I think I am in business guys, I picked up the Ortofon Kontrapunkt A, which is to be a killer rock phono cart. with beyond acceptable bass.. I have read about it, and also called needle doctor and did not mention any cart and asked for their suggestion and that was the model they also came to conclude would be for me! It falls in the parameters of my arm and requirements it seems with .45 mV MC , 10 gram weight and it is originally 800.00 and I just found and purchased one with 50 hours on it for just over 200.00 shipped!!! Thanks for the help, hopefully this is gonna do the trick, but hell for the money and deal its gotta be plenty good enough, I would have really liked to find a .5 or .6 mV cart for a little more, but all seem too heavy as mostly for something decent is over 11 gram weight, and cost way too much money :)
Cartridge selection & output “mV” MM vs. MC Help
Okay thanks in advance and hopefully some good info can be found in this thread.
First I am looking for a new flavor cartridge but need some good tech. Info, and second part of this question is suggestions of direction for selection toward taste.
I currently have a 1500.00 Music Hall MMF7, no not a trendy or excessively built table but it suits me pretty well and its just damn simple which I like, it has the Stock Project arm which I am not to sure the model, but its not the carbon one.
This table is upgraded with cardas tonearm wire straight into the Tube Phono stage, which by the way is a dramatic difference in background noise and bass is much more impactfull, as well as balance is near perfect pitch on all frequencies it seems now.
I am using a 4.5 mv MM cartridge, which sounds excellent running with a 40db gain tube phono stage, this seems to be just about perfect loudness with the Preamp up at about Half volume on the knob (12 O’clock)… But I would still like to get a little more Bite out of the whole thing if that makes sense, maybe have a little more headroom so as to not turn it up so much, plus this would help knock down a little of the background hum, not a biggie but would like to see what happens.
Tech Question #1- What output MC cart. with a 60db gain from the tube phono stage, will at least equal the gain output as I have with the 4.5 mV cart and 40-dB phono? Example .5 mV, .8 mV, 1.0 mV… Is there a chart or something that will show this? I am looking to not lose any volume bottom line, and actually would really like to get some gain out of the upgrade if this is even possible.
Tech Question #2- Or should I simply stick with checking out one of the 5.0 mV MM carts. ? Now this of course is limited in selection, and honestly I have no clue what good ones exist or if they will just hurt the sound. Is an MC cart. Always going to give less power and volume to the sound? I have no clue.
Tech Question #3- I understand the Project arm is not the most desirable, but lets put that aside and figure out that it can or cannot really work with certain weight carts. Some too heavy? Some just not worth it , or simply will never perform without a far higher performance arm? This is fine just help me to not make a mistake, cause I will not stick a 1500.00 SHELTER cartridge or Even a 500.00 Dynavector if its just really wasting time and money.
Suggestion#1 sure I could experiment but do not have the time nor money for that like most… Mostly the music listened to is Fairly demanding Rock, 70’s, 90’s and Current, mostly very good recordings, even for the most part So called Audiophile Pressings, 180 gram, 200 gram re-issues and all treated with the whole VPI cleaner process, using distilled water rinse going beyond the call of duty.
Requirement of cartridge, Fairly Dynamic, not really Bright or over detailed, but well enough…. Very Bass capable, Deep, Fast driving… Needs to create some good pressure in the room, full balanced sound. I have very close to this now but everyone is always looking for more right?….
Not to sure I want to risk getting realistic results with a Shure or Audio-technica type cartridge thing but for 99.00 if this is a choice than tell me, Price range I would like to keep it at 200.00 dollars just like everyone else in the world but realize it can get out into the 1000.00 range pretty quickly, but I think anything that high would require a different arm or even table, so lets say somewhere in the 500.00 range I don’t know.
I guess end desired result is bring music a little further out into the room, have a little more definition, Impact, but not go to far and end up leaner sounding or very analytical… Of course this will have Oodles to do with setup, tracking Weight etc… I understand and have that pretty down with this table. I purposely left out some models of equipment and whatnot cause’ otherwise we could end up on many irrelevant topics. I also realize there are many answers and questions, but basically with all the choices I am sure there is at least 3 that could full fill the main requirements in combination with this table for satisfactory results.
Sorry if this is an unclear post and thanks again!
First I am looking for a new flavor cartridge but need some good tech. Info, and second part of this question is suggestions of direction for selection toward taste.
I currently have a 1500.00 Music Hall MMF7, no not a trendy or excessively built table but it suits me pretty well and its just damn simple which I like, it has the Stock Project arm which I am not to sure the model, but its not the carbon one.
This table is upgraded with cardas tonearm wire straight into the Tube Phono stage, which by the way is a dramatic difference in background noise and bass is much more impactfull, as well as balance is near perfect pitch on all frequencies it seems now.
I am using a 4.5 mv MM cartridge, which sounds excellent running with a 40db gain tube phono stage, this seems to be just about perfect loudness with the Preamp up at about Half volume on the knob (12 O’clock)… But I would still like to get a little more Bite out of the whole thing if that makes sense, maybe have a little more headroom so as to not turn it up so much, plus this would help knock down a little of the background hum, not a biggie but would like to see what happens.
Tech Question #1- What output MC cart. with a 60db gain from the tube phono stage, will at least equal the gain output as I have with the 4.5 mV cart and 40-dB phono? Example .5 mV, .8 mV, 1.0 mV… Is there a chart or something that will show this? I am looking to not lose any volume bottom line, and actually would really like to get some gain out of the upgrade if this is even possible.
Tech Question #2- Or should I simply stick with checking out one of the 5.0 mV MM carts. ? Now this of course is limited in selection, and honestly I have no clue what good ones exist or if they will just hurt the sound. Is an MC cart. Always going to give less power and volume to the sound? I have no clue.
Tech Question #3- I understand the Project arm is not the most desirable, but lets put that aside and figure out that it can or cannot really work with certain weight carts. Some too heavy? Some just not worth it , or simply will never perform without a far higher performance arm? This is fine just help me to not make a mistake, cause I will not stick a 1500.00 SHELTER cartridge or Even a 500.00 Dynavector if its just really wasting time and money.
Suggestion#1 sure I could experiment but do not have the time nor money for that like most… Mostly the music listened to is Fairly demanding Rock, 70’s, 90’s and Current, mostly very good recordings, even for the most part So called Audiophile Pressings, 180 gram, 200 gram re-issues and all treated with the whole VPI cleaner process, using distilled water rinse going beyond the call of duty.
Requirement of cartridge, Fairly Dynamic, not really Bright or over detailed, but well enough…. Very Bass capable, Deep, Fast driving… Needs to create some good pressure in the room, full balanced sound. I have very close to this now but everyone is always looking for more right?….
Not to sure I want to risk getting realistic results with a Shure or Audio-technica type cartridge thing but for 99.00 if this is a choice than tell me, Price range I would like to keep it at 200.00 dollars just like everyone else in the world but realize it can get out into the 1000.00 range pretty quickly, but I think anything that high would require a different arm or even table, so lets say somewhere in the 500.00 range I don’t know.
I guess end desired result is bring music a little further out into the room, have a little more definition, Impact, but not go to far and end up leaner sounding or very analytical… Of course this will have Oodles to do with setup, tracking Weight etc… I understand and have that pretty down with this table. I purposely left out some models of equipment and whatnot cause’ otherwise we could end up on many irrelevant topics. I also realize there are many answers and questions, but basically with all the choices I am sure there is at least 3 that could full fill the main requirements in combination with this table for satisfactory results.
Sorry if this is an unclear post and thanks again!
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