IQ III
Photography by Carlo Marengo & Unknown
Reviews
Available finishes
Black
Details
The IQ III features a rigid yet lightweight body made from Pocon, which is equipped with integral threaded inserts for easy installation in the tonearm head shell. This mounting system greatly improves mechanical coupling between the cartridge body and head shell in comparison to the traditional nut and bolt fixing.
The internal coils are made from extremely fine copper wire, and the IQ III uses the same cantilever material and diamond found in the legendary Audio Note IO I moving coil cartridge. Made from titanium tube rather than aluminium, the cantilever is unique, and in combination with the Audio Note Type 1 stylus, offers a level of performance that was often thought impossible to achieve with a moving-magnet design.
The complete stylus assembly is removable, making replacement or upgrade a very simple and cost effective process. In fact, all of the IQ stylus assemblies are interchangeable, meaning that you could start with an IQ-I, and eventually replace the stylus assembly with the vastly superior version used in the IQ-III.
It has been designed to be used with a moving magnet compatible phono stage, with an input impedance of 47K Ohms. Total capacitance in parallel (including arm lead and amplifier capacitance) should not exceed 200pF. If other values of load resistance and capacitance are used, the frequency response of the cartridge may depart from the specified values.
Technical Specifications
LOAD RESISTANCE
LOAD CAPACITANCE
INTERNAL INDUCTANCE
INTERNAL RESISTANCE
FREQUENCY RESPONSE
WEIGHT
FIXING CENTRES
TRACKING FORCE / WEIGHT
CHANNEL BALANCE
CHANNEL SEPARATION
SENSITIVITY
STATIC COMPLIANCE
EQUIVALENT TIP MASS
VERTICAL TRACKING ANGLE
NOTE
47K Ohms
150 - 200 pF
570mH
660 Ohms
20Hz to 20KHz, +/- 2dB
6.3g
12.7mm / 0.5"
1.5g - 2.5g (1.75g nominal)
2dB @ 1KHz
25dB @ 1KHz
6.5mV +/- 1.5dB (1KHz @ 5cm/sec)
(N lateral) 24mm / (N vertical) 16mm
0.45mg
24 degrees
Due to Audio Note (UK)'s ongoing research and development program, specifications are subject to change without notice.