REVIEWERS PREFERENCE for Catalyst!

Sometimes the most effective upgrades in a HiFi system aren't the biggest.

The Titanic Audio Catalyst Cartridge Stabiliser fits discreetly between your cartridge and headshell, and requires no fundamental change to your turntable.

But in its recent review of the Titanic Audio Anchor Plate and Catalyst, HiFi Pig discovered that this deceptively simple upgrade can have a surprisingly significant effect.

So significant, in fact, that the review suggested the improvement Catalyst provides could potentially be greater than simply putting the same additional money towards a more expensive cartridge.

That's quite a statement for something weighing only a few grams.

Getting More From the Cartridge You Already Own

A phono cartridge is an extraordinarily sensitive mechanical device.

Its job is to convert microscopic movement in the record groove into an electrical signal — which means any unwanted vibration introduced into that mechanical relationship has the potential to become part of what you hear.

Catalyst was developed to address that interface directly.

Mounted between the cartridge and headshell, Catalyst is designed to help manage unwanted vibration while maintaining the mechanical integrity required for the cartridge to track and perform correctly.

The goal isn't to change the character of the cartridge.

It's to allow it to work more effectively.

And according to HiFi Pig, that's exactly what happens.

Greater Focus and Control

When used as part of the review system, Catalyst contributed to a presentation with greater focus, precision and control.

Bass became more clearly defined, the upper frequencies sounded smoother and more informative, and the overall presentation gained a greater sense of stability.

The important thing is that these weren't described as changes that stripped away the life or personality of the turntable.

Instead, the system retained its musical energy while becoming noticeably more composed.

That's exactly the balance we wanted Catalyst to achieve.

Rather than imposing a new sonic signature, the stabiliser is designed to reduce unwanted mechanical interference and let more of the cartridge's own performance come through.

A Different Kind of Cartridge Upgrade

The traditional path when looking for more performance from a turntable is obvious:

Buy a more expensive cartridge.

But cartridges can become very expensive very quickly.

Catalyst offers another approach.

Instead of immediately replacing the cartridge you already own, improve the mechanical environment in which that cartridge is operating.

HiFi Pig's findings suggest this can be an extremely effective use of an upgrade budget.

For anyone already using a capable moving-magnet or moving-coil cartridge, that makes Catalyst particularly interesting.

You may not need to change the cartridge at all.

You may simply need to extract more of what it's already capable of.

£100. No Major System Change.

Part of the appeal of Catalyst is its simplicity.

There are no electronics.

No additional power supplies.

No boxes to find room for.

And no need to fundamentally redesign your turntable setup.

Catalyst sits directly at one of the most mechanically critical points in the analogue replay chain — between cartridge and tonearm — where small improvements can have a disproportionately noticeable effect.

That makes it one of those rare upgrades where the physical size of the product bears very little relationship to the size of the result.

An Essential Upgrade

HiFi Pig ultimately described the Titanic Audio combination as:

“An essential upgrade for Rega and similar turntables.”

The Anchor Plate and Catalyst together also received a HiFi Pig Reviewers' Preference Award.

For us, however, one of the most interesting conclusions from the review was just how much Catalyst itself contributed.

It's deliberately accessible at it's price.

But it isn't designed as a cosmetic accessory or an add-on for the sake of having another product in the system.

Catalyst was developed to solve a specific mechanical problem at one of the most critical interfaces on a turntable.

The HiFi Pig review suggests that doing so can unlock considerably more performance than its modest size and price might suggest.

Titanic Audio Catalyst — get more from the cartridge you already own.

The Titanic Audio Catalyst Cartridge Stabiliser is available now.

Read the complete independent review at HiFi Pig.