Cartridge Recommendations

Dear Hatari: I heard on my system and other people systems all the cartridges name it here but the own DaVinci and the Silver Spirit and IMHO an " all around " great alternative is this one that not only competes at that high level but in many ways outperform some of those named models:

http://www.lpgear.com/product/BOMMC2.html

it has an additional advantage over those very fine LOMC cartridges: the cartridge signal has not to pass through your Kondo SUT. Less stages where the recording signal must pass IMHO means less distortions/colorations and means more MUSIC.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Dear Hatari: You could take my B&O advise taking the alternative as a cartridge " spare alternative ", is so unexpensive that you could test it and enjoy it till the Kondo arrive and decide about the LOMC one. You have almost nothing to lose.

Btw, it is not only that the B&O has the advantage that its signal pass on the phono stage for less " stages " it is too that needing less gain means less/lower noise and distortions and you have two add two other factors: first is a lot better tracker that any LOMC I know and this means less and lower traking distortions. Second its B&O cares on its design, build quality and excecution of that cartridge design.

To be nearest to the recording with the MMC2 is certainly not at random, there are strong reasons on that subject.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Most of the suggestions will work. I have mounted titan i, xv1t, airtight PC1 and the supreme, my sonic lab ultraeminent on the Davinci. The 12inch Davinci can illustrate the differences amoung the above carts but it will not maximize their differences. I feel the 12inch davinci arm itself has a fairly strong sonic signature yet enjoyable on classical music. With no azimuth adj., VTA requiring manual pull up, lack of fine VTF adjustment, patience is a must to get the most out of the carts. I would favor the titan but the MSL is very good as well. THe ultraeminent had better microdynamics and resolution than the airtight. The PC1 and supreme had lots of bass quantity. The lyra and dynavector have faster transients.

Good luck.

agree Glai but the PC1 is a real looser against all these alternatives

best & fun only - Thuchan

Does anyone using Ortofon A90? The top of A90 is not flat and has 3 mounted points. The Grandezza headshell is a bit small and could not cover all 3 points. I have to fabricate brass washers for the cartridge screws so that it would be level. Somehow I could not set the cantelever at 23 degree. When the tonearm is level it's still 30 degree. My consolation is the music still sound good even if it's not setup perfectly.

Cheers,