StereoNET: HANA SL Phono Cartridge Product Review

FEBRUARY 2017

HANA SL MOVING COIL PHONO CARTRIDGE REVIEW / HANA / SL MOVING COIL PHONO CARTRIDGE

HANA

SL MOVING COIL PHONO CARTRIDGE Distributor: Audio Magic $895 RRP

Ask a bookkeeper to assess the

profit and loss approach to audio

worth of Hana’s SL MC cartridge

and maybe even existence over

and the reply could please or

the centuries.

pee you off.

It all depends on your disposition.

Bottle-half-empty type of guys or gals will be chuffed by the ledger keeper’s report. But if you’re a

Take Russian novelist, Dostoevsky, who for one of his novels created a character who spent his life proving the existence of God using maths.

bottle-half-full chappie or missy,

Everything to them makes perfect

your response is likely to include

sense ‘’…measured in dollars

a large dollop of consternation

and cents, pounds shillings and

and righteous anger. And

pence,’’ as Roger Waters opines

justifiably so.

in the album, Amused to Death.

Because whatever way you slice

What else would you expect from

and dice it, these Lords Of The

these Ebenezer Scrooge’s of the

Abacus will delight in telling you

human spirit?

the Hana SL will cost you about 50 cents per hour each time you play one of your cherished LPs. The figure is premised on the cost of the Hana that is $895, and the 2000 hours average life expectancy of a high-quality diamond stylus, before it goes to God.

Not much, if my experience with one “music lover” counts for anything. And they wouldn’t be Hana buyers.

Way back when I worked at an audio store, before making the plunge in and out of teaching and then settling on a career in the print media, an older

Creatives have debated the

gentleman bought his speakers

Ledger Keepers’ delight in a

in to be repaired.

“You’ve got to love the simplicity, elegance and prices” The customer was an uber-

refurbishing audio gear. The point

cartridges over the decades,

rich retired surgeon unhappy

is to be rational about pricing and

is questionable.

with his speakers. They lacked

not obsess about it.

treble, he told me. Removing the grills showed one of the pair was missing a tweeter. When an upgrade to a pair of $495 Mordaunt-Short speakers was suggested, he baulked.

As to this particular moving coil

making cartridges for other

cartridge, it’s built by Japanese

brands for nearly seventy years.

brand Excel and marketed

Closer to home, some may recall

under the Hana brand. All of

the original Garrott cartridge

which raises some interesting

which I think was from Excel’s

questions about the state of

ES70 series.

He didn’t buy new speakers. But

cartridge manufacturing since oh,

I hoped he was smart enough to

about 1984 when CD made its

avoid returning to the city store

pompous entrance into the world

at the top end of Melbourne that

of audio and music.

had built him a pair of speakers with a single tweeter. The irony of measuring musical pleasure with dollars and cents still rankles to this day.

killer. Some new old stock of search hard and smart, and well

and for some illustrious brands,

worth buying ‘cos it’s much more

a terminal decline. Did Audio

than a trip down memory lane.

Technica for example, allow its and builders to shuffle off into a

women of numbers, there is a

Tokyo sunset? And if they did,

case to be made for the price

what relationships do these

of owning a Hana or a similarly

skilled craftsmen and women

priced cartridge.

have vis-à-vis Audio Technica’s current batch of cartridges?

Do Re Mi to get you up close and

An educated guess suggests

personal, as well as comfortable

it’s, ‘’zip”.

in your living room.

a bit of a moving magnet giant

manufacturing went into a steep

used by these hollow men and

any orchestra, group or performer

time, but as a Garrotised ES70,

the ES70 is still available if you

experienced cartridge designers

to the recorded music version of

An underrated cartridge at the

From that date, cartridge

Even in the cost-cutting formula

Especially when it costs very little

Be that as it is, Excel has been

Time does move on. So it’s hardly a surprise given the ongoing vinyl revival, that Excel is making and marketing its own select cartridge range. Within this four-model range, the Hana SL is a bit of a standout.

You’ve got to love the simplicity, elegance and prices the range.

