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Warm sounding phono cartridge

Hello all.  I recently upgraded the phono cartridge on my Marantz TT15S1 from the Clearaudio cartridge that came with the table to a Hana Umami Blue.  I'm overall happy with the purchase.  However, while the Hana has made my well cared for and well recorded LP's sound excellent many of my albums now sound thin to me and noisy. Clicks and pops have been exacerbated to the point that I do not want to play some records even after a run through my Degritter ultrasonic.

I'm looking for a phono cartridge MM, MC or MI in the $1,000 range or less that is warm sounding and less revealing than the Hana.  Any thoughts?  

rfauto

Showing 2 responses by inna

inna
7,923 posts
 

Yeah.

lewn, can you set up cartridge by ear only, without any tools ?

inna
7,923 posts
 

I don't know what causes this kind of sound but it shouldn't be like that for sure.

I'll just mention Goldring 1042 as well because that's what I have for my Nottingham Spacedeck/Spacearm. I used to use Acoustech phono stage but now use VAC Avatar's SE phono. This is not a warm cartridge, it is on the warmer side of the range. To my ear it sounds balanced and just right. Of course, one can do significantly better even with the same set-up but at much higher cost. I once wanted to replace it with Nagaoka MP500 but changed my mind, I just see no good reason to replace it.

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