Ortofon VMS 30 mkII

[mjp200581]

A while ago I picked up an Ortofon VMS 30 mkII after being impressed by one fitted to a friends deck. The body of the one I purchased is good but it came with a broken stylus.

New genuine styli seem to be unavailable but Musonic manufacture a high quality nude fine line replacement which retails at £112.50.

http://www.musonic.co.uk/d20e-fine-line-elliptical-stylus-p-11391.html

Is the VMS 30 mkII good enough to warrant spending that much on a stylus? Or should I save my pennies?

 

[RobHolt]

I'd be inclined to save the cash since a modern and comparable quality cartridge such as the AT440MLa will only cost £30 extra and comes with a superb microcline stylus.

The problem with 3rd party styli is they will certainly differ in key areas from the original. A cartridge is very much a sum of its parts and the generator, cantilever, moving elements and stylus are highly tuned for the final result. Therefore while a 3rd party stylus might have a similar diamond profile, other parts will differ. Moving mass for example will almost certainly differ from the Ortofon spec.
For this reason I rarely recommend a cartridge rebuild where the cantilever is changed. Tip only if you want to keep things close to original.

I'd hang around for a NOS original unless you don't mind the new hybrid cartridge differing from the original.

 

[mjp200581]

Thanks for the advice. I ought to be able to move the cartridge body on for what I paid for it. So it sounds like I will be better off saving the money for something else.
I'm actually perfectly happy with my M20 FL Super but I felt the VMS30 mk2 had a warmer/richer presentation which made a nice alternative from the M20 FL super.