Analogue Synergy....Which is the best Cartridge?

"Second, your Basik Plus is a low mass tonearm"

Doug, I'm not sure I agree with this.

To Calgarian...

Is the arm the Basik LVX+? The LVX has an effective mass of 12.5 grams, according to the data on Vinyl Engine and Cartidgedb. The LVX+ has (as I understand it) a fixed headshell in contrast, so I would expect it's mass to be on the order of 11.5 grams or so. This puts the range of catridge masses at about 8-12 grams (with mounting hardware), and compliance from about 10-19, to put the combination with the LVX+ at an acceptable resonance point. (You could go with a much lighter or heavier cart but that would skew the needed compliance into a very narrow range.)

So strictly from a matching POV all the carts you have listed should work (including the 103R mentioned by Downunder). The GCPH has a maximum gain of 60, so you may want to reconsider the Karat very carefully. It has a very low output (.23mV or .2mV depending on the model) and depending on the total gain of your system the GCPH may not be able to drive it high enough.

I'm not sure how the Copland and YBA sound together, but I do have the 103R and can agree with Downunder and Cello. It plays well past its price point. It s non-fatiguing without being "dull" in any way, and as musical as all get out. It is not the most transparent cart ever, and it loses to more advanced stylii in dragging the last little bit of detail out of the groove. But it is just a great sounding cart.

Now, having said all this I will agree with Doug in that, if you're going to upgrade anyway you should probably do it before getting a new cart (assuming the K9 is still usable).

Psychicanimal, I'm not a dealer, and I have no dog in this hunt. I own one cart with a VdH Type 1 stylus, an A-T with a Micro Linear, and the 103R. I go back far enough in record playing (about 30 years) to have had a few others. At least for me, I've found that the best way to insure minimal wear on my disks - regardless of which cart I am using - is to make sure the TT, arm, and cart are set up as well as possible and to treat my records with cleaning and preservation solutions. I'm hoping we can all agree with these basic requirements.

I have no microscopic analysis to prove it, but my records still seem to be in very fine shape. A friend who has copies of the same records (some 20 or so years old) sometimes comes over and brings his; in many cases there is a clear difference in the way his sounds (more noise, etc). He does not take as much care of his TT regimen as I do.

BTW, the pressure on the small surface area of a microridge or line contact type stylus will be on the order of 4-5 times that of a larger elliptical or spherical stylus tip. While I agree that a more modern tip is better suited to produce less wear, it is moreso because the shape is better suited to tracing the groove. When all's said and done, though, IMHO you have to really go out of your way to induce significant record wear on a private collection.

Take a look at this, and in particular the last major paragraph on this page.

http://www.micrographia.com/projec/projapps/viny/viny0300.htm

I mean, look at Van Alstine-his gear is great sounding, well made, reliable and very seldom seen on the used market.

You're talking to someone who owns a FetValve 550EXR, and won't replace it for anything at 2-3 times its price, even if I wanted to spend the money.

I'm in no hunt, Tony, but I'm against making people feel that a lot of money (or 'critical' conditions) are necessary in order to achieve sonic bliss

I may be misunderstanding you, but I think you're sort of making the point for me, and others who believe a relatively inexpensive LOMC like the 103R is good. It is a great cart for the money; many believe it is a real contender against many of the best carts up to the $1K range. If it is used in a properly set up TT and the records are well cared for, record wear will be essentially a non-issue, as my previous link implied.

As a footnote to all these observations on record wear, I have to say that of the many thousands of records which I have examined, purchased and played over the years, only a very few were unlistenable on account of record wear, and these were from the earliest days of vinyl when the manufacturers advised collectors to play them with a pickup "of not more than 8 grams" (see previous page). All other rejected discs were unplayable due to accumulated crud in the grooves and physical abuse to the record surface. I have many records which are the best part of fifty years old, and as smooth and quiet as the day they were pressed.