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Fun with MM cartridge

Greetings,

I haven’t listened to a MM cartridge in over 35 years. Since I bought my first MC cartridge there was no need for me to listen to MM cartridges any longer. They just extract more music from records.

I have 3 turntables in my system, all with different MC cartridges. A few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to pull out one of my MM cartridges from my toy box and give it a listen. I installed a Grado XTZ on the TT. Gave it a listen, it sounded dull and lifeless. It’s a hard cartridge to drive, has a low output. I even move it to my MC input on my phono drive to get more gain. Same outcome. I was disappointed with the sound, since it has very few hours on it. Went to my toy box and installed a Grace F9E cartridge. Put on an album and gave it a listen. It put a big smile on my face. What a nice sounding cartridge. It had a good sound stage, bass was good, had good width, depth and height. Played a few more records, it is a fun cartridge to listen too.

I still prefer my MC cartridges but the F9E will stay on my TT for right now. Every once in a while I’ll listen to it, just to have fun.

Joe Nies 

joenies

Showing 5 responses by lewm

lewm
13,476 posts
 

I know it’s only a matter of semantics, but cartridges drive phono stages. Not vice-versa. Sorry.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

Chakster is not giving away his NOS ATML-170. That's for sure.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

11. Very hard to find a real one. I haven't hunted voraciously for one, but I do hunt other vintage cartridges in the usual places, and I cannot recall ever seeing one for sale.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

The Grado TLZ used to be my one and only cartridge for many years. The XTZ is an upgrade that I never have heard but by all accounts it is at least as good if not better.  I still have my TLZ, which must by now be nearly 40 years old. I've been meaning to listen to it again, but with any cartridge that has been in storage, I recommend an extensive break-in period.  I would use tracks suitable for that, to be found on the Cardas test LP.

lewm
13,476 posts
 

Joenes, The Grado XTZ is a moving iron (MI) cartridge, not an MM, and it is a great cartridge. Your sample may have deteriorated during storage or may come back to greatness, if you run it for a while.  Use 47K ohms input Z.  It would not be expected to work well into an MC input with a typical MC input Z of 100 ro 1000 ohms. And yes, it needs more gain than a typical MM. And yes, the Grace Ruby is also a superb cartridge.  Re-tip with the SoundSmith OCL on a ruby cantilever makes it even much better.

mwh77, The Nagaoka is also a Moving Iron cartridge, not an MM cartridge. Both the Grado and the Nagaoka series (MP200 to 500) are MI.

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