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

Right here is where the analogy falls apart. A mic boom is simply holding the mic in the right location, but in that regard is rigid and does not have to articulate. It doesn’t need much in the way of adjustments and they come in different sizes depending on application. Certainly no worries about things like effective mass, mechanical resonance 7-12Hz or the like.

Ralph,

I agree more with you than not. As I have done all the tweaking to my Pioneer table arm as it has every tonearm adjustment you can think of. You know how I know? Because it is APITA!

And you certainly have taught me some things and know far more about audio engineering than I do.

And here comes the but.

But doesn’t all the magic happen in the (LIVE) recording venue of the studio? The position, location and placements of (booms) mics, musicians, room sound treatments, the experience level of a competent recording engineer ect?

Am I wrong to notice not only the science of a recording but the ART form as well? I think there is a bit more that goes INTO a recording than what you say above.

And if you look at pictures of the Kind of Blue session, they do show articulating booms with multiple joints. Remember this was at the house of Columbia Records.

To this day when I hear a Rudy Van Gelder engineered album that is a great pressing, I’m still blown away at his technique.That’s all I’m saying.

And you know what’s really confusing? There’s just as many arguments from audiophiles with some of the best systems known to man and they swear by only using a headshell alignment tool and their ears!

Ralph, thanks again for taking the time to teach, us all.
Firstly, i want to say that I still agree with Ralph 100%. The arm is more important than the cartridge. IME, that is a FACT.
Secondly, tyrays analogy to the boom and microphone is a false analogy when it comes to tonearm and cartridge, like Ralph alluded to above. 
When i have been in a recording studio as a pro studio player, not once did I see the boom moving around any type of axis to follow what the mic was doing (Yikes). The boom had to remain in place, and in fact the goal was for it to be as stationary and stable as possible. Sure there are numerous other pieces of gear in play while the recording is going on, so what? This analogy is false.
Lastly, I have to say that I also think that Raul likes to argue for the sake of arguing, I have never once seen him admit that he could possibly be in error! The snippet that cd318 posted from the Origin Live website says a lot, even though I'm sure Raul will dispute that also!!! 
daveyf,

I have a question for you. And this is not for arguments sake. I'm just curious.

When a blank piece of vinyl is cut at the factory, in your opinion which is more important. The cartridge/stylus making the grooves or the tone arm?

Thanks 
Everyone who has many different cartridges and tonearms know very well what is more important (if tonearm and cartridge are matched together). And I assume we know how to align and adjust a cartridge/tonearm. Enough said.
tyray164 posts:23pm

"And I also think that Azimuth can only be adjusted on the headshell itself and not the tonearm, whether the headshell is removable or nonremovable. Thanks R!"

my Blackbird has built in micrometer to adjust VTA, easy, precise, wonderful,

but, the cartridge is fixed directly to the long carbon arm. Azimuth adjustment by rotating the carbon tube a speck in it’s snug rear housing, tighten with set screw.

The SOB’s put the set screw on the bottom, what misery to get it right, the worst design feature. As azimuth is critically important, many a curse was issued, I should learn Russian to curse in their language.