FAQ

All TEDESKA cartridges are moving coil systems. Each of them is fully handmade in our workshop in Berlin Germany. The bodies consist of shaped pieces of tone wood, camel or cattle bone, brass and nacre. Every readymade is finished using traditional French polish. Due to the special manufacturing processes and the use of various natural materials, each of the cartridges is outwardly unique.

Over the past decade, we have received many thoughtful questions about our cartridges, materials, and design philosophy. The following text is a short summary of the principles that have guided our work.

The Art of Sound
TEDESKA cartridges are defined by their unique tonal color. Achieving this richness of sound requires experimentation with materials, geometry, and techniques—but extraordinary components alone do not create extraordinary sound. The true tonal beauty emerges from the harmony of all components, working together within the cartridge, and in synergy with the entire playback system.

Our journey to a new Generator Design

Occasionally, small innovations can lead to remarkable results. One such example was the development of our “Solid-Core” generator, introduced with the Solid-Core Line. In this design, the rear section of the cantilever and the coil core are machined from a single, solid piece of material — an approach that strengthens the interaction of the moving system while providing exceptional structural stability.

The development began with a simple question: how could partial oscillations be reduced even further? Redesigning the core was the first step. Its new geometry allowed the suspension wire to be mounted more efficiently with minimal adhesive. The result was an extremely rigid connection between cantilever and core, delivering remarkable impulse response and precision.

At the same time, we explored the subtleties of magnetic system. By using a lightweight, non-ferromagnetic core that reduces eddy currents, hysteresis and inertial forces, the generator achieved a new level of clarity and immediacy. Listening to the first Solid-Core models, the word that came to mind was “Impressionist”—a fluid, expressive quality unlike anything our cartridges have produced before.

This phase of experimentation reflected our desire to explore new and sometimes unconventional solutions. Yet it also led us to a deeper realization: while such innovations pushed the boundaries of design, they are not the only path to high-fidelity sound reproduction — a philosophy that would later guide the development of the Microcosmos Line. 

Wooden Cartridge Bodies
Wood plays a special role in our work. We only require small pieces, allowing us to work with them without being overly constrained by their natural idiosyncrasies. These pieces offer an ideal combination of lightness and stability, giving us countless possibilities for shaping. While many materials are harder or lighter than wood, none have yet matched the unique warmth, elegance, and character that only wood can provide. In every TEDESKA, wood is not just a cover—it is an element that also shapes the sound.

The Tedeska Eye – The Nacre Signature 

The signature of the Tedeska cartridges, the Tedeska Eye, draws its inspiration from the frog of a violin bow and is crafted using the same materials and traditional techniques. This symbol existed even before Tedeska products were introduced to the world and therefore represents the roots of the brand. It also reflects the philosophy: to offer customers an object with the character, craftsmanship, and spirit as a musical instrument.

Materials and Responsible Sourcing
TEDESKA cartridges incorporate a selection of valuable natural materials, including wood, bone, nacre, and shellac. The origins of our craftsmanship lie in a small luthier’s workshop, where such materials formed the natural environment in which the first ideas for our cartridges emerged.
Even today, these materials remain closely connected to our method of work. Because every cartridge is produced entirely by hand, it is important that the materials we use can be fully handled and processed within our own workshop.
We maintain long-standing relationships with a small number of luthiers worldwide and gladly acquire unused sections or beautiful remnants from their work. In this way, valuable materials can continue to serve a purpose instead of being discarded.
At the same time, more and more natural materials are being placed under protection, and many beautiful tone wood species are becoming increasingly scarce. We deeply regret this development and place great importance on respecting all applicable conservation laws and guidelines.

Material Choices in Context

For many laboratories, the generator construction is considered the central element in shaping a cartridge’s sound. However, no single material determines the sonic result on its own.

Neodymium magnets, for example, are lightweight and extremely powerful. Their low mass is a major advantage in cartridge construction, making them a common choice for many designs. Nevertheless, in certain models we deliberately choose Alnico magnets — despite their greater weight — when their specific character contributes to the desired tonal result.

Most of our standard models feature boron cantilevers, a modern benchmark for high-quality cartridges. However, when specific stylus types require different mechanical properties, we also employ highly versatile aluminium cantilevers in various form.

Two types of conductor wire are currently used in our cartridges: copper (Cu) and silver (Ag). To illustrate the distinct qualities of these materials, we offer two of our special models, the Lacote with cooper wired generator and the Torres with silver wired generator which beautifully showcase the character of each type of wire.

Cartridge Construction Philosophy
TEDESKA cartridges are organized into five lines, each representing a distinct timbre. Within each line, three models share the same construction principles and engineering approach.
While we experiment with materials, geometries, and techniques, we are careful not to exaggerate the importance of any single feature. Differences in component shapes, materials, or construction details may contribute to a certain extent—but the sonic identity emerges only from the interaction of all factors, including the tonearm, turntable, and even other system components.
For this reason, we disclose only three principal materials on each product page as a guideline and encourage customers to experience the cartridges firsthand. Our aim is to guide enthusiasts toward understanding the overall constellation of components and proper settings that produces the most harmonious and expressive sound, rather than chasing exaggerated technical claims.

