Yes, I love the delicacy of the sound. What MM might you suggest though?
Still looking for a new Moving Coil Cartridge
I noticed that Music Direct has 20% off cartridge sale on select cartridges. I am still using a ZU/Denon DL103 MC cartridge Series 1 with the cartridges tightest tolerances. I purchased it here from “Audiofiel” back in 2010 and have used it sparingly since. I had been using a Dynavector DV20XL cartridge which I bought a couple of years ago but my 6 yo nephew destroyed it (that’s another story) so I am back to the ZU/Denon.
My table is a Technics SL1200G which I truly love. I have been looking at the Hana Low out put MC cartridges. I am interested in the low output “S” series as the $600.00 price is right where I want to be. Now, the million dollar questions: I listen to 95% 60’s, 70’s and 80’s Rock and want whatever cartridge I purchase to make the records sound good without excessive surface noise. Will the Hana S be up to the task? My Mac C2500 tube preamp has cartridge loading from 50 ohms up to 1000 ohms so I should be ok. I just want to be sure this cartridge will be very musical and full bodied sound. I do no want a thin sound. So there you have it, yay or neigh?
Showing 11 responses by stereo5
I am a little nervous about a wood body. Does the Grado have threaded holes or do you need to use those impossibly tiny nuts? If it doesn't have threaded holes, it would be a non-starter for me. My hands are not as steady as they were just a few years ago and an accident most likely would happen. I wish I had kept my Shure V15 type 3 and my expensive Pickering and ADC cartridges from the 70's era. Everything sounded great with those MM cartridges. Fresh Air 2 sounded amazing back then. |
In my OP I said I wanted little surface noise. That does not imply my records are dirty. I have a VPI 16.5 RCM and all my records have been cleaned and put back in the jackets. I just don’t want a cartridge that emphasizes the surface noise and I want whatever cartridge I buy to sound fantastic with Rock music. There have been a lot of different cartridge recommendations but no one is telling me they will make my rock records sing. Does anyone have first hand experience in the cartridges recommended with rock music? |
I think I may order the new version of my broken Dynavector. Although I hate to throw $1200.00 into it, it doesn’t seem like the cheaper cartridges will do what I want. I was really hoping to get out of this for $600 to $700 bucks. I will have to check with member “Kron” as he sells new Dynavector cartridges at a small discount. |
@knownothing , Thank you very much for the tip on Elusive Disc. I haven't been to that site in years, forgot about them. Not a big fan of the Ortofon 2M Black but the AT cartridges look promising. |
Mostly because I have a very excellent MC phono pre built into my Mac C2500 tube preamp. I decided to go with a MM phono cartridge and purchased an AT VM540 cartridge. It came in around $300 on a factory mounted headshell. My Rock records really sing now and I couldn’t be happier. Thank you and everyone else that contributed to this thread. |
It certainly was under my radar. I got a couple dozen PM singing the praise of the AT MM cartridges, especially the VM 540 and their more expensive siblings. I purchased a mounted AT direct from AT and only had to slide the cartridge back a bit to set the proper overhang. I was truly up a running in less than 10 minutes. I can’t believe how great this cartridge sounds, it is just what my Rock records needed. It was like putting premium gas in my old 360 Duster back in the day! |