@lewm Sorry to hear the experiment did not work out. But fortunately you have a combination of equipment that allows you to enjoy the cartridge. The MC2000 is unique in the challenges it presents, but the beauty of the cartridge is quite the experience even today. Yes, other cartridges may technically have surpassed it, but there is a refinement and gracefulness to the upper registers that few cartridges can equal. The bottom end definition is quite a treat also. I am fortunate that the T2000 transformer and Esoteric E-03 phono stage work well together and the noise floor I have is quite low. I do have to give an extra twist to the volume control, but the system noise is not noticeable unless you stand right on top of the speakers and turn things up to where a low bit of noise leaks through. When listening to music it is essentially a black background. I don’t know if I can ever divorce this cartridge, as it is just too compelling. I always enjoy reading about your experiences with it.
Yamamoto HSA-01 headshell/head amp
During my recent trip to Tokyo, I happened upon this gadget. It is a headshell with a built-in gain stage that boosts signal voltage in the ratio 1:14. Apparently this is achieved via a tiny op amp and battery power, both seated in the base of the headshell, behind the phono cartridge mounting area. The beauty of the idea is you can thus boost the signal of a very low output LOMC right at its source, before it has had to travel over connectors, tonearm wires, more connectors, etc, to reach the first stage of gain, be that a head amp, SUT, or high gain phono stage. The op amp is designed to drive a 47K ohm input resistance and is thus suitable for MM stages or a low gain MC stage in which the load is 47K ohms. The net weight is only 12.5g, making it somewhat compatible with even high compliance very low output cartridges. I wonder if anyone has experimented with this gadget. I am about to do so myself.