Moving Magnet Phono Cartridges

Glad you enjoy the AT!

I have both a Clearaudio Maestro V2 (mm) and a Hana SL (mc) cartridge which I switch out every now and then for variety's sake and to save wear and tear. The Hana is better at imaging while the Maestro casts a wider soundstage. 

People like @lewm , rauliruegas and myself have owned tens if not hundreds of cartridges over the years. We go all the way back to ESL and have had Shures, Stantons, Pickerings, ADCs, B+Os, Astatics, Empires, even GE and ElectroVoice. IMHO all of them pale in comparison to modern MI cartridges mostly due to modern cantilevers and styluses. Styluses in particular have a much better finish/polish than in the old days. A lot of the diamond was so contaminated they looked black under the microscope. Modern advanced stylus profiles have much larger contact areas creating slower wear on both the stylus and the record not to mention they are much quieter.  Soundsmith, Grado and Nagaoka are representative brands. I have not used a Grado for a while so I can not comment about the new models. The Soundsmith Voice is the best high output cartridge I have ever used by a country mile easily competing with $10K MC cartridges. I have a Friend who is using a Sussurro Gold who thinks it is better than any other cartridge he has had in his system and this fellow runs a CS Port turntable. We both have ordered the new Hyperion MR. I gave my Voice to another friend who has an older Basis Debut/Graham table. His first comment after 30 seconds was, "Boy, it's quiet!" These cartridges are neutral, incredible trackers and very well made. @lewm has a new Nagaoka MP500, their best cartridge and he seems thrilled with it. Perhaps he can compare it to other cartridges. Some Grado owners have chimed in. I would love to hear an Epoch, maybe the next cartridge? That will cost me a new kitchen.

I hope that it will be possible again in the future to include the London Reference in the list of superlative MI cartridges. A descendant of the Decca design, there are very few cartridges at any price that can come close to its speed, transient response and naturalness. Since John Wright (an ex-Decca engineer) retired over a year ago, there have been no new ones for sale, but londondecca.com have taken over servicing them, and did briefly mention on their website that a new version was planned, but that has now disappeared. I expect there is some difficulty about sourcing the stamped, thin, iron armature that holds the stylus. I believe Peter Ledermann offered to make them at one point, but was turned down by John.

It is often said that grounding can be awkward, but that more an issue for the older three-pin designs: I have no hum with it. It is also claimed that they are not the best trackers, but I have had no issues with either the Jubilee or the Reference, using them on SME IV and V arms, only the latter of which has a damping trough. I have the Reference back in play at the moment, on a IV. It still sounds like the most honest and neutral of all my cartridges, with a wonderful ability to make me tap my feet. The LP-S is warmer and richer, but that is perhaps an added colouration rather than honesty. The Sussurro, MP-500 and Grado Statement 3 come close, but none of them beat the Reference to my ear. Here are a couple of representative reviews:

Absolute Sound

Stereophile

And a splendid PS, from Stewart at londondecca.com today:

Yes we will manufacture  the current Reference as well as a new version as well. hoping it will be ready in August.

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Yes, I am a big fan of MI cartridges both vintage and current versions. I don’t necessarily agree that the current crop are categorically superior to the very best of the vintage ones, like the B&O MMC1 or the Acutex 320 (two versions) and probably some others I don’t know about. The MP500 is a great bargain but I’m not ready to say it’s my favorite. Raul has evaluated more cartridges in a systematic way than anyone I know of.