Best mc cartridge for $ 1000.00 & under

Ditto on the Miro L0.4. Search no more.

Take the used market into consideration! I know that a lot of people have serious reservations against buying a used cartridge. But I haven´t experienced any trouble myself in many years of dealing with those underrated jewels. Try to get a feeling about the seller and if the person seems sound and doesn´t give you any b.s. like "no more than 20 hours in those last 5 years" why not give it a try. Worst case scenario: it actually tracks bad and you´d have to send it to Benz Micro, Switzerland or van den Hul, The Netherlands. But as I said: never happened to me! Some examples: Kiseki Blackheart: around § 750 (best cartridge I ever heard and I´m listening to a Corwn Jewel S.E. at the moment!) Spectral MCR Sign.: $ 500 - 750 excellent microdynamics and soundstaging. There´s a lot of them out there! The Ikeda cartridges: There´s one (Rowland Complement)on Audiogon for $ 750 at the moment. Those have a veeery long lifespan if treated well! I also found good used Koetsu´s until recently. As they re-appeared on the US-market some two years ago with silly price tags, the originals usually go very fast (a new production Urushi retails for about $ 5000; I bought a used one for $1000 and it sings!) A lot of those 7 - 10 years old cartridges outperform almost everything thats available in the new market in your price segment today. My final advice: Try getting a Kiseki blue gold spot for a start. I bought one for a silly $100 and one for $250. They are fantastic! And for that money everyone can take a little risk! Good luck! Andy

I use a Benz LO.4 on my Linn and love it! I appreciate it even more with a recent PS and motor change (also Origin Live), which speaks even more to it's value. List is $1200, but they're available for around $800 with a trade in. You could consider the Glider, but I personally recommend going the few extra dollars for the LO.4 Once you're up and running, I would urge you to consider the O.L. DC motor kit for your Michell. It brought my LP-12 to Lingo status with tons of cash left over for vinyl, and Ivor didn't see a dime! (heh heh).