Q1. What does the initial DT/DST in the type designation of the TEDESKA cartridges stand for?

The type designations of TEDESKA mono cartridges start with DT, and the stereo cartridges with DST. DT is an abbreviation for "Dynamischer Tonabnehmer" in German, which is like "Dynamic pickup" in English. And the DST is "Dynamischer Stereo Tonabnehmer" in German, which implies "Dynamic stereo pickup" in English. The both are general terms for Moving Coil systems which have been used to describe the MC Systems in comparison to the MM or MI systems.

Q2. Are the TEDESKA cartridges in any relationship with the historic product such as Neumann DST?

TEDESKA products bear neither technical, nor conceptual similarity to any of the makes. 

Q1. What makes the TEDESKA mono cartridges special: True Mono with non-ferromagnetic generator design.

The original tracking principle of laterally cut mono records (before 1958) is based on a stylus tracing the groove through purely lateral movements. In all TEDESKA mono cartridge models employ the proprietary Vertical Axis Generator, a design in which vertical stylus movements are not converted into an electrical signal. This allows the cartridge to focus exclusively on the information contained in the lateral groove modulation.

Many conventional cartridge designs employ magnetic cores to increase magnetic field strength and output voltage. However, magnetic cores introduce certain disadvantages. Hysteresis effects and eddy currents can cause energy losses, while their relatively high mass increases the inertia of the generator’s moving parts and can affect precise groove tracking, particularly at higher frequencies.

For this reason, the cartridges of the TEDESKA EINS and QUEMPAS lines use air-cored coils wound on a lightweight non-magnetic insulator. By eliminating magnetic cores and employing modern materials, the moving system remains extremely light, significantly reducing inertia forces. The result is a fast and balanced mono cartridge with wide dynamics, low distortion, and excellent high-frequency response.

Q2. Low Impedance MC system: Why we choose a balanced coil impedance.

Some moving-coil cartridges are designed with very low internal coil impedance in the range of 1–2 Ω. This approach offers several technical advantages, including reduced resistive losses, lower sensitivity to cable capacitance, and a stable frequency response under varying load conditions.

The realization of such designs involves specific engineering considerations, including the use of thicker conductor material in combination with a reduced number of coil turns. These parameters influence characteristics such as moving mass and output voltage, and form part of the overall system balance.

Our designs follow a different optimization philosophy. By selecting a carefully balanced internal impedance of approximately 6–8 Ω, we are able to employ finer wire and implement a highly controlled coil geometry within the magnetic field. This allows for a high degree of precision in tuning the generator and provides greater flexibility in shaping differentiated tonal characteristics across our product range. For illustrative purposes, we occasionally use the following comparison: if very low-impedance designs are analogous to painting with a brush, our approach is closer to drawing with a pencil, allowing finer control over detail. This analogy refers primarily to the coil design and manufacturing process, rather than directly to the resulting sonic character.

For applications or preferences that favor lower impedance, corresponding variants are available as custom options.

Q1. Construction: Development of the generator pole

When the stylus tip is running through the groove of the vinyl, the cantilever and the coils oscillate in a magnetic field and electric signals are created. Under perfect circumstances, the oscillations of the coils during music reproduction perfectly correspond to the record groove. This requires that stylus, cantilever and coils are the only parts of the pickup cartridge that may oscillate. However, this is only a theory as in reality a transmission of oscillations to the surrounding parts cannot be avoided. Speaking of the cartridge only, these parts are most importantly the rear pole plate and generator pole (blue in next figure) which carries the cantilever and the coils together with the damping rubber (shown in red). 

The target during the development of the generator is to achieve a design that avoids any interaction between the cantilever parts and the pole components. In terms of vibration, an interaction takes place when two mechanically connected systems incorporate similar frequencies. To prevent any interactions by separating the resonant frequencies of both components from each other as far as possible, we design the pole components to show resonant frequencies far above the frequency range of our cartridges which is 20 Hz to 35 kHz.

To optimize the pole parts to high resonant frequencies we have incorporated numerical simulation techniques in early design stages. With these kinds of simulations it is possible to determine their resonant frequencies in a virtual manner which enables to investigate geometry modifications in detail. The result of this process is a compact design with high stiffnesses of all parts. In addition we found out that adding a stabilizer to the pole part increases the resonant frequency significantly.

The next animations shows the animations of the pole parts eigenmodes with and without stabilizer. Without the stabilizer, the resonance frequency was at 22 kHz and due to the use of the stabilizer it was possible to increase the frequency to 37 kHz. This is a demonstration that the resonances of the pole parts now occur outside the given frequency of our cartridges.

TEDESKA 2018 with the friendly support of

prof. Dr. David Funke