Need cartridge advice for turntable

11-20-08: Audiofeil
Nima is a unipivot with a medium effective mass. Consequently it works best with cartridges in the 12-15 compliance range. That being said, almost every Benz, Zyx, Clearaudio, etc. suits your needs well. If you prefer moving magnet, look at Goldring, Audio Technica, Grado, etc.

Given that $200-400 Audio Technica and Denon cartridges can approach the sound and performance of $1K cartridges due to economy of scale, what would you get with a $1K Denon LOMC?

I've heard very good things about the Denon DL-S1. It's $949 at LP Gear, and has a compliance of 14.

Audiocubes2 has it for $849. They also carry premium Audio Technicas, such as the AT33R Limited Edition for $899. It has a dynamic compliance of 10, so it may be a tad too stiff.

At $449, this one looks intriguing, given its 6-nines PCOCC copper throughout and neodymium magnets, It only weighs 6.9g and has a dynamic compliance of 13.

Dear Largebard: As Audiofeil posted you have many choices, here are some of them:

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1232217710&/Lyra-Skala--lightly-used-trade-in-
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1232212003&/Shelter-90x--retipped-by-Soundsmith--Ruby
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1231822785&/Benz-Micro-ruby-2-wood
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1231432819&/Sao-Win-SMC-10
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1231646149&/AudioQuest-7000-NSX
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1231521537&/Cartridge-Man-Music-Maker-Classic

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

i'll say it again...buy an AT150mm for a couple hundered bucks and leapfrog over an ocean of so called high end cartridges that sell up to(and over)1k....and yes, I have more than a few of those too.

The 103 and Nima are a very bad match due to the Denon's very low compliance. The accident is unfortunate but here's a chance to really improve your front end.

Nima is a unipivot with a medium effective mass. Consequently it works best with cartridges in the 12-15 compliance range. That being said, almost every Benz, Zyx, Clearaudio, etc. suits your needs well. If you prefer moving magnet, look at Goldring, Audio Technica, Grado, etc.

You have many choices.

The Denon 304 is a very good cartridge and is around $400, I use it myself. If someone else made it it would cost $800 or $1000. Denon has kept it's prices down, the 103 costs less than it did years ago. I just bought a Denon 110 as a demo cartridge for the Scout ; In 1984 it cost about the same as the Dynavector 10x 4 and received the same reviews, now it is a quarter the price. Don't confuse the 304 with the 103 series; the 304 is a much more modern design. Look at online reviews. It is low output.