Cartridge Opinions - Sorry


Yeah, another dumb "what's your opinion on these cartridges" thread. Back in the late 80's we had dealers where you could listen to the stuff.

So anyhow I have a Linn LP12 with Ittok arm and a 30 year old Audioquest B200L cartridge. I'm running it through the phono stage of a Jeff Rowland Coherence One into a Spectral DMA90 through a set of Kef R300's.

I prefer a little more laid back sound (err on the side of forgiving instead of fatiguing) but I like a lot of upper end detail, precise soundstaging, air, etc.

So far I'm considering an Ortofon Quintet S Black, Hana SL or a Benz wood - something at or below the $1k level.

I'd love to hear any opinions, suggestions, and experiences with those cartridges or others in the price range. I could possibly go higher if there is something out there that really shines for less than $1,500.

Thanks.


klooker

Showing 3 responses by clearthinker

Hi Raulruegas
Thank you for that.
Whatever knowledge I have has taken more than 70 years to acquire.

There is too much dogmatism here, as others have observed, but this is entirely understandable.  What we want to avoid is slagging one another off or alleging lack of knowledge in someone we have never met.  We can share knowledge and, indeed, opinions without that.

Sorry atmasphere, you are incorrect.  At least from a technical standpoint.  If it is not over-tightened then it is free to move.  If it is free to move then there must be an interference gap, however small, between the moving parts.  I don't think the hardness of the materials used has any bearing (ho ho) on the question.  As long as the surfaces are accurate and finely finished, their hardness will only affect the service life of the piece.
Yes.  We disagree.
But I am starting a new trend here.  I am not going to say you have low level knowledge because of that.
Hi rauliruegas.
I guess there's no-one on this forum that knows more than you.
Try not to patronize in every piece you post.

You are correct it is fundamental to retain the positional relationship between disc surface and stylus through TT and arm bearings with minimum free play.  If this is not achieved, the orientation of the stylus in the groove is allowed to vary, varying the signal in a manner not in the groove.

A properly engineered unipivot can do this.  Its advantage is the arm wand sits on a single point and is held down by its mass, preventing lateral movement in any direction, as long as the bearing does not jitter.

A gimbal set-up must always have some free-play in its bearings, otherwise the arm wand would be unable to move. Thus there will always be unwanted movement between arm wand and arm housing, however small.

A well-engineered air-bearing parallel tracker will do a better job than either.  It requires a high pressure air supply, not a fish-tank compressor.  Even though the tiny air gap in the bearing theoretically allows relative movement between its two elements, the high pressure in the space holds the air-gap constant between them..