There’s nothing confusing about

Most cartridge brands laid off

a choice between the low output

their skilled workers and closed

Hana SL or its high output

up shop long ago. The brands

version called the SH. Or, the

If it costs a few cents an album to

that continued to ply their trade

cheaper EL low output, which

revel in the sheer hedonistic joy of

include Grado, Ortofon, Denon,

comes in a high output model,

your favourite music in the comfort

Stanton, Shure, Excel and

called the EH.

of your own listening space, give

perhaps a hand full of others. But

me more Hanas, I’d say.

to what degree these survivors

Of course no one should ignore the cost of buying, repairing or

retained all the accumulated experience of manufacturing

Or the pricing which is $895 for SL and SH models and just $590 for the EH or EL.

Specs for the exact people The Hana SL carries a classy Shibata Nude

But frankly I don’t give a toss. But I very much

Diamond stylus on the end of an aluminum

care about cantilever material when the time

cantilever. Say what you will about boron,

arrives to pay big bucks to have it retipped or

diamond, or other exotic cantilevers, but

replaced. And as to the cost of retipping and

approached rationally rather than obsessively,

refurbishing cartridges universally these days,

humble aluminum is pleasing for a couple of

it’s fair to say it’s expensive.

reasons to do with sound and cost.

It’s almost as if these talented craftsmen

Used on the end of a solid cartridge design,

have formed an unofficial cabal. The truth is

the resonance of an aluminum cantilever

cartridge refurbishment is a painstaking, highly

fitted with a quality diamond stylus is frankly

skilled craft and more importantly, it’s labour

pleasingly musical. Make of that what you will.

intensive. Hence the high cost of the process.

But as Ken Kessler defending his addiction to valve amplifiers once said after someone helpfully pointed out he was listening to distortion, “If it’s distortion, then give me more…’’.

I understand what the boron cantilever on my Garrottised, very early Sugano period Koetsu Rosewood Signature contributes to its sound in the way of greater neutrality, transparency, and detail.

The alternative, the cartridge trade-in scheme offered by some brands makes even less sense. Why so? Because the scheme operates by way of trade-in prices that are usually meagre rather than generous. Some consider the whole notion insulting.

Personally, caught between two unaffordable options, I typically chose refurbishment rather than trading-in a cartridge I’ve grown to love and cherish through habitual use.

“a quality diamond stylus is frankly pleasingly musical”

This assumes Father Time hasn’t hardened

frequency response is said to be 15-

the dampening rubber suspension used in

32,000Hz.

Moving Coils.

Suggested impedance is 30Ω at 1KHz and a

Brian Garrott used to lubricate weathered

load Impedance of 400Ω is recommended.

rubber suspensions by applying a jot of arm

Figures that turned out to be spot on in use

dampening silicon using a match honed with

although the Hana SL sounded mighty fine

a razor blade to a point. A process I watched

at 300 Ohms in the context of the review

him accomplish with awe many times when

system. With an overall weight of 5 grams the

they were living near Ballarat in Victoria.

Hana SL is a medium compliance cartridge

Either way, if you buy a Hana SL the aluminum cantilever will be cheaper to retip/ replace, and it contributes to an ear-pleasing, musical sound.

Your money also buys a cartridge finished with a high quality nude natural diamond Shibata-stylus. Under a microscope, it’s a thing of beauty and mounted without a hint of excess adhesive.

An output of 0.5MV at 1KHz qualifies the Hana SL as a low output model requiring a step-up. Output balance is 1.5dB at 1KHz and recommended tracking force is 2grams.

Channel separation is 25dB at 1KHz and

that will perform well in a huge number of affordable tonearms, and excel bolted to the more expensive models.

Our review sample Hana was used at the end of a Rega RB300 before the bulk of the review was completed with an SME V tonearm. The sound was highly detailed on the Rega arm but even more assured and accomplished via the SME V.

The Sound The Hana was installed in our resident SME

concepts. And while the Eroica has soul,

20/2 turntable and the SME V tonearm. The

the Hana has composure in spades a quality

rest of the system comprised the never less

that will take you further and deeper into

than excellent sounding RCM Sensor 2 phono

your music.

stage, Elektra PNYX preamplifier and matching Elektra Reference HD amplifier driving a pair of Wilson Audio Series 1 Sasha speakers.

