$800 Cartridge Shootout and Upgrade Path

Artar,

Just as TWL pointed out in his followup on his Music Maker review the cartridge is a bit picky about what tonearms it mates well with. I feel that the Hadcock tonearm is very similar in that regard. I initially purchased a Benz ACE H2 cart to go with mine, but after 8 months of never getting things to perfectly come together I decided I needed to just splurge and get the cart that is designed for use on the Hadcock tonearm - the Music Maker. It was a huge leap forward in sound. So I am saying I would be hesitant in recommending the Hadcock to anyone who isn't going to go with the Music Maker as well, as with just any other cart you may run into mismatch problems. For example you would be the first that I have heard of mating a Shelter to a Hadcock? Maybe? Hopefully???

Artar, if you intend to use the Shelter cartridges, I don't think that the Hadcock will be a suitable platform for them. The Shelter cartridges have shown themselves to be quite difficult for unstabilized unipivot tonearms. I concur that for the Hadcock arm, the Music Maker would be better suited.

For the Shelter cartridges(and Koetsu, Denon DL103R, and other MC with <10cu compliance)you truly "need" a quality gimbal bearing arm of at least 11.5g effective mass, or a very capable stabilized unipivot of similar mass or more.

The Morch DP-6 with it's "dual pivot" design, may be stable enough for it, but I never used that combination myself. I do know that you can get a suitable armwand for effective mass matching. I suspect it would be a much better match for the Shelters than the Hadcock.

If you want a Jewel-like tonearm, I may suggest a Triplanar.

Regarding your gain levels, the 80db gain you have in the system should be fine for the Shelters and other 0.4mv output level cartridges.

When you start bringing "looks" into the equation, and thinking that performance may not be affected, you are venturing into very dangerous territory.

Artar,
Thanks for the kind words. Just to keep things in perspective, TWL's dog knows more about analog than I do. I just try to help where I can.

Re: tonearms
As he said, if you're using a Denon 103x or Shelter, a Moerch DP-6 seems more viable than a Hadcock. I've heard Shelters on a unipivot that's better stabilized than a Hadcock. Compared with good dual-bearing arms the unipivot didn't cope as well. These cartridges feed a ton of energy back into an arm.

Given your uncertainty about cartridges, the DP-6's interchangeable armwands give it an attractive flexibility. There's a downside to that however. Breaks and connectors in the armwire degrade the sound of this very delicate signal. While I haven't heard a Moerch, all the best arms I have heard use a single run of wire from cartridge clips to phono stage. The arm TWL suggested has that, and pretty good wire too. Personally I wouldn't want an interrupted arm wire for higher end MC use. Speaking generally, the higher up the MC ladder you climb the lower the output levels get. This makes the armwire ever more critical.

Re: cartridges
I doubt you'd find a Helikon satisfying. No one has ever suggested it has warmish mids, or warmish anything. The opposite has been said too many times to count.

The ZYX R100 Fuji has a *list* price of $2K. You shouldn't pay that. The ZYX dealer right here on Audiogon sells it for $1500. For your sonic preferences and music types it's an easy winner vs. a Shelter 901 IMO.

A $1500-ish cartridge is in the future anyway, right? Keep your eyes on this forum. In a few weeks I expect to be offering the opportunity to demo my Shelter 901 in your own system at a very nominal cost. Once your rig is up and running you might want to give it a listen.

IMPORTANT: check out this review of the R100 Fuji's little brother, the R100H.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue15/zyx.htm

List is $995 and our Audiogon dealer sells it for $800. The reviewer describes several cartridges you're interested in. His descriptions of cartridges I've heard tally with my impressions. He makes the R100H sound like a clone of my $3000 Airy2, with which it shares the best tracking and tracing stylus I've ever heard. If his review is even close to accurate, this cartridge should go to the top of your first shortlist.

Okay everyone,

I have just read all the new responses, and I have a boat-load of questions. But more about that later.

It really seems I don't know what I am doing.

At this point, would it be reasonable for me to assume that the Teres 160 would be a good investment? (Please say yes; it's okay to humor me!?) If that turntable is okay, then I can take the next step -- selecting the tonearm and cartridge.

I do have a weakness for good looking stuff, but if that means poor sound quality or compatibility issues, then I will relinquish my beauty requirements accordingly.

Let's assume I would like to end up with the ZYX R-100 Fuji FS/FC and maybe start with something like a Shelter 501 or even the ZYX R100 H (I read the review. Wow!), what tonearm is going to mate well these cartridges? And let's forget about looks and concentrate on the sound. However, the arm really can't exceed $2,000, and hopefully less. Any suggestions? What about the SME 309? Would it work?

I've got to get back to work; I have a mountain of things to get done today besides worrying about my analog front end.

More to follow...and a very big thanks!

If you like the Hadcock tonearm, I still wouldn't mark it off your list. The Hadcock with the Music Maker cartridge is a very, very good pairing. Heck, TWL gave the cart a good review and it wasn't even properly matched to the tonearm.

I am firmly of the belief that for the $2200 dollars spent on this tonearm and cartridge together, you would have to spend a bunch more to greatly exceed their performance.

Heard another great analog system last night as well. It was a Spacedeck with a Boston Audio Mat 1, Wave Mechanic power supply, Rega RB-1000 toneram, and a VDH Frog cart. Beautiful sounding vinyl rig.

My Spacedeck has the Hadcock and Music Maker Mk3 and a Living Voice Mystic Mat and it is extremely nice as well, wish I had the Wave Mechanic though.

But what I am getting at is that the other high class Spacedeck set-up I have heard which I had in my rig for two weeks was the Spacedeck with a Spacearm, Heavy Kit platter upgrade, and a Shelter 901 cart.

I would take either of the above two over the last combo in a second.

My thoughts and experiences so take it for what you will.
I guess I am just saying don't write off the Hadcock and Music Maker just because it is a moving iron cartridge.