Clearaudio Virtuoso Ebony Wood or Ortofon 2M Black Cartridge?

Shayatin, You might want to rethink this. If you have a $900 budget there might be a better choice. What kind of phono stage do you have?

Regards,

Shayatin, I was thinking about what you might be able to get in that price range and if it was a little more, you'd be able to pay the difference. This could be a little complicated in your situation I guess.

I don't have experience with an Elite AVR phono, but I knew of someone who did. He said the MM side was remarkably good, but the MC was not and he used a head amp. Maybe it's better, at least for now, to stick with a HO cart.

You're choosing between 2 overpriced carts IMO, but most of the great ones are vintage. I think the descriptions of their sounds are accurate. The 2M Black has an aluminum cantilever and nude shibata tip and a replacement stylus is $500 (gulp). Clearaudio will tell you the stylus has to be replaced by the factory, but it's BS. All the Clearaudio MMs are modified AT-95E. I doubt if you'd be able to tell my V1 Virtuoso from my modified 95, if I used the same stylus in both. That said, if you send the cart to Soundsmith for stylus upgrade you'll have an excellent MM. You can also use AT95 upgrade replacement stylus if you trim off excess plastic.

Thought you'd like to know a little more about these.

Regards,

Johnnyb, Clearaudio is creative with specs without necessarily lying. When V2 series was released, output was bumped up on top models due to stronger magnets. Last I looked this was scaled back to be the same as all the others. Maybe they didn't like the higher output?

AT is/was OEM for about a jillion MMs, but I would guess Clearaudio buys in batches and sorts it themselves. Look at the entry MM and check the separation spec. I don't doubt that Clearaudio sorts them. My Virtuoso has virtually identical resistance/inductance in each channel. An AT95 might vary more and that's indicated by limited sample testing, but I suspect it's true.

I'm quite sure that AT makes the stylus also, because of manufacturing similarities. The Maestro could be a boron/ML, but I don't know this as fact. I'm not trying to make a case against this choice as I think it has nice potential. A Soundsmith cantilever/tip is less expensive than a 2M stylus and those Jico or Vivid Line replacements sound good.

There are pages of discussion about this in the MM/MI thread. Clearaudio made a good choice using AT, IMO. BTW, my 95 is potted and has a custom aluminum top plate. I like to tinker.

Regards,

The enclosure of the 95 is mostly aluminum. The top is plastic. Some people disagree with your body material assessment, thinking the 150 deluxe body is unnecessarily heavy and the plastic is better damped.

Some others say the CA V2 has too much wood.  I wouldn't know.

The AT 150 and 440 are entirely different in both generator and stylus. Lowest inductance is TOTL, but you can get similar motors in the 100E and 5V bodies - same stylus fitment. The 120/440 body has the same basic motor as in the 160ML, 155LC and many of the AT classics. The 490mH generator was their go-to TOTL for years. It's generally easier to get flat response with it. Put a 150 stylus on a 440 and it's silly good.

CA makes a $15K cart. Why would they want to reinvent the MM ? The 95 is the perfect candidate for modification. Its 400mH motor splits the difference between the 150 and 440 and is a dream come true in the budget category. AFAIK CA never lied about their MM origins and they can't be expected to advertise it.  I like my Virtuoso. You can even use a trimmed 3472 series P-mount stylus on there and it's even better than the 95 replacements, but I read that Soundsmith now offers boron/micro so you can turn it into a virtual Maestro/Virtuoso.

Regards,