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Moving coil cartridge advice needed

A friend recently acquired a VPI Aries turnable with JMW Memorial arm and asked my advice on a good but not outrageous MC cartridge, say around $1,000.

He has a phono pre that will support the lowest output cartridges. He listens to a broad range of popular music, although I've gotten him sampling some jazz and classical lately. Accuracy in soundstaging and transients, deep well controlled bass and good tracking are important.

Ones which came to my mind - Benz Micro (Ref 2 silver, L2, Glider L2), Clearaudio Sigma Wood, Dynavector Karat 17D2 Mk II, Lyra Lydian Beta and Shelter 501. I've only heard the Dynavector personally (excellant cartridge, IMHO). Read that the Benz's are very "warm", which if true, may not be optimal given his listening tastes. Comments on these or
other recommendations most appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Doug
grandpad
extremephono
123 posts
 
The JMW and VPI tend to be warm, so don't pair with warmer cartridge like Benz. With Lyra, they tend to be neutral. And with Van den hul, you get very good complimentry qualities, being fast and airy.

The Frog, especially the one with gold coil is a very good cartridge, and gives up very little from the Colibri/Beauty series. You can also 'nude' the Frong (voiding the warranty), and it will look like a Colibri/Beauty.
jfrech's avatar
jfrech
1,816 posts
 
I tried the Lydian Beta with a wilson benech full circle and act.5 unipivot arm. Fiddled with it forever, couldn't figure out the sound. Tried the cart. on a friends Rega p25 with rb600 and wow. I kept the cartrige, got rid of the table.

So, I'll back TWL up on nixing the Lyra on that arm.

BTW, I love my Lyra Lydian B and want to move up to the Helikon or Titan...so, I'm not ditching Lyra...just a system matching comment from my experience...
grandpad OP
151 posts
 
Twl, you nailed an issue that I should have mentioned and forgot. I haven't seen my friends VPI/JMW setup yet, and have no experience with either. Thanks for picking up my oversight and your lucid explanation of its implications.

Interestingly, I find the Helikon SL works well in my Graham 2.2 (which has anti-skate) w/Oracle V so perhaps the 12cu treads the margin.

My Koetsu Urushi & Onyx (medium-low compliance) did not mate well with the Graham, and a Shelter 901 was a complete miss-match, supporting Twl's position. All 3 work fine in a SME V.

Thanks for everyone's help - any more ideas?
rwd
695 posts
 
Hi Doug!

If you live in the Tri-State area (New York) you are most welcomed to come by and listen (see) my Aries/JWM/Helikon set up!

Regards...
Rick
sayas
188 posts
 
I have not had the luxury of a second cartridge comparison and therefore comments about the sound of the Helikon are moot.

What I do enjoy is the image and soundstage delivered by my system. Is there a better cartridge arm combo out there, I don't know but this one certainly is entertaining. I assume that because there is a focused soundstage that the 12.5/Helikon combo is a good balance. Probably is/are better just don't know about it or willing to spend the dough.

TWL thanks for your response.
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