Best cheapo Cartridge


In a bind, I have 2 cartridges that have seen better days.   My Ortofon Jubilee has at least 1500 hours on it and I’m starting to hear a drop in performance.  My Transfiguration Proteus only has 450 hours but is on the fritz and they are OOB.

I have too many irons in the fire to spend alot and need one to hold me over for a while.  Thinking about a MM, like Ortofon or Grado.  Would be mating with a Basis Vector 4 tonearm, Basis 2200 sig, and either Allnic H3000 or ARC PH 5.  Speakers are Thiels.  

Analog heads please give me some advice.   I have no experience with MM or MI or than many cartridges in my system  for that matter.  


pops

Showing 4 responses by noromance

You can't go wrong with either an Audio Technica VM540ML (brighter) or Nagaoka MP110 or 150 for bang for the buck.
@chakster is right. Except, the old classics are hard to find and relatively expensive considering you are looking for "cheapo cartridges." The 540 has a microline stylus.
The Audio Technica has great depth and etched high frequencies. But there's some grain or slight harshness in the rendition.

So I compared my AT VM540SH with my Decca Super Gold/Paratrace and Decca Garrott Export and both Decca's really are in another league. 

Dark, quiet backgrounds, voices that sound real, speakers disappeared, but most absolutely the difference is that the Decca makes music with emotion. No contest, notwithstanding the priced difference.