Help with NEW MC cartridge putchase

Jeff, some people can hear the differences and some can't. If you are comparing two very high quality items, there are probably minor differences between them. Virtually every piece of a system has its own sonic signature. But, there are some things that are fundamental. A tonearm must be rigidly fixed to the (sub)chassis of the turntable and have excellent rigidity and close tolerance bearings if it is going to allow the cartridge to retrieve the information properly from the record. If not, when the stylus traces the groove, some of the vibrations that were intended to move the stylus will be lost in the play of the bearings in the tonearm. Also, any play in the bearing of the spindle/platter assy. will have the same result. The order of importance in a record playback system is: Drive sytem, then tonearm, then cartridge. This is particularly critical when choosing a low compliance MC cartridge. Since the suspension of the cartridge is stiff, more energy is transferred to the tonearm and bearings. If the arm is not up to this task, it will lose some of the music. The cartridge cannot make up for this deficiency in the arm, no matter how good the cartridge is. So, applying a high priced cartridge to an inferior tonearm will not yield the performance improvement that you paid for. This is one reason why the tonearm/cartridge matchup is so important. Another is mass/resonance characteristics. But, again, if you put the best arm/cartridge combination in the world on a Rega 2, it will not sound as good as a Linn LP12 with medium priced tonearm/cartridge. This is because the turntable drive system is more important than the arm/cartridge, and the LP12 has a better bearing and suspension than a Rega 2. What is lost in the inferior bearing of the turntable can never be recovered by the arm/cartridge. This is why they make high end turntables. But if you can't hear the difference between two good tables then I wouldn't recommend spending any additional money on the more expensive one. There are some times when a more expensive item does not perform as well as one that costs a little less. You should trust your ears. But, your ears will develop a more sensitive capability when you are exposed regularly to very good gear. Then you may hear more differences than you did before.

Jeff Wu- Yes, with two tone arms of different designs, compliance can be a concern. Different combinations can resonate and cause trackability problems. A high compliance cartridge on a low mass arm is essentially the "tail wagging the dog", or, in other words, the cartridge will control the movement of the arm rather than the arm controlling the cartridge to stay stationary (laterally) and tracking the groove. (This is overly simplistic and I hope the high/low compliance terms are correct- I keep forgetting which is which.)

Generally speaking, most arms are medium mass and most cartridges are medium compliance, but you'll want to check before spending alot of dough only to find that you have compliance issues.

Regards
Jim

Jim and Twl

Thanks for your comments. I have VPI MK3 turntable with audioquest PT5.0 tonearm and Monster Alpha II HO cartridge with nomial output 1.5mV(high output of Moving Coil). My audio env. :preamp - SYRAH, Amp- ARC VT100 and Speaker- Aerial 10T. How can I improve the quality of sound "significantly" by upgrading the combination of tonearm and cartridge under $1200.00? Any suggestions?

Jeff, my recommendation would be to upgrade the VPI-MKIII to the MKIV package. For $800 you get the platter, bearing, and suspension of the TNT, according to the VPI web page. This would be the best improvement in your price range. The next step would be to sell your AQ arm and get a Rega RB-300. Then move up to a high end MC cartridge. For the $1200 you can spend, you could do the table upgrade and the tonearm, and still have a little left from the sale of your AQ arm to save toward the cartridge. That route would get you the best sound for your money. The other thing you may consider is to sell the whole rig and buy a nice used high end table here on the Agon that is already set up with the arm and cartridge you want.