I recently acquired a Hana Umami Red cartridge, and right out of the box it improved my system by about 25%, and it needs over 100 hours of breaking in; it replaced Clearaudio's top-of-the-line MM cartridge, the $2K Charisma II. The Hana is twice as expensive, yes, but worth every penny of that; the difference is enormous; I want to listen to all my records all over again with this cart....
Suggestions for cartridges for Rega P8
I have had my van Den Hul MC One Special for 14 years - first one for 9 until the stylus completely disintegrated and I had the opportunity (probably because of Covid) to replace it instead of sending it to the Netherlands for maintenance for not that much more $$, so I jumped on it. The reason I am considering it is because I significantly increased my listening time because of Covid and continue to do so with great enjoyment.
In the past 5 years I am sure I have put at least 3000 hours on it (maybe 3500-4000) and I don't want to wait for an emergency and be without a cartridge possibly, even for a few days. so I think I am going to proactively replace it since the only other cartridge I have is far inferior.
I am considering changing to a different cartridge (including a VDH Frog if I can get a good deal) even though I am very happy with the sound, but after 14 years, it might be nice to try something new. I was wondering what other P8 (or P10 or Naia) owners are using, especially if they have had a few different cartridges to compare and how they like them, especially if they have tried a perfectly compatible Rega cartridge which I have heard are inferior and overpriced.
If others want to contribute you are welcome to, but I am not interested in changing my phono stage-Sutherland Insight with LPS, integrated amp-Plinius 8200MkII or KEF R500 speakers. As has been the case for the past 40 + years, the front end of my system is the best part of my system (because that is the most important IMO since the original signal starts out the best and can't be improved no matter how much you spend down the line).
The key factors for me are:
1) Of course sound quality - clean, detailed, with good range and dynamic with tight bass
2) compatibility with my phono stage - most likely a medium output MC, say .4-.7 uV so the Sutherland can handle it within its nice range of impedence and gain (100-47K ohms, 40-60 dB of gain, each with 3 steps between the min and maxes)
2) light weight to match well with the Rega RB880 arm - I am not interested in any tweaks to have to add weight to the arm or headshell to accommodate admittedly unlimited choices, although if I have to use a spacer for the non VTA arm, that's OK
3) good value with a long lasting stylus (the VDH is superb in that regard)
I can probably get something for trading in my cartridge and whoever buys it can send it in for a new stylus and basically have a new cartridge.
Thanks for your opinions/recommendations.
- ...
- 20 posts total
Why Not, One Can have the Cartridge and the Overhaul down the line for a combined $2.1K quite a few thousand hours on the table with a cutting edge Cart’ for not too much monies. Buying this Cart’ used and taking up the rebuild down the line, will be great VFM if the first purchase is a very good sample. https://audioxpress.com/news/nagaoka-unveils-mp-700-moving-permalloy-cartridge " Just fitted a Nagaoka MP700. Very impressed so far, it gives little or nothing away in air and space to my Koetsu, which is a surprise, with the added MM drive in the bass. The Koetsu has a little more detail in the bass by comparison, but not a great deal in it. Only has about an hour on it so far, so hopefully will get even better. I was hoping for good things, but how good it actually is was a real surprise. "
|
Nobody but @drbond is saying whether they are using (or have used) a P8 or it's provided arm, the RB880. @yoyoyaya - interstingly enough, when the MC One Special was on my Rega P5, the guy put a spacer in, but when I moved it to the P8, the guy I bought the P8 from took the spacer out. When I replaced the MC one with a new one, there was no conversation about using a spacer. |
@OP For VdH, you want the horizontal strakes on the side of the cartridge to be about parallel with the surface of the record. Roy Gandy has some persuasive arguments as to why VTA doesn't matter, but I'm not totally convinced. It matters less than a lot of people say but it does have an effect on sound quality. |
- 20 posts total