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matching your cartridge to your turntable

Hi folks,

I have a very modest stereo system consisting of Adcom pre and power amps and some Polk Monitor ten speakers.

I recently purchased a McIntosh MX110 and like it so far.

My source equipment is a 1229 Dual turntable and a Nackamichi CD player.

I used to like the way it sounded until my old cartridge wore out.It was a Sure V15.

I replaced it with a V12 I bought on ebay,and I never liked the way it sounded.

I then started having problems with the turntable and took it in last week to have it repaired and have the cartridge replaced.

I had read up on some cartridges in the 200-500 range and narrowed it down to either the Ortofon 2m Bronze or the Grado Prestiege gold.

The person called me from the place I took the turntable to and was telling me that he wouldn't recommend putting a cartridge over 100.00$ on my turntable due to the my turntable having a aluminum platter and light weight tone arm.He said any quality cartridge would only amplify the inherent noise present.

Does this make sense.I never noticed and excessive noise with this turntable before,but I can kind of see his point.

I guess I'am looking for a recommendation for a cartridge for the system.

Any thoughts.

I just bought a streamer also,and  plan on upgrading my power amp and speakers next.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

 

twangy57
kennyc
1,808 posts
 

The cartridge, tonearm, turntable work together to get the micro vibrations from the vinyl groove.  Tonearms+cartridge act together, so better tonearms perform better sonically.  The turntable platter material and thickness also matters, along with controlling/minimizing motor noise.

So I agree that the OPs older table would greatly hamper sonics of better cartridges.  Get an inexpensive cartridge or get a better cartridge along with a turntable upgrade.  Some turntables are offered as a turntable+cartridge combo to save money like Rega and MoFi.  

dogberry
771 posts
 

No thanks,I’ll just deal with the floaters.

Poor diagnoses result from insufficient information. Sorry.

dynacohum
691 posts
 

Twangy,

If your 1229 is running well, it shouldn't matter to you that someone else's isn't.  The repair tech you went to is entitled to their opinion, but doesn't seem to be well up on his HiFi history or core competencies.  The 1229 is a TOTL early 70s Dual and has a heavy idler driven die-cast aluminum platter, sprung motorboard suspension, low friction, low mass tonearm, and is very capable of providing a good vinyl playback experience.  Among current cartridges, I would go with an Ortofon 2M Blue or Audio Technica VM30EN, both nude ellipticals around $200.00.

Or...if your Shure V-15 only needs a stylus, get one from Jico, a VN35E Nude...https://www.jico-stylus.com/product/vn-35e-nude/

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
2,151 posts
 

Is your signal to noise ratio higher than 50%? (it is) Then there’s potentially a better rendition to be had with a better cartridge. Anyways, $100 is an odd line to draw here - even the modest Fluance tables are worthy of more-than-$100 cart, and show its worth clearly. A lightweight arm should be fine for use with most MM / MI cartridges. 

Grados have somewhat a reputation for picking up motor EMI - just be aware of that. Hagerman makes a little "humbucker" device which may or may not fit on your table (he designed it for using Grados on Regas). Other than that caveat, your choices of cartridges seem fine!

twangy57 OP
102 posts
 
kennyc

1,788 posts

Yes,this one has a has a Rega exact 2,which from what I've read is said to be warm and a little mid range heavy.

I guess we will see.

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