. (4.5 kg).
Reception & Use
Audio (August 1986, p.58) put the EPC-305MCII through a full laboratory session mounted in a Technics EPA-A250 tonearm on an SP-10MKII turntable, and the measured results ran ahead of the published spec in several places. Frequency response came in at +1.25, −0.0 dB from 40 Hz to 20 kHz; separation measured 41 dB at 1 kHz, 30 dB at 10 kHz, and 26.5 dB at 20 kHz. The 1-kHz square-wave response was called one of the flattest the reviewer had ever seen. D.c. resistance measured 21.3 ohms, optimum tracking force 1.25 grams with 1.5 grams of anti-skating, and crosstalk came in at −32 dB left and −30 dB right.
The same review noted an unusually low arm/cartridge lateral resonance of 7 kHz — and then reported hearing no mistracking or distortion at any point, which the reviewer credited to the tonearm's anti-resonance design. Trackability was strong across the board: 30 cm/S at 10.8 kHz pulsed, 31.5 cm/S mid-frequency, and 24 cm/S low-frequency, rising to 30 cm/S at the low band when tracking force went to 1.5 grams. The cartridge reportedly cleared every band on the Shure Era III and Era IV obstacle-course records and level 6 of the Era V disc. One practical note from the testing: the reviewer preferred the transformer's input impedance set at 15 ohms rather than the suggested 30.
In listening, Audio (August 1986, p.61) described sonic clarity and transparency with tight, well-defined bass, excellent transient response and imaging, and no coloration — and singled out clean reproduction of the Telarc "1812 Overture" cannon shots. The verdict was blunt: the combination compared very favorably to the reviewer's moving-coil reference, the Ortofon MC 2000 with an Electrocompaniet MC-2 pre-preamplifier, and anyone who couldn't afford that more expensive setup should give the Technics serious consideration as its near-equal. The cartridge was priced at $300 and the SH-305MC transformer at $350.
Living With One
Owners today are chasing a complete system, not just a cartridge: the EPC-305MCII wants the SH-305MC transformer (or another suitable step-up), and the cartridge's 25-ohm impedance and 0.18 mV output make matching that transformer a real decision rather than an afterthought. The pre-mounted headshell simplifies installation but ties the cartridge to Technics' mounting scheme, and the samarium cobalt magnet demands careful handling every time the stylus guard comes off. The printed frequency-response curve Technics included with each cartridge was, per the review, an actual measurement of that individual sample rather than a generic plot — a nice touch that collectors tend to keep with the box.