FWIW, I think you should consider
reducing your cartridge budget
and get a pre-owned phono
preamp. There are lots of good
options available and you will
gain so much more flexibility.
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
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Anybody have a thought on Soundsmith’s "The Voice" High Output Moving Iron cartridge. I was informed today that "The Voice" would work with my Luxman’s integrated amp’ using it’s MM phono stage setting. It’s at the low end of my price range at $3000 and is well reviewed. I’m wondering how it might compare with the Lyros Kleos, or another possible choice, the Koetsu Rosewood at $3995, the high end of my price range.. I’m not absolutely sure that the Koetsu’s specs match up to work with the MC settings on the Luxman, but was told they would. If anyone could confirm they would or would not, that would be helpful. Thanks, Ericsch- It would be nice to have more options and flexibilty than the Luxman MM/MC settings provide. But I’d prefer not spend the amount it would take to get a good quality separate phonostage. I only buy new and that would likely take a $1000 plus out of my budget, not too mention whatever the extra wires to it might run. I’m much too cheap for that. Thank you for your suggestion though. It’s a sensible option. I’ve already two or three good cartridge choices within the limitations of the Luxman’s built in phono stage, so it should work out. Mike |
@skyscraper , I have a Voice and it is a great cartridge. It is a wonderful tracker, is very quiet as it has a great stylus and is beautifully put together. Most people given an AB between the Kleos and the Voice would not be able to tell the difference as long as the volumes were matched. The Koetsu is the outlier. It will not track as well as the Voice or Kleos and is colored. There is not one Koetsu cartridge I am interested in. My next cartridge is likely to be the Lyra Atlas Lambda SL in combination with the Channel D Seta Plus transimpedance phono stage. Lyra is special. Johnathan Carr's cartridges routinely measure better than any other moving coil cartridge. This actually says a lot about the Voice. It is a lot of cartridge for the money. It is the exact same cartridge as the $5000 Sussurro with a few more windings on it's coils. They are priced differently because they exist in different markets. I got the Voice because the phono stage I currently have just does better with higher output cartridges. It is an ARC PH3 SE and it is killer with high output cartridges. It got me through my child rearing years and it is just about time to move on. I will undoubtedly get more than I paid for it. At any rate I think you have landed on two great choices and which way you go depends more on money than anything else. |
Jim, your posts are so encouraging. If the Lyra Kleos and Soundsmith’s "The Voice" sound as similar as you say, maybe I’ll go with The Voice. It’s priced a fair amount lower than the Kleos plus Soundsmith has an economical rebuild program if the cartridge ever needs it. I called Soundsmith today. They recommended The Voice too out of their product line, as it would work on the Luxman 507ux MkII amp’s SS setting, while their LO cartridges wouldn’t work on its’ MC settings. Another person I spoke to elsewhere today about both these cartridges happened to be a Sussorro owner. She recommended the Soundsmith Voice as well. It’s interesting you mentioned they are similarly constructed. I’ll drop the Koetsu Rosewood as a possible choice for the reason you mentioned. Maybe I’m starting to get this wrapped up. Thanks again, Mike |
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I just made a jump from MM to MC. I have a Technics 1200g and have been running Audio Technica VM740ML and VM750SH. These are great sounding MM carts that track well and are quiet in the groove.
For my foray into MC carts, I intended to go right to the ART 9 but decided that I’d like to travel up the line and start with the AT33PTGII. I was a little disappointed at first. But I ordered various size mats get the tonearm level and I gotta say, this is a great cart to start with...YIKES! Getting the VTA spot on made this thing come alive. I now have this cart slightly tail down on thicker 180gram vinyl and dead level on standard vinyl. Can’t wait to try the AT33SA as I’ve heard this has more detail. Enjoy trying different carts out. And pay special attention to set up. |
Sandthemail. Thanks for your response. When I do get a more expensive cartridge I think I’ll get a professional to set up the installation for it this time. I’m a DIY type guy and worked hard at trying to get all the settings correct for the Ortofon 2M Black on my VPI Classic 2, but who knows how well I succeeded. I’d never done this before and had no baseline to know how well or not it was set up when I was finished. I found an individual about a couple hours away in Charlottesville, Virginia who specializes in VPI turntables and their set up. I’ll be contacting him. It’s impressive you were able to figure out all you did to gets yours to perform as well as you have. Mike |
Tommy I did purchase the Fatboy and a Lyra Kleos cartridge at the same time. It's still nice to not have to fool around with the Unipivot's propensity to move about so much while placing it on a record. Since I installed both on my VPI Classic 2 simultaneously, I can't differentiate what improvement came from the tonearm and what came from the cartridge. I'm happy with both though especially with the overall clarity and detail to the sound with that combo. If you do upgrade just your tonearm and stay with the came cartridge I'd be interested with your impression of the Fatboy versus your current tonearm. Mike |