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Which cartridge in a Nottingham Analogue?



I'm thinking of going with the Nottingham Analogue Interstate Junior with the Nottingham tone arm.
I've been given the option of numerous cartridges but I don't know a( what their sound signature is like and b)How will they work in the Nottingham if I like the sound clean and detailed?

If anyone has opinions on any of these please feel free to share. Thanks very much by the ay the advice is helpful.
So, in no particular order my options are

Benz Micro MC-Gold
Dynavector 10x5
Ortofon Quintet Blue
Clearaudio Concept MC
Clearaudio Performer v2
Denon DL 103R
Grado Reference Platinum 1
Grado Statement Sonata 1
Ortofon 2M Black
Transrotor Cantare
Sumiko Blue Point EVO III
rob-in-spain

Showing 2 responses by lewm

lewm
12,563 posts
 
Surprisingly to me, no one has asked what is the effective mass of the Nottingham tonearm? That alone would be a major determinant of your choice of cartridges. Those on your list span the gamut from high to low compliance. (You want to mate a low compliance cartridge to a tonearm with high effective mass, and vice-versa. You may have to do some internet searching to determine the definitions of those terms, which are kind of muddy, I admit.) This is not necessarily a sine qua non (the rule can be broken on the odd occasion with success), but it is a good place to start.
lewm
12,563 posts
 
FWIW, with a tonearm effective mass of 11.25 gms, which is "medium", you have a wide variety of choices. According to theory, a typical high compliance/low output MC cartridge will work fine in that tonearm but probably not super optimally, which, as you say, you don't care about. The good thing about having a tonearm with a lower effective mass than optimum is that you can quite easily increase effective mass by adding a mass to the headshell. We all "just want to listen" to our favorite music.
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