Cartridge suggestions

Buy a cartridge only from reputable brands who actually made them, not from the brands like LP Gear who does not make them, they often sells fake styli for well known cartridges (i’ve seen it many times and their styli does not look like my originals for certain cartridges, it was easy to compare them visually). LP gear is not the manufacturer. Most of the cartridge manufacturers are in Japan, so various brand just ordering their cartridges from Japan with their logo on it, but such brands does not design cartridges, they are not a cartridge designers. They are doing it just to make profit, not because they want to invent something new and interesting.

So if you want something interesting you have to look for well known brands in cartridge design, it can be American, Australian, German, Swiss or Japanese brands.

You could use an MC, but only with external SUT + MM phono stage (or with external Headamp + MM phono stage).

However, total cost of the nice MC with nice SUT is much higher than for a decent MM or MI cartridge. Also you can’t swap the stylus on MC cartridge (only re-tip).

Also spending much for a cartridge on this cheap lightweight plastic belt drive turntable is not a good idea, the tonearm does not have adjustments, it can be too complicated to adjust a cartridge on this cheap tonearm, you can’t even change the VTA as far as i know, so stay away from expensive cartridges.

The idea to look for MM is good idea.

But what is your budget ?

As you know many people prefer NOS tubes and they are almost always better than NEW modern tubes (i tried many). Same about most of the modern MM cartridges, for some reason they are not better than NOS vintage cartridge from the golden analog era (70s/80s) when MM was a king!

Few years ago i installed Stanton 881s mkII Stereohedron on the same turntable, i also did it for a friend. He was more than happy with Stanton 881s, the stock ortofom M2 Red sound like garbage in comparison with Stanton 881s which is not even the best Stanton from the golden era.

Read this article first, then you will understand why they are so good.

Pickering XSV/3000 is a twin brother of Stanton 881s, but for the Pro-Ject tonearm slightly lower compliance (mid compliance) would be even better, there was a special version of Pickering XSV/3000 with lower compliance (15cu instead of 30cu), that version was made since 1989 and it was Pickering XSV/3000SP. You will find more online. It’s not a problem to find NOS sample of XSV/3000, but the 3000SP is very hard to find, but it’s better match for Pro-Ject arm.

Over decades audiogon members shared personal experience about vintage MM cartridges, many people compared them to very expensive LOMC. Taking in count the price difference many a’gon member prefered vintage MM to expensive MC. You can find all information on audiogon. For me it was very interesting reading for a few years :))

Some of the top MM for moderate price are: Stanton 881s, Pickering XSV/3000 and 4000, Garrott P77, Victor X-1IIe, Grace F9, AT-ML150 OCC, Ganz 31L and Astatic MF200, Jeweltone or Nagaoka MP-50, Pioneer PC-1000 mkII ... and with a higher models from the same brands you can get absolutely the best MM cartridges, but for much higher price than vintage ones.

Any thoughts on Nagaoka cartridges? Had an MP110 once which I rather enjoyed...

Here we go again, the Nagaoka MP110 has BONDED elliptical stylus, best cartridges must have NUDE stylus and better profiles (LineContact type at least). If you enjoyed entry level cartridges i can only imagine how a decent vintage MM can blew your mind away with extended frequency range, sound stage and resolution you will get from a better cartridges. 

And the 9"EVO arm is fully adjustable FYI

What you mean fully adjustable? Can you adjust azimuth of the fly like you can do with Reed 3P tonearms for example ? Or there is a VTA on the fly like on Technics tonearms ? If you can adjust VTA then the version of the arm you have is probably better than another cheaper Pro-Ject that my friend has.

And the TT is not plastic...

It was an allegory ...
Pro-Ject turntables looks like plastic and they does not have weight like a proper turntables. My turntables are metal for example.

Did you read my post before you responded?

Yes, i just missed the price point of $500, sorry

Stanton 881s mkII cost about $350 nowadays and most of the other cartridges i have mentioned are under $700 and even better. Pickering XSV-3000SP is just at your price point and a perfect match for that EVO tonearm! 

Ideally a neutral and articulate cartridge as if anything too laid back might end up making the whole system a bit too mushy. As the phono stage only has MM capabilities, LO MC cartridge isn’t an option.

Cartridges used for Disc Mastering at studios like Sheffield Lab must be absolutely neutral. When Doug Sax recorded his best he used Stanton 881s mkII as his monitoring cartridge for Disc Mastering process. This is the reason i recommend them. Doug was one of the best mastering engineer in USA. There are many others from the industry in this article where AT-ML170 OCC and Technics EPC 100c mk4 also mentioned as reference standard cartridges, they are all neutral. You will not find an equal MM cartridge from the new manufacturers, those cartridges are exceptionally good. The cheapest is Stanton ($350), the most expensive is Technics (over $2000 today), the AT-ML170 is probably $700 just to give you the idea of the prices.    

So, HO MC, or MM/MI options please. Looking to keep this under 500 and used isn’t really an option.

High Output MC is nonsense, never buy them, almost any good MM/MI is better with clear benefits of stylus replacement option!

Are these prices good used condition or NOS? Anyway these discussions got me curious and I bought an NOS 881s for $300.

Great price for a NOS unit, definitely a bargain!
I never buy beaten or bad condition cartridges, so when i share my notes about price statistics it’s for a perfect cartridges only (lightly used). Normally NOS units are more expensive, but depends on the exact model, some cartridges are very rare. Stanton is not so rare like some Japanese cartridges from the same era, but it depends on the brand and model. Stereohedron stylus can be used for 1200 hrs, so even when you’re buyin used Stanton or Pickering (with this type of stylus only) it can be used for a long time and gently used samples are worth to look for too (imo).

I have some expensive MC cartridges too. I put it on my Ikeda 407 and am very impressed. This isn’t supposed to be a recommended combination but it’s been playing for 2 weeks and sounds great. $300 very well spent.

Yes, this is exactly what i mean, some mid priced MM are just great and that particular model of Stanton with Stereohedron stylus was Doug Sax’s monitoring cartridge at Sheffield Lab Disc mastering. For your particular tonearm a lower compliance Pickering XSV-3000SP (only SP version designed for higher mass tonearms) is better match in terms of resonance. Stanton 881s is equal to Pickering XSV/3000 (compliance 30cu), but Pickering SP version compliance is 15cu and it was the latest model is 3000 series.

Glad you like Stanton 881, it’s American classics and most of the modern MM cartridges simply can’t compete to Stanton 881, 980 and 981 (also Pickering 3000, 4000, 4500, 5000 and 7500 models). However, the higher the model number - the higher the price and quality.