Jelco SA-750D cartridges

I owned a SA-750E for seven or eight years and tried it with a sh*tload of cartridges from 5g (Dynavector Karat 19A) to 12.5g (Koetsu Onyx Platinum). Basically it handled all of them very well indeed. The SA-750 isn’t the very last word in refinement, but it’s certainly a very competent arm and in terms of price/performance it can’t be beat.

As far as recommendations go, I’ll recommend what I always recommend:

A grand will get you an Audio-Technica ART9, which is about as good a cartridge as anything I’ve heard, at any price. Solid Boron cantilever, Special Line Contact stylus.

Roughly $750 will buy you an AT33Sa, which is almost as good. Tapered solid Boron cantilever, Shibata stylus.

Finally, $550 will buy you an AT33PTG/II, which is merely very, very good. Boron cantilever, MicroLine stylus.

If MM is what you want, the Audio-Technica VM760SLC and VM750SH are superb examples of the species. Astoundingly, so is the Goldring 1042 at a price of £200 (from Juno Records in London).

There are certainly excellent vintage cartridges, such as the Audio-Technicas mentioned by Chakster, but if you don’t particularly want to spend countless hours searching eBay and the like for reasonable examples and spare styli to go with them I’d just forget it.  Nor will it save you any money, more likely the opposite.

Nor do I agree that they are in any way, shape or form head and shoulders better than current cartridges. The very best of them (AT-ML170/180) may indeed have a slight edge on the top of the line VM series cartridges, but nowhere near large enough to justify the amount of time and effort required to get hold of them.

In my opinion, to my ears and as heard in my system.

If you never owned this model then do yourself a favor and find it, it is well worth the effort even if it will take several years, you may never heard anything better than this.

I've not owned it, but I've heard it, and I don't agree with your assessment at all.  I have heard better than that, but even if I hadn't I'd have zero interest in trawling the internet for weeks, months or years in order to attain a slight incremental improvement.

Nobody would pay that much if those cartridges are not significantly better than cheap AT line of modern MM cartridges you’re talking about.

That's patently and obviously untrue.  The AT-ML180 is exceedingly rare and like most things exceedingly rare it has become exceedingly expensive.  Examples of this abound in more or less any product cathegory you can think of.

Is a1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spider worth $18.5 Million because it is that much better than a Ford Focus?  Is a Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A-010 worth US$31.19 million because it is that much better at showing the time than a Casio?  Is an antique Kirman rug worth $33.76 million because it is that much better at covering the floor than a Wilton?

I think the answer in all cases are fairly obvious, as it is in the case of the AT-ML180.

Good to hear you struck gold with the 740ML.  My own examples from A-T's previous top series are superb performers, so I'm not at all surprised.

The reason I'm not interested is simply that its so very easy to buy a cartridge with equal or better sound at a lesser cost than "your" vintage Audio-Technicas.  An AT33PTG/II for example.

If I was a collector or a an obsessive fan of vintage MMs it would of course be different, but I'm neither of those.

Buying an SLC will give you two styli with very similar charcteristics, so I’d probably advise against doing that. The Shibata on the other hand will provide a little more body and a slightly richer mid range, making it rather less like buying the same thing twice. Neither the ML nor the SLC is lacking in those departments, but rather than being absolutely neutral the Shibata will add a little extra romantic ambience to the final product. If that sounds good to you, then the Shibata is my recommendation for a second stylus.

If/when you want to branch out and try an MC, Audio-Technica has you very well covered there too. The ART9, AT33Sa and AT33PTG/II all perform very well indeed in the SA-750 and either one will have you smiling in no time. I wouldn’t advise moving futher down the AT33 line though, as the AT33EV with its nude elliptical stylus is about on par with the 740ML you now use. To my ears at least it will require an AT33PTG/II to conclusively better it.

There’s also the new OC9X line of cartridges, but to date I’ve not heard any of those.

Finally I’ll just reiterate that to my ears the ART9 is one of the greatest bargains there is, equalling anything I’ve owned or heard.

As always: in my opinion, based on my ears and my system.

They are not equal and can’t be equal because you’re comparing MM and MC

I’m not, I’m comparing sound.  As heard by my ears, in my system.

I think to compare what is better you will have to....

You don’t know me from Adam, nor what I’ve done or haven’t done, owned or haven’t owned. You’re incredibly good at making baseless assumptions though, I’ll give you that.

Claiming that next new model is always better....

Which is one thing I haven’t done. Good at building straw men too.

i have nothing to say

If only. However, you keep postulating your subjective opinions as if they were handed down from the heavens and not to be disputed. For some I’m sure it sounds impressive and is quite convincing, but for someone who’s been round the block more than a few times it gets really old, really fast.