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Pro Ject Debut Carbon improvement possibilities

Good Day All,
In the past couple years I’ve been slowly re-entering the vinyl universe.  My current vinyl set up is a Pro Ject Debut Carbon with an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge (the turntable came with a 2M Red, the Blue was a marked improvement), a Schiit Mani phono pre, and I also recently changed from the standard issue steel platter to the acrylic one. I’ve noticed a mild improvement with this platter change, most especially in improved bass quality.  I have been using the manufacturer supplied cables to connect to the Mani, and I’m going to scrounge around the house today to see if I have a set of Blue Jean cables to swap in, as I use Blue Jean in the rest of my system.  So that’s the first possible improvement I’ll try. But where to go from there?  I’m consider moving up to the Ortofon Bronze, but what other cartridge choices in that price range should I consider? Will vibrapods be a worthwhile improvement?  They are very affordable, and I’ve heard good things. My stereo rack is substantial, home made with solid steel bar and veneered MDF.  MC instead of MM?  A different phono pre?  I listen to a wide variety of music, but what I’m most enjoying in the vinyl realm are jazz recordings, mostly older in both new and older pressings, and smaller scale classical recordings.  Any suggestions appreciated, I’m still way down on the learning curve regarding vinyl playback. It’s been a long time since I first dropped the JC Penny’s tone arm onto Led Zeppelin II, and things are a lot better now. 

Much thanks,
Dave
dprincipato

Showing 1 response by chakster

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
You already have an Ortofon, try something completely different, what’s the estimate budget ? I’ve been buying MM and MI cartridges for the past 7 years nonstop and i am very impressed by most of them. Price range for very nice working horses is $300-800 and there are so many amazing cartridges in this range.

With 2M you can improve with the stylus profile, but it’s the same cartridge, i think you can always try some classics that inspired many audiophiles for 40 years. Something that very musical and very involving like it should be, but not from the digital era, look for the best from analog era when MM was a king! 
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