Playing Dylan’s dirge-like track ‘It’s Not Dark Yet’ from his Time Out Of Mind album amply showed the Eroica’s ability to entertain and

Goldring’s Eroica low output moving coil

the Hana’s manner of privileging of informing

priced at $899 provided a handy comparative

but letting the music provide the spark

cartridge to the $895 Hana. The two

of entertainment.

cartridges are very different and exhibit two opposing types of personalities.

This track features insistent and repetitive guitar chords underpinned by insistent and

The Hana is the more even tempered of

repetitive bass. It has all the character of a

the pair, with an audibly flatter frequency

funeral march and the title leaves no one in

response, loads of transparency and plenty of

any doubt that Dylan is exploring the coming

overt detail if lacking some of the subliminal

darkness. You have to wonder if his prophetic

detail that’s a characteristic of much dearer,

artistic vision envisioned the coming of the

more credentialed cartridges of the calibre of

Trump thugs well before these gangsters were

Ortofon’s Quintet Black.

primed to take office.

The Eroica had its own hand to play. Whilst it

Whatever the case, the Eroica plumbed the

wasn’t as detailed and had a slight lift in the

darkness of this melancholic track, but the

upper treble, it was dynamically more alert

Hana showed you how the darkness was

and its personality was vibrant where the

musically created.

Hana’s was more composed. As the review proceeded it was clear the Eroica’s character was part of the musical presentation and no less enjoyable for that.

And speaking of albums exploring themes well before their times, The Who’s Quadraphenia is again finding favour with music lovers and those who haven’t failed to notice that

But with the Hana, one got the sense that it

Western youths are restless and on the move

allowed the music to provide the excitement

mainly for worse rather than better.

and involvement. Leading to the notion that the Eroica is a perfect foil for systems with a laid-back character, and the Hana exhibiting all the traits that would suit systems that are intrinsically dynamic.

It’s fair to say the Eroica is a very British sounding cartridge with a lift in the treble and a real-life midrange supported by decent if underwhelming but informative bass, underpinned by exquisite timing.

The Hana’s sound falls into the best of the Japanese approach to audio with its abundance of detail, balanced frequency response, loads of transparency and even temperament ensuring a cartridge for long, non-fatiguing listening sessions.

The Hana takes you further into the inner structure of the music. It’s both informative and neutral in the best sense of these audio

The album’s eponymous tack, ‘Love Rein O’er Me’ has a power and majesty carried by soaring guitar riffs, unsettling percussion and powerful, poetic lyrics presented by gut wrenching vocals.

The Hana, with the supporting cast of the Elektra pre/power combination effortlessly driving the Wilson Sasha, yielded a huge soundstage with wall-to-wall lateral imaging and commendable back-to-front depth.

The Eroica’s soundstage was smaller laterally but by comparison it had cavernous depth.

And again, the sense was that the Eroica was adding its character to the unfolding musical drama, while the Hana retreated allowing the music to shape and move the emotions.

Female vocals are nearly always a hurdle for inferior cartridges because they fail to

penetrate the heart of the lyrics, lingering

The Hana and Eroica’s are mid-priced,

instead on the shallow periphery of the

mid-level cartridges and if the Linn gospel is

singer’s intonation and phrasing.

correct, and I think it is, you can mount either

The Hana swept into the spiritual centre of the track ‘My Best To You’ from Joni Mitchell’s

in a top-ranking arm the caliber of the SME V and hear them working to their full potential.

album, Taming The Tiger. Each change of

Of course, this route also highlights any sonic

phrase accompanied by dynamic micro and

weakness. Which is what happened playing

macro shifts in Mitchell’s voice, were preserved

the track ‘Let The Mystery Be’ from the Iris

and reproduced with ease.

Dement album, Infamous Angel.

