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Best Budget Phono Cartridge?

After upgrading my system for CDs and SACDs recently, I pulled my old turntable out of storage to see how it would stack up. It sounded pretty sick, and my best guess is that an old (very old) Stanton 681EEE is the culprit. I don’t want to spend a lot of money on this experiment, but if I can find a decent cartridge in the $100-250 range it would be fun to see how my old vinyl compares. I’m looking at the following new or NOS cartridges:


Audio Technica AT7V MM or AT-F2 MC

Denon DL 103 MC or DL 110 MC;

Grado Prestige Gold1

Sumiko Pearl MM  

Ortofon 2M Blue MM  

Shure M97xE

 Would any of you like to weigh in on this list, or add a favorite of your own? I’ll be inputing to a Parasound New Classic 2100 preamp.


cheeg

Showing 4 responses by schubert

schubert
7,386 posts
 
Spending a hundred bucks and then finding you were wrong is about
 a  lunch for an Audiophile , this is an expensive hobby .

As you seem to still be sane buy a Nagaoka 110 , good on any type of music and very high-quality , They make many other brands stuff in the first place .
schubert
7,386 posts
 
MUCH personal  experience , I used to sell them .
schubert
7,386 posts
 
If its Pfanstiehl you can be sure its no good .
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Try Shure M97xe with the vivid stylus from LP gear .
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