Robes,
I will try and address a few of your questions:
"my pre-amp is fine but if I go to an MM cart I really need to upgrade to a phono stage because most MM's perform best at 100X amplification & my Yamaha has the standard 47K which robes me of total cart performance. "
I don't really understand the comment above. 47K is the standard loading for a MM cartridge. You also have some option for changing the pf load for MM cartridges. With regard to MC you have fixed loading and to optimize the setup of a MC cartridge you may need to change the loading, although 100 ohms may be just fine. If you use a MC cartridge the output should be no less than .5 mv You should try your existing phono stage, it will work, but it will not perform as well as a dedicated and more expensive phono stage, so you may want to upgrade it later.
"MM carts perform as well or better then some of the most expensive MC's out there for far less in price. But, the drawback being its "so hard to set up an MM". "
MM cartridges can be very good performers, but IMO the best MC cartridges are better. MM cartridges are no more difficult to set up than MC cartridges. There is a giant thread on this topic in the Audiogon forums. It has not yet reached a conclusion in more ways than one.
"From my reading it also seems of benefit to go with the “Periphery Outer Ring Clamp” to this VPI Prime"
IMO this may result in slightly better playback, but is a major PITA and not something I would use.
Look at the link below under cartridge and turntable setup. There are a number of useful articles:
https://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/d.mpl?audio/faq.html
Good luck with your turntable search.
Best Regards,
Jim Perry
I will try and address a few of your questions:
"my pre-amp is fine but if I go to an MM cart I really need to upgrade to a phono stage because most MM's perform best at 100X amplification & my Yamaha has the standard 47K which robes me of total cart performance. "
I don't really understand the comment above. 47K is the standard loading for a MM cartridge. You also have some option for changing the pf load for MM cartridges. With regard to MC you have fixed loading and to optimize the setup of a MC cartridge you may need to change the loading, although 100 ohms may be just fine. If you use a MC cartridge the output should be no less than .5 mv You should try your existing phono stage, it will work, but it will not perform as well as a dedicated and more expensive phono stage, so you may want to upgrade it later.
"MM carts perform as well or better then some of the most expensive MC's out there for far less in price. But, the drawback being its "so hard to set up an MM". "
MM cartridges can be very good performers, but IMO the best MC cartridges are better. MM cartridges are no more difficult to set up than MC cartridges. There is a giant thread on this topic in the Audiogon forums. It has not yet reached a conclusion in more ways than one.
"From my reading it also seems of benefit to go with the “Periphery Outer Ring Clamp” to this VPI Prime"
IMO this may result in slightly better playback, but is a major PITA and not something I would use.
Look at the link below under cartridge and turntable setup. There are a number of useful articles:
https://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/d.mpl?audio/faq.html
Good luck with your turntable search.
Best Regards,
Jim Perry