$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path



I am putting together an analog system, starting with the cartridge. I like a well-balanced sound with a slightly lush midrange and excellent extension at the frequency extremes. The cartridge should be a reasonably good tracker. Here are my choices:

1. Dynavector Karat 17D MkII
2. Shelter 501
3. Sumiko Black Bird
4. Grado Statement Master
5. Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood

Which one comes closest to my wish list? Which one would you choose?

Here are the upgrade cartridges to the above list, one of which would be purchased later:

1. Shelter 901
2. Benz Micro L2
3. Grado Statement Reference
4. Koetsu Black

Which one comes closest to my wish list? Which one would you choose?

Now, which turntable/tonearm combination (for new equipment up to $4,500) would you choose to handle a cartridge from the first group and the upgrade cartridge from the second group?

Any help you can provide is greatly welcomed. Thanks!
artar1

Showing 1 response by mrkidknow

Hey Artar1,

I've been reading this thread and it has been a blast. I saw your message where you said you were buying vinyl without the turntable to play it and that you like classical. Have you ever seen this list of recordings before?

Highend Audio by Arthur Salvatore

I hope I installed the link correctly. If not, here is the link to do a cut'n'paste:

http://www.high-endaudio.com/supreme.html#Con

Arthur Salvatore can be pretty controversial but so far, the recordings that I have managed to acquire that are on his "excellent recordings" list are awesome in sonic quality.

One other thing I was curious about is the demo you heard of the high end cartridge on the Denon Direct Drive. Just curious as to which Denon model it was and although detail was lost, did it still sound pretty damn good? I currently have a fairly modified Denon DP-59L that works great in my book but someday, I will also have a decent belt drive unit too (need to keep pinching those pennies).

Mr. Kidknow