Clearaudio Virtuoso vs. Maestro

Dear Honest1: I own the Virtuoso and is a fine cartridge. I can't compare against the Maestro because I never made that real comparison, I heard the Maestro and like me and seems to me a little more " refined ".

These Clearaudio are competitive but if you want something that can/could compete with top LOMC cartridges then IMHO this one is a good alternative:

http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=NAGAOKAMP050&Category_Code=NAGAOKACART

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

I had a Maestro and it was an excellent cartridge which I thought had great detail until I got a ZYX airy 3SB (MC).

Hi Honest1

The first Maestro was damaged by the stupid factor involving me, the Cardas Sweeper Record and a friend. The second Maestro had about five years on it and again, the stupid factor with myself and the same friend took over and I allowed the cantiler to swing into a tool. The diamond seemed worn. I'm sure the cart had well over 1200 hours on it. I was trying to recalibrate the cartridge and my friend and I were both tired when stupid occured.

The reason I on my third Maestro is that nothing is as satisfying without going into MC units such as Van Den Hul, or Koetsu

Lev - Why are you on your 3d Maestro? Did they wear out / break? Were they defective from the manufacturer? I didn't think the cartridge has been on the market long enough to go through 2 already.

Havent compared directly with Virtuoso, but my Maestro Wood has excellent resolution and much greater detail than the Clearuadio Aurum Beta S it replaced. Easy to match with Phono stage, great tracker and good PRaT. Sure there are better carts if you want to spend more $$ but dont forget the law of diminishng returns. Difference of roughly 100 bucks between Virtuoso and Maestro wood. Works for me but YMMV.

I've owned both and am waiting on my 3rd replacemnet Maestro Wood. If I do anything different, I might try the retipping by Soundsmith with the special V tip. I have not heard a better MM cart than the Maestro. The best cart I have experienced was a Van Den Hul Frog.

My friend swears by his hi output Denon DL 106, but I'm a bit skeptical when comparing to the Maestro.

I am just breaking in a Maestro, which replaced a trusty Virtuoso Wood I had for years. Right out of the box, the Maestro has greater resolution - easier to hear into the mix, and better resolved timbre of instruments - coupled with even better power delivery in the lower mids and bass. So far a definite improvement, and presumably will be even better with 100 hours or so on it.