Good MM cart for AS-212s

If you can stretch the budget to $400, the Soundsmith Otello is another great budget cart. A MM stage will drive it fine.

It’s rebuildable, so in case of a crash, I believe it’s $100.

I use LOMC, and have one as a backup. Excellent midrange.

I’m interested in the Pickerings but a little hesitant to get NOS stylus. Also, does the brush make a difference?

the brush is removable, so you can try with brush or without brush, i use those Stanton Pickering with brush. This is an old TAS article that will help you to understand why those Stanton / Pickering are so good. Find a huge fan club of Stanton / Pickering cartridges on another forum, there are knowledgeable people who tried all of them and even released a book about them with all information.

I sold a NOS stylus last year and it was factory sealed, look here for the images of that sample.

Expert Stylus & Cartridge Co in UK specialize in service of vintage Stanton / Pickering with brand new Paratrace stylus! Ask if you need contact. This is the option when NOS original is not available.

The AT’s give me the most choice and seem to be in the range of compliance. I think trying to find a cart that is a little on the warm side will be a great match.

Audio-Technica cartridges are good, but the best from AT are not the new MM models, but vintage models from the 80s, they are expensive, at least twice as much compared to Stanton Pickering gems. Some of the best AT MM are way over your budged, way over $1k

Michael Fremer posted about Pickering in his blog. He even managed to interview the master, there is an audio file with the interview.

Pickering cartridges are superb, finally i managed to complete my collection with all models from 3000 to 7500 series this year.

What about old Empire or Grace cartridges?

You’d better search on another forums about Grace if you want to expand the information and opinions. Audiogon is useless nowadays in this category.

SoundSmith can service vintage Grace just like Expert Stylus can service vintage Pickering and Stanton, so no problem with those cartridges even when OG styli are not available.

It seems like you will never get recommendation on audiogon for vintage MM/MI cartridges, people will fill your request only with Nagaoka, AT, SoundSmith, Goldring. Why ? Because they never tried vintage cartridges or does not have them anymore, some people just lost their interest, some people are too old and prefer to buy from the shops only within USA where they live. Some people are just not an experts and will repeat what reviewers posting about cartridges in online magazines and on their blogs, but they do not review vintage cartridges and have no clue about most of them, they never compare them to brand new cartridges. When you will search for vintage MM on audiogon you will find tons of information in the old posts, mainly from the members who stop posting on audiogon many years ago, i learned a lot from them myself. You will never find giant-killer vintage MM/MI cartridges from the shops, only from private collectors and audiophiles, let’s face it.

Raul, 

The Sumiko EVO looks interesting! It's output of 2.5 is what the referenced output of the 5650 phono stage. 

Thanks for all this great info!! I appreciate the mass calculation it makes things more clear.

I think the Nagaoka's or Audio Technica's look good. The AT's give me the most choice and seem to be in the range of compliance. I think trying to find a cart that is a little on the warm side will be a great match. The 5650 has triode like qualities but also can be very quick and detailed, so a little warmth won't hurt. 

I'm interested in the Pickerings but a little hesitant to get NOS stylus. Also, does the brush make a difference? 

High output MC's I usually would not shy away from, I enjoyed a Denon DL-110, but I'm concerned that they would be too strident, although that is a statement made naively. 

What about old Empire or Grace cartridges? 

 

Dear @enobenetto : You can choose between Ortofon, Nagaoka, Goldring, Audio Technica, Sumiko today MM cartridges.

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa15e3-sumiko-bluepoint-special-evo-iii-homc-new-cartridges

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9echh-sumiko-olympia-mm-moving-magnet-cartridge-brand-new-cartridges

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa144h-cambridge-audio-alva-mc-high-output-moving-coil-cartridge-new-23977-cartridges

this is the top of the Ortofon line but you can choose the Red or Blue:

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa10g1-ortofon-2m-black-mc-cartridge-mint-cartridges

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa03ih-benz-micro-mc-silver-brand-new-cartridges

https://www.lpgear.com/product/NAGAOKAMP200.html   and exist the MP-150 for lower price.

https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/cartridges/1d03e057c2ad819c/index.html


Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS;
R.

Hi, as i can see effective mass of your Ortofon tonearm is 3.5g without headshell, the mid mass headshell is about 10-12g, so the total mass with shell is about 14g. 

Any suggestions would be helpful and the max budget would be $300 (although bargain giant-killers are favored ;)

probably too low for giant-killers, but very close if you considering Pickering XSV/3000SP (the SP version is better for your arm because the compliance for SP version is 15cu). With lighter headshell you could use higher compliance cartridges such as Stanton 881s mkII (compliance is 30cu). Both models have Stereohedron nude diamonds. One of the best profiles, extended frequency range, long life span. Very involving sound presentation. Highly recommended! From the golden age of analog. really great Moving Magnet cartridges for reasonable cost today. 

In my opinion those cartridges are better than modern MM cartridges at this price or even higher priced units.