Cartridge recommendation for classical listening

I wouldn’t mount a $1K cartridge on a P3. It’s a nice turntable but I doubt you can wring enough performance out of that deck and tonearm to justify the spend. Others will surely disagree. If it were me I would mount a Nagaoka MP-500 and be done with it.

I think an investment in a good cartridge is worth it for any turntable, because that cartridge does not have to stay on one turntable, it’s a separate device. $500 or $1000 - doesn’t matter at all, the price does not indicate the quality directly. Cartridge can cost more than a turntable and it’s fine if the quality of the cartridge is nice.

What must be avoided is an inferior cartridges for more money if the lower price cartridge can beat it easily (only owner can decide for himself).

"I was amazed at what the turntable was capable of with this new cartridge."
rvpiano-

The transition from MM to MC was dramatic to my ears.


The Bird will sing best, playing it thru the most phonostage you can afford.
This is another MAJOR area of audio epihany.


Being a $1K cart, consider something more upscale( $2K+) to REALLY hear it do it's thing.Tubed or SS, will make you realize what the fuss is all about. I'm in the tubed camp. More convincing to my ears.

Getting that cart opens up the "can of worms"

Nicer phonostage for the cart. Upgrading  the table to match everything else..... the madness never ends.

The CJ IS a tubed preamp.

"The CJ IS a tubed preamp."
Perfect, you can go directly to a P8/10!!

For about a year i have two different cartridges and tonearms on one turntable connected to one mc/mm phono stage. This is the combination i am using most of the time for some reason.

1) High mass Lustre GST-801 tonearm with low compliance Miyabi MCA cartridge. WLM Phonata Reference (MC input) mosfet phono stage with built-in SUT.

2) Light mass Denon DA-401 tonearm with high compliance Grado Signature XTZ (MI) cartridge WLM Phonata Reference (MM input). Never heard any hum from my Grado XTZ.

Both cartridges are top class, but entirely different, it’s low compliance LOMC versus high compliance MI. Tonearms are perfectly matched.

It’s impossible to say which one is better!

1) Miyabi MCA is warm with very deep soundstage, great bass. Made in Japan by Takeda-San.


2) Grado XTZ is also warm with very wide soundstage. Made in USA by Joseph Grado.

Cartridges are different, but both are amazing in its own way.

This is the reason i never understand the statement that MC is better than MI by default, it is not true.

I wouldn’t listen to people that never had all types of cartridges for a long time using the best in its class (LOMC, HOMC, MM, MI, IM, MF)

Honestly, even if on a weekend i prefer one type of cartridges i know that there will be another weekend when my preferences will change to another type. It is absolutely necessary to have all types ready to use, for this reason i have two turntables, many phono stages, suts, headamps connected to 4 different tonearms with pretty big collection of cartridges on the record shelfs.

I think none of my top 25 cartridges can disappoint me, no matter what type (LOMC or MM/MI). Record pressing or mastering can disappoint me. The rest is all about the mood.

I like the process and i like the result. 5-10 years ago i tried many cartridges that disappointed me, i don’t have them anymore.

I curious what i’m gonna do in the next 10 years ? I believe most of the greatest vintage cartridges from the 70s/80s/90s already discovered.