@sdv0983
Audio Technica lean towards bright, so those probably wouldn’t be the best choice for me.
Technica AT-ML170 (made in 1988) is a neutrial cartridge (not bright and not dull at all) used for monitoring master disc production by comparing test pressings to the master tape. Simply read this article:
http://www.regonaudio.com/Stanton881AudioTechnicaATML70.html"Everyone is entitled to personal tastes, but truth is truth. If you want to hear something like the truth, I still say-no matter what everyone else is using-that you should buy a flat-top cartridge like the AT-ML170 and avoid all MC cartridges with a rising top-end. If the sound of live music is your goal, why would you want to hear sound which is not only untrue to its source but also is something you are seldom conscious of live".
The
Microline stylus is a very advanced, computer designed tip shape that comes very close to the shape of a cutting stylus used to produce original master discs. Few more pictures of my spare AT-ML170 on kenwood Trio headshell:
https://scontent-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/19959008_1777073555644137_6081818018625907919_n.jpg?oh... The Audio-Technica AT-ML170 is much better than anything with Jico. The hollow pipe boron cantilever of this vintage AT-ML170 MM cartridge is only 0,3mm in diameter, gold plated! A hollow BORON TUBE/PIPE cantilevers (as opposed to a modern boron ROD) has a bunch of physical advantages, including lower effective mass, and improved rigidity.