A major part of the track’s dramatic impact

While it’s musically an unsophisticated country

derives from larger than life, closely miked

music track, ‘Let The Mystery Be’ is superbly

guitars that flank, as it were, Mitchell’s

recorded and Dement’s backing group’s

vocals. The track is a generous paean to old

playing is as tight as the proverbial drum.

friendships and has an alluring pathos that invites several playings at the one sitting. The music will flow over you like a warm summer breeze, if the system it’s played on is alluring by dint of its tonal veracity.

The Hana, compared to the Koetsu Rosewood playing back the same track lacked this classic and much more expensive cartridge’s, tonal weight, and frequency extension. The Eroica exhibited the same

But borrowing a phrase from the Linn Hymn

foibles adding a slight coarsening to Dement’s

book, the sonic character of any system

occasionally abrasive and nasal vocals.

begins at the source, in this case the turntable, arm, and cartridge. I also agree with Linn’s ideology that you can’t plonk an expensive cartridge on a budget tonearm and turntable and hope to hear the best that cartridge has to offer.

But with both the Eroica and Hana mounted on the Rega RB300 tonearm installed on a MK2 Gyrodec, this lack of frequency extension passed unnoticed though the Eroica’s slight treble lift remained.

“solidly built and has a sonic performance that is smooth, highly detailed and assured”

Adding it all up At 50 cents an hour of playtime, the

The Hana and cartridges priced to about

Hana cartridge provides a sophisticated

$2200 do open a sonic window into the

performance and yields much more than

performance, but you can’t amble through it.

a taste of what’s on offer from much more

All you can do is lean in and enjoy the music.

expensive moving coils.

But you’ll still remain on the outside.

What your money buys is a mid-priced, mid-

The difference between the sliding doors or

level Japanese cartridge that’s solidly built

a window is down to the incrementals the

and has a sonic performance that is smooth,

very best cartridges exploit. What appears

highly detailed and assured.

as slightly more detail, air, neutrality, and

Like the better Japanese moving coils, the Hana has impeccable manners and if used with complimentary equipment will rarely

soundstage solidity from a top-flight cartridge mounted on a mid to upper-mid fi turntable is misleading.

offend. As stated previously, the Hana allows

Use the same cartridge with the best

the music to provide the excitement and this

turntables and tonearms and those

prized quality invites long, listening sessions.

incremental gains become monumentally

Measured against cartridges twice the price, the Hana doesn’t plumb the frequency extremes and lacks the ability to give the ultra-discerning buyer all the subliminal detail carried by well-recorded music albums.

audible. So much so you cease thinking about more air, better imaging, transparency or working dynamic response for a simple reason: the reproduction becomes so life-like, so real mundane audio concepts no longer matter because they can’t describe a totally,

What it does give is a taste of what the elite

sensual immersive experience that envelopes

cartridges offer thanks to its even frequency

both the body and the mind.

response, lucid tonal balance, commendable soundstage, and great level of transparency.

But all things being equal, the Hana is the perfect candidate for anyone with a mid to

But there is a caveat: install a Pagani-class

upper mid level turntable and arm combination

cartridge like a Koetsu Agate, Kiseki Purple

who is on the hunt for a value-for-money

Heart or a top end Lyra on an elite tonearm

moving coil cartridge.

mounted on heavyweight turntables such as the Air Force 1, and that fabled sonic window disappears replaced by gigantic panoramic sliding doors. The music and performers are all there with nothing between you and the music.

With a performance close enough to challenge cartridges priced to $1500, the Hana SL punches well above its weight division and represents good value for money, and as such comes warmly recommended.

SPECIFICATIONS

Model No.

Channel separation

// HANA-SH or HANA-SL

// 25dB/1KHz

Stylus

Frequency response

// Shibata Nude Diamond

// 15-32,000Hz

Cantilever

Impedance

// Aluminium

// 130Ω/1KHz (SH) or 30Ω/1KHz (SL)

Output level

Suggested load Impedance

// 2mv/1kHz (SH) or 0.5mv/1KHz (SL)

// 47KΩ (SH) or >400Ω (SL)

Output balance

Cartridge weight

// <1.5dB/1KHZ

// 5g

Vertical Tracking force

Body Colour

// 2g

// Black

Trackability // 60μm/2g

WORDS: Peter Familari