Vintage MONO Cartridge Question ?


I am about to create a dedicated Mono TT system (I have the table and arm), and now need a cartridge.

Which would you choose as your dedicated Mono cartridge:

Ortofon ESL C60 or Concert
Fairchild 225a
Grado Mono Moving Coil

Why ?

I understand that all would need to be rebuilt before I can expect to use reliably.

Thanks !




iopscrl
lopscri wrote:
An answer to my original question ?   Buelller........Bueller.......
Maybe you should write some vintage enthusiasts, such as Art Dudley w/Stereophile. You need someone really familar with old mono carts, which isn't exactly mainstream, even for vinyl enthusiast audiophiles, evidently. I'm a bit of an anachronism myself--big band enthusiast since 1965, grew up in a house with a big tube Zenith radio/78 rpm record player. I'm 63, have been at audio since I was 18. My phono stage and line stage are both PTP hand-wired all-tube units. I have at least 80 mono LPs ranging from the '50s (Belafonte's "Calypso", RCA Ortho-phonics, etc.) to originals from the '60s to Prestige and Riverside mono jazz reissues.

And yet I have absolutely no knowledge of pre-1962 mono cartridges.


Iopscri,

You might find the answer to your specific question at Lenco Heaven. I saw a number of threads there about those carts.

Regards,

Ok, I know, this is a very old discussion. Nevertheless I´m wondering if anyone ever made a comparism of the pickups in questions.

I´ve done that with AT-3LP, AT-33 Mono, Denon DL-102, EMT OFD 15 Mono, Ortofon CG25i, GE RPX Single Play, Triple Play as well as Pierre Clement EB-25 and Fairchild 225-A. And I´ve gamed that out on Audio Technica ATP-12P, Audax KT-16, Livingstone as well as Fairchild 280-A tonearms. Furthermore I´ve pairde those pickups with Fidelity Research FR-64s and Schick 12".

Consequently some of those carts got also a run with a vintage Gray Research 602C Phono EQ.

When asked for a ranking I´d go with:

Fairchild 225-A
Pierre Clement EB-25

now nothing comes for a long time 
Ortofon CG25i
EMT OFD 15
GE PRX Single Play
GE RPX Triple Play

again nothing in here for a long time
AT-3LP, AT-33 Mono, Denon DL-102


Old thread indeed.   

be_audiophil1 "  Your ranking is interesting.  How did you arrive at your conclusions, and in what ways did the Fairchild 225a exceed the Ortofon DG25 ?   Is your Fairchild cartridge rebuilt (original stylus, cantilever, suspension) or rebuilt ?

Thanks !