Transfiguration moving coil (MC) phono cartridges are hand-crafted in Japan by Immutable Music’s Seiji Yoshioka. Their design has always been guided by two firm principles: first, to extract the most musical detail from a record’s groove and second, to get out of the way. So when it’s said that a Transfiguration cartridge ‘lacks character’, it’s a compliment. Says Yoshioka, “The best audio components are those that simply don’t seem to exist – so good that they add nothing, subtract nothing.”

It’s precisely this quest that led Yoshioka to develop a limited edition of Transfiguration’s flagship Proteus cartridge: the new Proteus D. ‘D’ is for the diamond cantilever, which explains why this is a limited edition. “The production of a diamond cantilever is a unique challenge,” explains Yoshioka. “Of course it’s expensive, but more than that, to craft it requires an extremely highly skilled technician.” In most other respects, the design and specifications of the ‘D’ largely match those of the ‘standard’ Proteus.

Its patented yokeless double-ring-magnet design provides an accurate coil / magnet interface, in which the pure (99.9997%) 5N silver wire coils are positioned right at the focal point of the magnetic flux field. The Proteus’ design also features push-pull damping. Its multi-layered double dampers are made from a specifically-developed stabilising compound comprising different types of elastomer. Insensitive to temperature changes, the double dampers in the new limited edition Proteus D have been specially re-designed for the diamond cantilever. It has a sleek pitch-black body engraved with a ‘D’ for diamond.

Technical specifications: Transfiguration Proteus

Body Precision machined solid aluminium, resonance controlled

Cantilever 0.3mm solid diamond

Stylus Micro-ridge diamond, 2.5 x 75µm

Core & coils Ultra grade 3S-µ-metal square core with 5N silver coils

Magnet Neodymium, front & rear

Weight 7.8g

Electrical output voltage 0.2mV (3.54cm/s, 1kHz)

Internal impedance 1Ω

Frequency response 10Hz – 20kHz + 1.5dB; 20Hz – 40kHz +2dB

Channel separation > 30dB (200Hz – 1kHz)

Recommended tracking force 2g

Pricing and availability The limited edition Transfiguration Proteus D is available now, priced at £6,750 (incl. VAT)