Advice on best mid priced MM cartridge choice for Rega P3 (2016)

Why do you always recommend the same old handful of cartridges?????

Actually not the same, it depends on the budget and tonearm. 
But at least I recommend something that can sound amazing, not just average sounding modern cheap MM carts with mediocre cantileveler and stylus profile with very short life span. 

We have one problem here on audiogon, people who own some cartridges think those cartridges are amazing, but they never tried any good cartridge (or any better cartridge). 

Some cartridges does not have even nude diamonds (only bonded). 

What do you recommend and what is your contribution on this forum? 

Garrott P77i , don’t be scarred, the price is in Australian Dollars (not USD :)

No one never mentioning this brand new model on audiogon, except me.
You guys know nothing about cartridges or don’t want to know :)
It’s so boring to read about the same 5 brands in every thread here on audiogon.

Do you really know any other brands except for Ortofon, Nagaoka, Audio-Technica, Grado, Sumiko, SoundSmith ? Why it’s always the same list ???

Garrott Brothers (RIP) were legendary re-tippers and cartridge designers from Australia. Young Reto Andreoli was trained by them ( he’s another legend today).

What is a mid priced MM ? $300-400 ?  

Some killer Moving Magnet cartridges at mid price in my opinion:

Sony XL-50 with boron pipe cantilever. 
Pickering XSV/4000 with Stereohedron stylus tip. 
Pioneer PC-1000 MK II with Beryllium cantilever. 
Stanton SC-100 WOS with sapphire coated cantilever and Stereohedron tip.

Best buy is Pickering XSV/3000SP (under $450) or just regular XSV/3000 and its brother Stanton 881s for under $350 NOS. It's extremely low price for a high quality performer with amazing stylus profile that can be user for over 1000 hrs. Those carts were offical disk mastering monitoring cartridges of Doug Sax at The Mastering LAB. 

Compared to these cartridges all modern MM in this price range are junk in my opinion.  

I’m willing to bet that the Teo Audio ’CC’ MM cart, with a shibata, at $600, outperforms them all, Chalkster.

@teo_audio

First try to write my name correct.

If you’re not familiar with classic high-end gear from the golden age how can you say a word ? Just because there is a Shibata on Teo Audio? Well Stereohedron is equal to Shibata / Line Contact type.

You’d better explain what is Teo Audio to the people, add some links if you want to contribute something useful. There is NO cartridge on Teo Audio site.

Are you associated with Teo Audio yourself ?
You’re here to advertise your Teo Audio cartridge?

I came across this Stanton Catalog, two interesting technical performance and stylus type charts.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/mbrs/recording_preservation/manuals/Stanton%20Product%20Catalog.pdf

what is the difference between Stereohedron and Stereohedron II?

Shared this link many times on this forum before, some of the best Stanton models are in the catalog, except for the signature SC-100 with Stereohedron II (top model, but not in the catalog).

One aspect of Stereohedron’s very long life must be it’s very light tracking centering on 1g. My Shure V15Vxmr liked 1.25 g. Most Mono and MC want heavier tracking which I prefer avoiding.

Stetting with the brush must be 2g, but the actual tracking force will be 1g and it’s recommended (however, the range is +/- 1/4).

It seems many of the outputs are in that difficult range near 1mv, where only a few SUT’s have low enough x factors of 5 or 6 are about right. What was in common use with these cartridge output strengths?

I have active gain phono stage with adjustable gain (Gold Note ph-10).
Long time ago my Low Impedance (low output MM) Stanton 980/LZS was fine with 1:10 SUT with my low power tube amp. But i was much more impressed with my Stanton CS100 (regular output). Now I have excellent Pickering XLZ/4500 and XLZ/7500, they are both low impedance (very low output MM).

*** Here is a part of the review from feb. 1982:

"Aficionados of moving-coil (MC) cartridges will be surprised and pleased to learn that 980LZS is indistinguishable from the very best moving-coil (MC) types in the most rigorous laboratory and aural tests. Stanton’s is an impressive dual achievement. I was continually aware that 980LZS sounded like a moving-coil (MC) cartridge. The bass was well defined and tight with good sonic clarity, as well as transient response and applause definition. Transparency of sound was excellent when reproducing the high recorded levels present on most direct-to-disc recordings. At no time did I notice any coloration of the music. The 980LZS is also one of the very few phono cartridges that can cleanly reproduce the cannon fire on the Telarc DG-10041 recording of Tchaikovsky’s 1812." - B.V.Pisha (Audio Review, Feb.1982)


SPECIFICATIONS for the 980/LZS:

Stylus Type: Nude Stereohedron Contact Radii: .0028 (71u)
Scanning Radii: .0003 (8u)
Stylus Tracking Force: 1 gram (+/- 0.5)
Setting with Brush: 2 gram (+/- 0.5) resulting operation tracking force 1 gram (+/- 0.5)
Frequency Response: 10 Hz to 50 kHz +
Output: .06 mv /cm/sec
Channel Balance: Within 1 dB @ 1kHz
Channel Separation: 35 dB @ 1kHz
Cartridge DC Resistance: 3. ohms
Cartridge Inductance: 1.mH
Cartridge Weight: 5.5 grams
Load Resistance: 100 ohms or greater
Load Capacitance: 1000 pF, or less (incl. arm leads cable and amp.)


P.S. None of the modern MM will sound as good as the Stanton/Pickering top models. Those are the finest MM for realistic prices. The low impedance (low output MM) will blow away your LOMC.