MM carts

white-socks

white-socks

Joined
Jan 10, 2009
Messages
188
Reaction score
0
Location
Torquay, Devon.
I've been thinking about going back to a Moving Magnet cartridge, I always liked how the MM cart sounds with my Techno records.

Budget............. looking to spend around £200-350. I want to get a MM cart that has a nice midrange and speed.

My tonearm is a Rega R200, is a very nice arm, it's a bit of a heavy arm too.

Thanks.
 
Hi White socks,

What's the rest of your system? What did you use before?

SCIDB
 
SCIDB said:
Hi White socks,

What's the rest of your system? What did you use before?

SCIDB
Click to expand...


Hello,

Bridged Quad 405 poweramps.
Quad 44 pre amp.
TDL Studio 0.75M speakers.
Roksan Xerxes Turntable, Rega R200 and Denon DL160 cart.

Cables, Nordost Red Dawns, and Sterovox speaker cables.
 
Isn't spending £300 on a cart to listen to techno records a bit of a waste? I mean, they're hardly the last word in audiophile production....

DT
 
white-socks said:
I've been thinking about going back to a Moving Magnet cartridge, I always liked how the MM cart sounds with my Techno records.

Budget............. looking to spend around £200-350. I want to get a MM cart that has a nice midrange and speed.

My tonearm is a Rega R200, is a very nice arm, it's a bit of a heavy arm too.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I suggest the Ortofon 2M Bronze.
 
MM carts 2

Anyone recommend a new cartridge for a Michell Gyro with a Tecnoarm. I was using a Shure V15 V, but as we all know there are no more stylii...

Thanks.
 
MM's get something of a tough break.

I prefer my MM Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood to the Ortofohn Kontrapunkt MC that preceeded it.

Getting rid of the Transformer, using more simple amplification, and the general sound of the best MM's make them a winner for me (not to mention the cost benefit of stylus replacements)

Anyway, back on topic - try Clearaudio MM's.. very nice.

The Aurum is only £120.
 
The AT150MLX is also within budget at £250 and is essentially a better 440. AT's top MMs are a bit lightweight in sound, though superbly clean and detailed.

Most shops in the US are currently selling the Shure M97xE at half price - £50.
I've ordered one to try. At worst it'll be fine as a spare (along with the other 8 spares..... :) )
 
white-socks said:
I think i'll go for the Audio Technica AT-440mla, tomorrow i'll buy it. This cart is worth a try after reading so many rave good reviews about it.
Click to expand...
I somehow feel that the Ortofon might be a better buy, particularly in your case. Transmission lines tend to have a bass that needs quite a lot of control, and the better Ortofon MMs are good at that. The AT, any AT, might give a slightly screechy top end with the TDLs, also.

The Clearaudio Aurum looks interesting, too. Not heard it, but could be worth an audition.
 
stereotype said:
I somehow feel that the Ortofon might be a better buy, particularly in your case. Transmission lines tend to have a bass that needs quite a lot of control, and the better Ortofon MMs are good at that. The AT, any AT, might give a slightly screechy top end with the TDLs, also.

The Clearaudio Aurum looks interesting, too. Not heard it, but could be worth an audition.
Click to expand...

I'm going to give the Clearaudio a miss, I want to try the AT.

Thanks for your opinion.
 
bottleneck said:
MM's get something of a tough break.

I prefer my MM Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood to the Ortofohn Kontrapunkt MC that preceeded it.

Getting rid of the Transformer, using more simple amplification, and the general sound of the best MM's make them a winner for me (not to mention the cost benefit of stylus replacements)

Anyway, back on topic - try Clearaudio MM's.. very nice.

The Aurum is only £120.
Click to expand...

After the event as far as the OP is concerned I know, but: I've been using a wood bodied Aurum classics (the cheapest one) for coming up to four years and have just swapped it out for a Goldring 1040. One thing I could never get the Aurum to do was track properly on high vocals on a fair few (classical) records, no matter what I did to the set-up. [Technically I may not mean tracking and I'm happy to be corrected, what I'm talking about is break-up at the top end]. It also suffered from dirt pick up very noticeably, requiring a thorough clean every few sides.

The Goldring is much better in both these respects. I know a fair few people like the Clearaudios but I wouldn't be in a hurry to try another one - that said, to keep it in place for four years means it can't have been that bad!
 
perhaps the 1040 has a different profile of stylus?

The Virtuoso is the best cartridge I've had to date, and probably for a considerable time to come.

There is a price limit I put on things that need replacing every few years :)

... that's one reason I avoid valve amps with (for example) 8 x 300B! ouch!
 
White-socks (Shane), I suggest you don't change your cartridge at all - There's absolutely nothing to be gained from the cartridge change you are proposing and the move back to a MM makes no sense at all to me.

Oh wait, I see you have already bought the AT = oh well.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top