Recs for a 2nd tonearm cart

Anyone ?

I've dabbled in this crazy and expensive hobby for 50 years, and could never understand why anyone would want a 2nd tonearm.  I must have had 15 or so, but only one at a time.

What kind of music do you listen to? If you listen to classical or jazz, my first suggestion would be to add a mono cart. There are lots of great recordings that are only available in mono and playing them back with a mono cart really makes a difference.

Or if you want a stereo cartridge, something with a bit more romance could be a good complement: Miyajima, Koetsu, or SPU.

In analog I listen mostly to Jazz. I hardly own any monos.
My initial thought was the Miyajima kansui or a madake if I find a pre owned one.

@icorem I’ve seen used Kansui 6 times at least, from different sellers.
The best thing about it is that you can re-tip it in Japan at Miyajima for very reasonable price. And if you buy new from Robyn Wyatt in US you can return it if you don’t like it (trial policy). You can also buy from Mehran at Sora Sound. I was thinking about it myself buy money is tight at the moment (will stick to my MM carts). I also owned ZYX Premium 4D with SB2 on Reed 3p "12. 

BTW the engineer of Reed 3P said Miyajima is not the best match for 18g Reed 3P i have. However i’ve tried so many cartridges (mid, high and low compliance) on my Reed and all of them sounds amazing on this arm.

If the Miyajima would benefit from a heavier tonearm, you could put in the Ortofon and use a heavier headshell? The ZYX should sound great in the Reed.

Dear icorem: IMHO the Colibri is a very good performer and has nothing to envy to other top cartridges as the ZYX.

Why you are not satisfied with?  did you returned to VdH after around 300 hours of play to fine tunning it? which are the frequency range or performance areas where you think is not up to your priorities against the ZYX?

In the other side the sampsa55 advice is a good one and you can test the Colibri in your other tonearm with different headshells.

I owned and own at least 4 diferent Colibri's over the time, no it's not a perfect cartridge but no one is. As everything in audio always exist trade-offs.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Raul

It's not that i'm totally against the Colibri but at some times I find it too bright to my taste and when it is good - it is too close to the Zyx Uni2 which I find much better overall.
I'm short some 100 hours from the 300 hour mark but i plan to utilize the 300h fine tunning service and maybe I will fall in love with it again...
I'm after a more romantic type of sound for my 2nd cart so it might be a Miyajima...