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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

skyscraper

Showing 4 responses by sokogear

sokogear
1,054 posts
 

I have the van den Hul MC One Special which I put in quite a while ago replacing a $500 japanese MM cartridge. Huge improvement in detail and depth of sound but when I put in a phono stage instead of using the MM/MC adjustable phono stage in my preamp, the quality improved substantially.

I wonder what the difference is between the VDH Frog and the MC One Special other than the price being double - the pictures look very similar except the Frog is green. The stylus of van den Hul's last very long due to their design, and I was thinking of a Frog the next time my stylus goes. There isn't much detail about the differences on van den Hul's web site.

sokogear
1,054 posts
 

@skyscraper - for $1850 (you should be able to get a 15% discount) the MC One Special from VDH should provide a big improvement for you, and because it sounds like you are a value (not cost no object) conscious audiophile like me, the fact that VDH stylus lasts 25-50% longer, makes it a no brainer. I always invest incrementally, so you should plan on a phono stage when you want to take your next step after getting a MC cartridge. It will make a BIG difference if you get a good one. Expect it to cost in the neighborhood of the cartridge at a minimum. It is very important.

VDH will do whatever service is needed for a reasonable price and sometimes VDH will do a total replacement at an attractive price which they did for me because of the pandemic. For some reason, they dont get the publicity in the US I think they deserve. 

sokogear
1,054 posts
 

Unipivots are just a pain to handle-they jump all over the place whenever I’ve demoed one. I guess you can get used to it, but gimbal arms are a breeze. I’m a Rega owner for 15 years or so, and their arms IMHO give the best bang for the buck. No VTA, but I dont think that is a big deal so long as it is set up correctly initially with a spacer if needed if the cartridge is higher than Regas (I am not a big fan of their cartridges).

sokogear
1,054 posts
 

If you are OK with the unipivot and it sounds good to you, I wouldn't change it just because it is a unipivot, spend on a cartridge and phono stage. If I had no arm, I probably wouldn't buy one.

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