Warm sounding phono cartridge

I have about 3000 LPs, but I don’t really know exactly. For you to be able to quote a number like 31300, which suggests you actually count them is impressive. The vast majority of my LPs have no or very tolerable surface noise. If not, and if cleaning doesn’t help (VPI HW17), out they go. I’ve never felt the need for the Sweet thing.

I have to disagree slightly with chipcalzone. Proper setup is very important but because of that anyone serious enough about this hobby to come here for advice ought to take the time to learn how to do it himself (or herself). Decent tools are a nominal one time expense, and there are excellent YouTube videos on the subject , see especially M Fremer’s. Also, the choice of alignment algorithm (Lofgren vs Stevenson vs etc) is not likely to per se be the cause of a thin” sound, whatever thin may mean to the OP.

There’s practically no difference between 80 and 100 ohms load for an LOMC with an 8 ohm internal resistance. The difference certainly ought not to affect tonal balance in any significant (audible) way. But we convince ourselves anyway.

Either that or they’d rather not argue with a customer. It’s easier to just replace the cartridge than to dispute the claim, and it turns a disgruntled customer into a grateful one.

The MP 500 is a high output moving iron cartridge. So the only reasonable loading is 47,000 ohms into a moving magnet phono stage. I even use 100K ohms. There’s no accounting for the sound if something else is done.

Agree with knotscott, in my system the MP500 is a very well balanced cartridge. If anything, it has an especially rich bass register without losing detail or separation of instruments. In fact I’d recommend it to counteract a “thin” sound. I’ve never seen any comment to the effect that the MP500 treble needs taming.

Also, “thin” in and of itself is a very subjective quality. As when your wife or girlfriend asks do I look thin in this dress? Maybe you can amplify on your definition of thin (sounding, not looking).

Azimuth is about crosstalk, the fraction of the R channel signal that appears in the L channel, and vice-versa. How does that affect “noise”?