Mark, I am using the phono section in the C220. The cartridge is perfectly aligned or as good as it will get. I used the MintLP (took me 3 months) and I also had it professionally setup. Overhang is close to perfect.
I did some checking and VPI is not very generous with their tonearm specs. It appears as though the JMW 9 is a low mass arm which would mate best with a moderately high to very high compliance cartridge. My cartridge is not a good match for my arm from what I read.
It does sound better than it has but I am thinking of trying a moving magnet. Ever since I took the table in to get set up, I saw with my own eyes how poorly my cartridge tracks with this tonearm on the test equipment. From what I read, it should be used with a moderate or high mass arm for best results.
The guy who set it up also told me that good MM cartridges will track much better than my cartridge. I have a Benz H2. He said the low output track better than high output MC's but you have to spend thousands (Cartridge and phono pre etc.) to get the performance. He said I could get very close to low output performance and in many cases better with MM cartridges.
That is why I am interested in MM cartridges. he said I should also get a solid state preamp/phono section if I want to pursue Low output MC. Whatever that means.
