Thanks for the feedback. I am pulling my old audible illusions pre out of mothballs if I get a mm cart. If I go the zu denon route I will probably order the Vincent poh8. I will move up the food chain later and if this whole vinyl,revival is all I am hoping that it is I will move up to a better cart. I am just trying very hard to not break the bank at this point.
Vinyl noob needs help with cartridge
I wanted to,dip into vinyl so I swung a deal on a super scoutmaster signature. I am now trying to decide on a cart. I am a vinyl newbie and have been trying to bone up on everything. I was originally going to get an ortofon 2m black, but it's more than I really want to spend. I considered the 2m bronze, the sound smith otello (or the modded version from mapleshade), and the zu audio modded denon103. Anyone have an opinion on those choices? Is the 2m black worth the extra? Any others closer to 500.00 that are of honorable mention?
Showing 7 responses by 2out2sea
thanks everyone. I hate to sound lazy, but can you link to the thread by raul? is there a vendor that handles nos cartridges? i figure a description of my system might help as well. i have an emotive audio sira custom tube pre-amp (as well as the aforementioned mothballed audible illusions), janszen za2.1a hp electrostatic speakers and am awaiting the arrival of the VPI super scoutmaster signature that should be here next week. I want to stay around the 500.00 mark for this first cartridge. crazy cartridges may come later if i find audio nirvana. i am not married to either mc or mm. i do value immense soundstage and engaging over the ability to hear a cricket fart so hopefully that helps. |
I have been reading the posts and looking at the options. I think for my first cart I am sticking with something new not nos. That way I can rely on the vendor for setup assistance, etc.. I am also leaning towards getting either an ifi micro or ckearaudio nano phono stage. I recently set set up a new mapleshade Samson rack with 4" shelves and honestly don't have the real estate for anything but a tiny phono. I don't want to have to pull my current preamp out of the rack. Plus my audible illusions limits me to mm only. The ifi and nano both allow some experimentation and adjustability will all carts. so now it's narrowed down to which phono stage and which of the following cartridges; Zu modded denon, dynavector 10x5, ortofon 2m bronze, sound smith otello or audio technica (and which one the oc9 or is the at33 worth the money)? |
Well I found http://paradoxpulse.com today and they had two dl103 left from a batch. 359.00 shipped was worth trying. Feel free to flame away. I have no experience so based on research and some recommendations I went the denon route. I will report back what I hear. This cart comes modified and burned in for either 50 or 100 hrs I can't remember which. I am hoping it is a good sound. If not then I will be glad to try other recommendations. |