70’s rock pressings. Witch equipment deserve?

so tell me, from which witch did you buy this stuff?

1.- buy yourself a nice vintage MM cartridge from the same era with Line Contact type stylus (avoid spherical/conical or elliptical).

I would regard this statement as entirely false! The cutting stylus used on any stereo LP is the same today as it was in 1958. Newer stylus used in brand-new cartridges work just fine if they are set up right. Vintage cartridges OTOH are risky and lower performance (cartridges have made improvements in the last 50 years...); but in particular they will need a new stylus to work properly!

I did not said anything bad about new stylus made today, i just said that it must be advanced profile to improve the sound of vintage stereo records previously worn by conical/elliptical profiles in the 70’s if the previous owner of those records was not audiophile. The advanced stylus profile is important not only for MM (with user replaceable stylus) but more important for MC because the life-span is much longer with advanced stylus profile (up to 2000hrs compared to 300-500 hrs for conical/elliptical tip).

Cartridges have made improvements in the last 50 years, but NOT in the last 30 years and definitely not an MM. Marketing definitely improved to sell average sounding cartridges for $5k or even for $20k per unit. Asking $10k for an MI cartridge today is quite normal in this crazy high-end world.

If it’s risky to buy reasonably priced vintage MM in mint condition then please tell us why not only me but many more people on audiogon are so happy about their rare finds and about the sound (even if they have those modern high-end cartridges) ? Believe it or not but NOS stylus for the cartridges from the 70s and 80s are still available. Not everyone should use retippers or to buy jico or some other inferior styli for vintage cartridges to keep them alive.

Finally, you should tell us what is your favorite new MM cartridges and how many of those greatest vintage MM did you try and actually compared to the modern MM ? Also it would be nice to know which modern MM you could compare to some of your new LOMC @atmasphere

It depends.  You're asking audiophiles if you should buy audio equipment to enjoy your music.  Of course they are going to tell you to buy the best, most expensive gear you want to spend your money on.  The better the gear, the more revealing of poor recordings, vinyl damage, and just plain bad performances.

I have a friend that LOVES music.  He's also a musician, and he loves listening to the creative aspects of music - different beats, chord progressions, etc.  He also collects records and CDs and has probably made a very, very good return on his money (if he were to sell his collection).  What does he listen to his music on?  Mostly his laptop with cheap earbuds.  He enjoys the music every bit as most of us do, probably more.

I think it’s the biggest myth in audio that we will hear mode bad things with proper equipment and for this reason should stick to inferior cartridge, turntable, speaker, amp .... whatever.

We invest in equipment to get closer to the live performance as possible, sitting at home.

We can enjoy music even in mp3 listening to the cell phone. But musicians still record music in the studio with very expensive gear and instruments... for what ? No one can notice playing an mp3 on iPhone, but everyone can get much closer to the reference recording using improved audio equipment, this is why the reference is mastertape or high resolution digital. In both cases we can reproduce studio session only with proper audio equipment.

Digital is fine to discover music everyday online, it’s free, but people who collect records looking for physical media, not just music on background.

Musicians are not audiophiles, they are not even automatically a record collectors just because they are musicians. And they need a technical guy in the studio who can record them, mix them, master them to release a final product (analog or digital). Studio guys are not always perfect musicians, but they can be a perfect studio engineers. People who can’t play any instrument, can’t read the notes and does not have a perfect pitch, often know much more about music than musicians and often have much better taste in music (not always, there are an exception for sure).

But i'll tell you mow: some musicians not only listen to the laptops, they are often performing with a laptop instead of performing with full band live. Is it good? I don't think so. 

Finally, you should tell us what is your favorite new MM cartridges and how many of those greatest vintage MM did you try and actually compared to the modern MM ? Also it would be nice to know which modern MM you could compare to some of your new LOMC

I like the Grado cartridges. We use a Grado Gold mounted in our SL-1200 to play back tracks we've cut on our Scully  mastering lathe. Its a sort of standard- if it can play it back, we've not overcut it. And we've shown that it has bandwidth past 35KHz mounted in that arm.

Anecdotally I've run a Transfiguration Orpheus for some years. One time a channel failed so I had to send it back. While waiting for it (or a replacement), I was jones'n for tunes and realized that I had a Grado Green (at the time, retail of $35.00) sitting new in the box. Since my Triplanar is very adjustable, I set it up and took the time to do it right. It was at this point that I realized that the ability to track the cartridge correctly was far more important than the kind of cartridge you have; the Green tracked perfectly  although it sounded a bit 'up front'. Then I remembered that loading is critical on high output MM cartridges; once I get that right (using a 10K resistor) it was quite relaxed and other than having more output, was not significantly different from the Orpheus in any way I could discern. I threw some real torture tracks at it and it was effortless.

The main concern anyone should have using an older MM cartridge is that the suspension for the cantilever perishes over time; whether you are using the cartridge or not after 3-5 years it simply won't meet spec.