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Cartridge Opinions - Sorry

Yeah, another dumb "what's your opinion on these cartridges" thread. Back in the late 80's we had dealers where you could listen to the stuff.

So anyhow I have a Linn LP12 with Ittok arm and a 30 year old Audioquest B200L cartridge. I'm running it through the phono stage of a Jeff Rowland Coherence One into a Spectral DMA90 through a set of Kef R300's.

I prefer a little more laid back sound (err on the side of forgiving instead of fatiguing) but I like a lot of upper end detail, precise soundstaging, air, etc.

So far I'm considering an Ortofon Quintet S Black, Hana SL or a Benz wood - something at or below the $1k level.

I'd love to hear any opinions, suggestions, and experiences with those cartridges or others in the price range. I could possibly go higher if there is something out there that really shines for less than $1,500.

Thanks.


klooker
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,861 posts
 
The Micro Benze did indeed work fine on my Graham 2.2. So did the Benz Ruby. But then it sounded even better on the Origin Live Conqueror.  
I found the Micro Benz worked better in my Triplanar as well. It was quite a trooper- I ran it for about 14 years.

just realized my Technics uses a gimbal design
Yes it does. The new Technics arm is actually quite an improvement over its predecessor of a few years ago, even though it looks identical. 

Ag insider logo xs@2x
rauliruegas
13,101 posts
 
@atmasphere  : "   blanket statement..."   Really?

What's blanket is your knowledge levels in this specific tonearm and as you follow posting about as you show and confirm it.

Certainly you are way far away to be a tonearm expert, not me either but I have better and higher knowledge levels and for very good reasons.

R.


daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,880 posts
 
@klooker  To get back to your OP, with an Ittok, a good cartridge would be Linn's own Krystal. The Benz Wood cartridges are all good, but not that easy to source these days. 
BTW, Linn's philosophy on upgrades is from the inside out...so the tonearm is less important than the power supply which is less important than the bearing etc., the tonearm is more important than the cartridge. 
A cartridge that would be a step up over the ones mentioned would be a Lyra Delos, BUT you would need to be able to have it set up with greater precision than the others.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Reading all these I want to remind that Ralph's experience with MM cartridges is very limited to certain mainstream models, I already asked about those models and never seen any serious MM in his list. There are some serious MC for sure. 

In my opinion a cartridge is definitely more important than a tonearm but I hope we are all have a nice tonearm by default (after years of experience). Try to change a cartridge on your reference tonearm and the difference can be huge, especially when you will switch from MM to MC and back. 

I think not everyone can buy over 20 cartridges, especially from the dealers (for insane prices these days). Most of the audiophiles are using 1-3 cartridges and still can not get away from the mainstream models. 
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,861 posts
 
Reading all these I want to remind that Ralph's experience with MM cartridges is very limited to certain mainstream models, I already asked about those models and never seen any serious MM in his list.
@chakster pretty funny! just sort of an FYI, I put myself through MIT (Minnesota) repairing consumer electronics in service departments throughout the 70s and continued after college doing a lot of setup and repairs for a local high end audio dealer; we still service audio gear in our shop, as there really are very few shops in Minnesota that can handle high end and studio gear. In the old days (70s, 80s) before the Grados I used several versions of the Shure V15 as well as Stanton, Pickering, AudioTechnica and a few others that escape memory right now. I've literally set up hundreds of cartridges over the last 50 years in all variety of arms. 
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