Another vote for Grado Black. As Czarivey notes, you can replace the stylus yourself and use either a Gold stylus OR an 8mz. Some seem to claim the 8mz is better than the Gold. They are both $150 at Needle Doctor. So there's an easy upgrade path as funds allow. Grado is reported to have a slightly "darker" sound - I can't speak for all their cartridges. The Black did some "less sparkly" to my ear BUT given my system could sound a little hot/harsh and given I prefer buying old vinyl vs the so-called "audiophile" re-releases (do have a few of those) - Grado is a nice fit. I am very happy with the sound. On my SL1210M5G w/KAB damping trough it tracks just fine. Good luck with your decision.
Best cartridge/stylus under $80?
Hi all,
I finally got my TT (Denon DP-31L) installed and put a new AT95 cartridge in it, which has performed pretty good thus far but the more I listen the more I start to wonder: would this music sound better if I had bumped up my budge to $80 instead of the $38 I spent in the AT95.
I know that $80 is still a laughable budget to some for something as important as the cartridge, but I'm still in school (story of my life) and would prefer to not rack up more student loan debt with audio equipment purchases. So whatever cartridge I get now, I want to be a step (or multiple steps) above the AT95, and in 2 years I'll upgrade to something better.
Not sure if my music preferences would be a factor in the cartridge recommendation, but here is is just in case:
classical (piano, cello, violen), classic rock (CCR, Clapton, pink Floyd, Beatles, Dave Mathews early stuff etc.) and anything with good vocals (rich raspy type voices like Adele). One thing I know they all have in common is a richness with the sound, if that makes sense? I hate nothing more music that hearing a song that should have a deep full sounding cello that has no feel/hollow.
Equipment:
Denon DP-31L --->rigged Sony receiver to use Phono inputs and output via "tape out" direct analog---> Cary Audio AES AE-3 tube pre---> McIntosh 2125 amp---> Klipsch RP-5 towers
prospective cartridges: AT100E, Shure M97xE, Ortofon 2M Red (that might be stretching the budget too much though)
thanks in advance!
I finally got my TT (Denon DP-31L) installed and put a new AT95 cartridge in it, which has performed pretty good thus far but the more I listen the more I start to wonder: would this music sound better if I had bumped up my budge to $80 instead of the $38 I spent in the AT95.
I know that $80 is still a laughable budget to some for something as important as the cartridge, but I'm still in school (story of my life) and would prefer to not rack up more student loan debt with audio equipment purchases. So whatever cartridge I get now, I want to be a step (or multiple steps) above the AT95, and in 2 years I'll upgrade to something better.
Not sure if my music preferences would be a factor in the cartridge recommendation, but here is is just in case:
classical (piano, cello, violen), classic rock (CCR, Clapton, pink Floyd, Beatles, Dave Mathews early stuff etc.) and anything with good vocals (rich raspy type voices like Adele). One thing I know they all have in common is a richness with the sound, if that makes sense? I hate nothing more music that hearing a song that should have a deep full sounding cello that has no feel/hollow.
Equipment:
Denon DP-31L --->rigged Sony receiver to use Phono inputs and output via "tape out" direct analog---> Cary Audio AES AE-3 tube pre---> McIntosh 2125 amp---> Klipsch RP-5 towers
prospective cartridges: AT100E, Shure M97xE, Ortofon 2M Red (that might be stretching the budget too much though)
thanks in advance!