Moving coil VS moving magnet/iron


I have an interchangeable  Nagaoka MP500 and a Goldring 2500 on an SME3009R, mounted on a Linn Sondek LP12. These drive a Schiit Mani, Cambridge Azur 651P or a Project S2 Ultra as phono preamps. They all sound very good to my ears.

Is it really worth getting a Moving COIL cartridge AROUND THE SAME PRICE RANGE ? I was thinking some of the Audio Technicas like OC9III and the like. The prices of these are about the same. I listen almost exclusively to smooth jazz (hardly any vocals) and am mostly looking for very tight punchy bass.

Opinions ?

Thanks

128x128cakyol

Showing 4 responses by lewm

Roberjerman, You wrote, "Mc cartridges have a rubber damping block at the opposite end of the cantilever. This takes care of vibrations traveling up the cantilever - so no vibrations reflected back down the cantilever!"
Do you believe those dampers on MC cartridge suspensions are absolutely 100% efficient?  Is anything in the physical world 100% efficient?  Most likely, the answer is no; therefore there is energy traveling down the cantilever.  Also, if you want to suggest that Peter Ledermann is being disingenuous in order to sell cartridges, then your critique ought to include a physical explanation for why you say MC cartridges generate a superior transient response (presumably superior to MI and MM types, but you don't say).  If your explanation hinges on low inductance, explain how that might work, because I think inductance per se is a non-factor, if one chooses the proper amount of capacitance to go with.  The inductance of an LOMC is typically more than 10,000X less than that of an MM but only about 50X less than an MI; if those differences were directly proportional to transient response, I don't think we'd be having this discussion; every one of us would be using an LOMC cartridge and MI/MM types would have gone the way of the ceramic.
Peter Ledermann probably feels he has to write those essays in order to convince audiophiles, who have been brainwashed for years into paying exorbitant prices for LOMC cartridges, to give his products a try.  Also, he is a smart guy; perhaps it would be more fair to ask him to defend his theses regarding "jitter", etc, instead of smearing him here, more or less behind his back.  I think he is an honest man who believes what he says.


Yes, "ears" was used by me as a metaphor for all the other stuff you list.
I have on hand a Koetsu Urushi, ZYX UNiverse (1st version), Ortofon MC7500, Ortofon MC2000, Audio Technica ART7, and Dynavector 17D3.  The UNI, MC2000, and ART7 are my current favorite MCs, but they are not always preferred to my Acutex LPM320, B&O MMC1, Stanton 981LZS, or even my SS re-tipped Grace Ruby.  Some days I think it has as much to do with the state of my ears as to the cartridge, tonearm, turntable combo.
Mijo, all that you say makes sense, yet I do find more excellent MM and MI cartridges than MC types, among the 20 or so cartridges in my collection. Still, I’m loathe to make a categorical judgement because there are many very high end MCs I have not heard. I receive great pleasure from much less costly MM and MI types.