Which cartridge ?


Ok , has been talked about till death but even then I need help . Believe me if there were anyway I could listen to my options on my rig I wouldn't be here with this question as I'm one of those who believes in hearing in your rig before commiting to buying .

Having said that I recently destroyed my Ortofon Salsa MC cartridge . Don't ask , I'm pretty pissed off as it is . Having read great reviews on the Nagaoka MP110 my daughter got me one for fathers day . Overall Im not satisfied with it . I don't know what it is . Maybe an incompatability with tonearm mass or what ever .

After the disaster with the Ortofon I had a old Grado Black hanging around which I had never used for years . Mounted it on my turntable . It sounded very good . To my ears and taste , liked it better then the Nagaoka MP110 .
Now Im in the market for a Cartridge to replace my Ortofon . Been searching and shopping and have nailed down my options to these . 
Denon DL 103R and DL 110
Audio Technica OC9 cartridge line
Ortofon Quintet Red
Grado Red3 Grado Gold3 and New Grado Timbre . ( I have read that in the Grado Prestige line you can get progressively better sound up to the Red . That the Gold sounds inferior to the Red but since I've read that many swear by the Gold I've kept the Gold in my list .)
I can go up to 400 dollars 
 My system is comprised of
Project 1expression2 modified , 
Elekit TU 8500 tube preamp with solidstate MM and MC phono stage ( you have to hear this one , it truly is an  overachiever ) 
Mccormack DNA125 amp
Magnepan MG12 w/modified external crossover
Everything connected with JPS Labs superconducter interconnect and speaker cable and power cables into a Richard Grey Power Station.
My musical taste is ecleptic , my favorite music is classic rock and jazz and classical with a little bit of everything else sprinkled in except most rap . Tonearm is a 8.5 affair with medium mass straight line . 
mcmvmx

Showing 1 response by yogiboy

For $275 bucks the Grado Opus 3 would be my choice. It will match well with your tonearm! My friend uses it with his system and it sounds great!
https://www.4ourears.net/opus3_p/4oe-opus.htm?fromgrado=yes