For a number of years I sold wood bodies for the Denon DL-103 and 103r cartridge, on Ebay. For a couple of years I used a Ortofon 85th Anniversary SPU moving coil cartridge. If you can even find one, a lovely sounding cartridge, but pricey. Ranging anywhere from $2,500-$3,500. I have had a number of Soundsmith Ruby Cantilever / Optimized Contour Nude Contact Line Diamond Denon 103r cartridge's, and when I purchased a Pete Riggle "Woody" tonearm, he suggested I just try the factory Denon 103 on his arm, with no modifications. I nuded a new Denon 103, inserted it into one of my Panzer wood bodies, potted with beeswax and what I heard made my jaw drop. I ultimately sold both of my Ortofon cartridges and never looked back. So, do yourself a favor, purchase a Denon 103, nude the cartridge (very easily done) insert it in a nicely made wood body, pot it (not mandatory) and give that a try before spending a sizable amount on one of those boutique type cartridges. If you properly setup your tonearm, I am confident you will be quite please with what will amount to a $400-$450 cartridge, and I can assure you, it will stand up to virtually any cartridge several times or more the cost you will have invested in the Denon in wood.
Advice needed on MC cartridges
I’ve an Ortofon Black 2M cartridge on my VPI Classic 2 turntable, It’s a moving magnet type cartridge with a Shibata stylus and cost about $700 when purchased. I could easily be wrong, but am under the impression that the Ortofon 2M Black is about as good as it gets with MM cartridges and if I wished to upgrade I’d need to be thinking about moving into a MC, moving coil, type.
So I’ve been trying to learn something about moving coil cartridges and what differences or improvements in sound quality might be obtained by using one. My integrated amp, a Luxman 507uX Mk2, has a built in phono stage and can play either type,
Generally speaking, how much more would need to be spent on a MC cartridge before a noticeable, or significant improvement, might be heard in sound quality over the Ortofon 2M’s performance? What improvements in performance might you obtain using one a better quality MC over the Ortofon 2M Black? And third, what MC cartridges might you recommend that would fit in performance and budget wise with a system composed of the above equipment plus Magico A3 speakers. My other equipment is a Marantz Ruby CD/SACD player and a Shunyata Denali Hydra power conditioner.
I’ve never heard a MC cartridge in use so would be interested in following your advice and recommendations to see if I can find a dealer or someone that might be able to demo one so I can hear what the differences might be in performance. Thank you for any responses or suggestions
Mike