Cartridge Recommendations

I second the SUT suggestion. The Zu Denon 103R I have is crazy good. I say keep the Zu 103. By the way, I also have a Dynavector XX2MKII (a $1900 cartridge), and the 103R ate it for lunch.

I have the entry level SoundSmith MI cart that I never got around to selling. Add @gmail.com to my user name and shoot me an e-mail if you are interested.

price range. I have the 2M Black and love it with the Sutherland Hubble. It has lots of detail.

The SUT idea is a valid one. It's a pitty the Ortofon M-20 fl super is no longer available on eBay NOS. For $179 this cartridge holds it's own against offerings costing thousands more(I have many LOMCs). If you see one for sale, don't hesitate. It's a MI and I would think it would work great with the 9" VPI arm. William Thakker does still have the NOS replacement styli on eBay. I just bought two so I can use this cartridge for years to come. Provided you could find a cartridge, for your $500 budget you could easily buy the cartridge and a couple replacement styli and be set for years and probably have enough left for some great vinyl.

Bob's Devices responded to my email. He only has 1 SUT available for under 500.00 and it only offers 10db of gain. It won't be enough for my setup. I would have to run the volume control on the preamp way up near 3 o clock.