difference between stereo cartridge and pick up

laotzu61

what, if any, is the difference between a cartridge and a pick-up with regard to the tonearm for a turntable? thanks.

DracoAmericanus

can you add a little bit more detail in your question? i have always thought of a pick-up as a device used on instruments and a cartridge being only on a turntable but i have not done pro audio in some time so i could be off on that. I would think the pickup on say an electric guitar is a coil of wire with a center core and detects the string movements via a magnetic field since the strings are steel in this case, a moving magnet cartridge on a turntable works basically the same way via a magnetic field. So in that sense they work the same way

leftwinger57

I also think they are the same thing,MC moving coil cartridge or MM. There is not to much where a tt is concerned when broken down. You have a base, motor, platter,tonearm, counter balance, headshell and cartrige. Depending on how expensive your tt is it's also going to have anti skate and cartridge gram weight adjustments and cue arm. I personally never heard it called a p/u but they perform the same function.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_cartridge

11tsteve

this wiki freely uses the term "pickup" and "pickup system" in referring both to early styli and the actual magnet systems in both styles of MM/MC cartridges. But it doesn't really clarify the question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph#Pickup_systems

DracoAmericanus

you guys would be horrified on the turn table i some times use, QLY55F from JVC yeah i know it's direct drive but what is worse is it was mint and roasted in a house fire back in 2006, the sides are charred the dustcover melted in but that protected the tone arm and the damn thing still works.