Vintage vs newer phono cartridge

Keep. Use. Enjoy.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/rebuild-monster-cable-alpha-2.705478/

https://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue49/omega.htm

and so on.
exhibit A:

In what now seems like another lifetime, I was sitting in an audiobuddies listening room auditioning his newly acquired Monster Cable Alpha 2 moving coil cartridge. Mounted in a Linn Ittok arm, the cartridge’s rather puny for the day 0.3 mV output clearly tested the limits of his conrad-johnson Premier 3’s phono section. Despite this deficiency, there was no doubt in either of our minds that the Monster Cable Alpha 2 was the real deal. The Monster Cable Alpha 2, unlike many cartridges of its generation, demonstrated that we were only tapping into but a fraction of the musical information in those record grooves. Well recorded guitar LPs had a better sense of speed, articulation, resolution and reproduction of harmonic overtones. Even more impressive was the Alpha 2’s ability to recreate the original recording’s soundstage and orchestral layering. In fact, the Monster Cable Alpha 2 was so good that it became the gold standard by which other cartridge’s soundstaging was judged. (I’m really curious how the Alpha 2 cartridge would perform nowadays given proper break-in time, being mounted in today’s far better designed arms e.g.. better resonance control, bearings, machining, wires, etc. as well as modern day phono sections capable of amplifying a low output MC cartridge without noise or dynamic constriction.)

Now the story doesn’t end there. As it turns out, the ZYX Omega G moving coil cartridge is designed by none other than Hisayoshi Nakatsuka, the same person responsible for the design of the aforementioned Monster Cable Alpha 2. Long story short, Nakatsuka ‘s latest thoughts on cartridge design, the ZYX Omega G moving coil cartridge, turned out to be just as spectacular sounding in my present day system as did his Monster Cable Alpha 2 in my audiobuddies rig 25 years ago.

and many more stories like this....

FYI, the cartridge compared to his memory of the Alpha 2, is a $6500US cartridge.

Based on my experience as the owner of the Alpha 2 many years ago:

First of all, heed the fact that it’s output is .3 mv.  If your preamp and overall gain structure of your system is comfortable with this output level, read on.

Good cartridge.  However, definitely a cartridge that lets you know that it is a MC.  Not terribly zippy or harsh in the highs like many early(ish) MC’s, but definitely not the smoothest highs and upper mids like those of later generation MC’s, including Monster’s own.  Newer MC’s get closer to blurring the lines the between MC’s and MM’s.  I got good results with tube preamps, but was problematic with the SS preamps that I used at the time (Remember that this was 30+ yrs ago).  It has good detail and speed with excellent imaging, but is a little lean according to my tastes and what I consider realistic.  The later Monster Genesis 2000 which I still own is a much superior cartridge, IMO.

Bottom line for me is that if you like that type of presentation I can’t imagine being able to get a new cartridge that is better for what you could sell the Alpha 2 for, given its age.  

Good luck.

If you have a decent phonostage, it should sound great-barring any deterioration of suspension.
I remember hearing it in the late 80's.

Thanks for the input. My preamp is a ML7a that is set up for low output cartridges. I can't change it so I have to stay mc. My whole system in vintage. I think I will open it this weekend.
Thanks again
partroysound

I installed it this past weekend. Better than I expected. Surpassed the alpha 1 and dynavector ruby I have even using for the past 20 years. Thank you for the push into better.
Partroysound