Cartridge recommendations
I think I need to replace my MC cartridge. It's a Madrigal Carnegie. I'm no longer convinced that a replacement needs to be a MC. That was true when I bought the Carnegie but time and technology have changed. I read last night that under $500 you're better off getting a MM. At the $500 point and up, a MC starts to make sense. At the $1,000 point, absolutely, get a MC. But that was one opinion.
I'm setting a tentative budget of $1,000 to $1,500. At $2,000 I become Ukrainian (fierce resistance occurs).
I have a Grado cartridge that I use on my 'other' TT and have a preference toward Grado cartridges. As an aside, I visited the Grado website last night and found it very difficult to navigate. I wanted to start by selecting a price, then go from there. I could not find any pricing in the brief time I spent there. I know it's there, I've seen it. I'll try again.
So I'm looking for suggestions. MM, MI, or MC. I prefer warmish (Grado is known for that), smooth and hopefully detailed. Sound staging is irrelevant.
I've started a second discussion aimed at questioning if the Carnegie is truly dead, as I fear. If you want to chime in on that I welcome your expertise.
Look at the Audio Technica ART9XI. It retails at $1,500 but can be had for less. It’s my favorite cartridge $5K and less, and I’ve tried a number of cartridges from other manufacturers. Eventually I bought an Air Tight PC-1s that retailed $8K to replace it, and now at the My Sonic Lab Signature Gold. Search for “ART9” on these forums and you will find some very lengthy threads on the original version of this cartridge vetted by dozens of Audiogon members. |
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If you have the arm for it the Ortofon SPUs have a warm full bodied sound but they’re low compliance. If there’s a removable headshell than just worry about balancing the 30g weight of the pickup head but if you need 1/2” mounting than the naked N series weigh in at ~16g with the included adaptor so the arm needs to be on the heavy side, 15g is probably enough but a little more might help. I’m getting very good results from a Royal N on an 18g arm, so much so that I’m in no hurry to swap it out for my rebuild Transfiguration Proteus.
The various Hana cartridges keep getting recommended as good value, the low output ones more so.
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If you have the arm for it... That's an interesting question. I don't know the answer. I have an Eminent Technology II, (mounted on on a VPI HW-19 MK II) I'll have to dig out the ET owner's manual to see what the specs are. Since the tone arm (a boron tube I believe, or some material that makes it stiff yet light) rides on a column of air, I think a heavier than usual cartridge might be too heavy. And to all others, thank you for the responses. I'll check out LP Gear. I also sent an email to Soundsmith asking if they can rebuild the Carnegie. If they can, that might the more cost-efficient way to go. I also asked them a few questions about their cartridges. No response yet. |
Here's a guide that's been posted elsewhere on this board regarding matching ET-2 tonearms with cartridges: I'm not aware of a boron arm wand. The stock arm wand is aluminum. The lighter one is the carbon fiber and the heavier one is magnesium. Assuming you have the single leaf spring and the carbon wand, you'll want to use a low mass, medium compliance cartridge. I use the AT-OC9XML on my ET-2 tonearm. If I had the funds I probably would bump up to the ART9XI. I'd love to try a London (Decca) Super Gold someday, but those suckers are hard to get dialed in on many tonearms, especially a linear tracking one on a suspended turntable.
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I love my AT33PTG/II MC, very wide separation, very tight center balance both enhance imaging, very linear, and listen all day long without fatigue. https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/type/moving-coil/at33ptg-2 I wore it out, didn’t even consider something else, and surprisingly, AT has a program, you send your old one in for evaluation, if worn, they sold me a new cartridge for $249. Probably true for other AT cartridges, a good reason to consider their brand. |
try to find Audio Technica AT-ML170 or AT-ML180 used in good condition. I have tried (too) many AT carts, including 160ML, 150MLX, AT24, ART7, ART9, and recently found as ML170 beats most, and does sound very transparent and “airy”. I run ML170 at 1.1g pressure, on Technics ti-armed sl1200mk4 TT. ML170 is mounted on AT MS9 head-shell, which utilizes additional rubber strip on top for dampening resonances. |
"I have tried (too) many AT carts, including 160ML, 150MLX, AT24, ART7, ART9, and recently found as ML170 beats most, and does sound very transparent and “airy”. " Not surprised. My emergency backup cart is the $400 Soundsmith Otello. My ears hear it’s mid/hi performance as "good" my ART9 & Kiseki Blue. The only thing reminding me it’s a $400 cart is its low bass output. SS and reviews remind readers of this. Ledermann isn’t gonna give up the goods without and E ticket. The archives has plenty of positive threads on ART9. It’s also the original version. The latest incarnation allegedly has a little more of the magic SQ for any cart-entry OR uber is of course limited by arm/phonostage along the other bits. |
Thank you to everyone who offered advice or opinion, it was helpful to hear other views. The resolution of this is that I'm going to get a SoundSmith Zephyr Mk 3. Don't know yet whether it will the the high output or the low. My phono preamp can accept either. Two factors drove the decision, one good, one bad. The bad: SoiundSmith never responded to my inquiry if they could repair/rebuild my Carnegie 1. I interpret that as being a no. The good: I had a long and informative conversation with Peter Ledermann (president of SoundSmith). He gave me a cautionary note with physics underlying it, as to why mounting a high compliance Grado on my ET2 could be a bad idea. That convinced me to get the Zephyr. Again, thank you all. |
@listener2 zephyr mk3 is “normal” output, MM cart, any good phono pre should work, - enjoy! |
