A Love and Hate relationship - Ortofon

Ok will have a look at them, I am based in the UK so will see what the postage and import might be, shame as I had a friend out that way on his travels end of last year

chakster is telling it like it is !
The P77i  is  to die for !

Right so I have been doing some more research on my AMP - Marantz KI-Pearl Lite and the specs seem to say I should not got with a MC cart as there is a nice X next to it. With the following information for a MM -  2 mV / 47 kOhm 

So this will now give me some focus

@bur70n There is one great manufacturer of the modern MM cartridges with a long history. Nobody mention this, but i will tell you: Garrott Brothers in Australia, look for P77i model, the price on their site is in AUD, so will be much cheaper in USD. This is a legendary manufacturer! I love the old P77 Dynamic Coil MM in my system, the P77i in improved version. 

And don't forget about amazing vintage cartridges, such as Grace F9 and F14, Grace LEVEL II, Audio-Technica AT-ML150 - ATML170 - AT-ML180, Victor X1 and X-1II ... In my opinion those cartridges are the best and much better than ANY modern MM cartridges of any price (including very expensive MC carts).  

I have been looking at the Nagaoka 150, Shure M97Xe and Goldring

Its now more about taking the plunge than anything else.

I like some of the music from War on Drugs. But, no matter what I try, its music sounds flat and boring on my sustem also. It also seems to lack range. I think it is the sound production itself. Lots of other groups sound vivid and dynamic on the same system.

 Agree that a new cartridge is in your future – you should also consider Nagaoka; both the 110 and 150  sound wonderful, and are competitively priced. 

This is what I am coming to conclusion that it looks like a time to change the cart/stylus 

The next part to change to what, Shure, Audio Technica or Goldring

Do not expect spectacular sound if your cartridge is Ortofon OM, also each records sounds different (pressing, mastering etc). 

The drum and bass was an example of today's listening, I had The War on Drugs before that which sounded cold. 

Sound stage is there just felt a little off, like it was trying, better is just 

I love that era of music, 70's I have a lot in my collection and some sound better than others. Manfred Mann, Roaring Silence etc. 

But when listening to Queen it was a little less. Could be that there is still more bedding in to be done. 

Your d’n’b records are compressed, it’s electronic music made for the clubs, records are pressed loud. This is what you call better compared to the 70’s stuff (live music) ??

Live music is more complicated, you need a decent cartridge to enjoy live music on vinyl. I would advice to buy some great MM cartridge if you really want to hear full potential of live music on old records.

If the electronic music sounds better in your system compared to a very well mastered live music from the 70/80s then something wrong with the system. In my experience it’s totally different, the electronic music is liveless, flat, boring. While the live music is 3D, dynamic, wide and deep. The real world is analog, not digital, very few electronic records sounds good, mostly because there are some live instuments over the electronic beat.