ClearAudio Essence MC

beans57, Nothing wrong with the Bronze although I would still prefer a little more compliance on the order of 15 um/mN or above. Unipivot arms are unstable because of torsional rotation and very little rotational effective mass. They are going to work better with cartridges of higher compliance. You really want to push that resonance frequency down to 8 Hz. You really should see if Clearaudio will give you a deal on the Charisma. It will certainly cost you less than the Ortofon, it will greatly lower your signal to noise ratio and increase your dynamic range. It has the cantilever and stylus of the Goldfinger, a $17,000 MC cartridge. IMHO it is a better value in the price range you are looking than any moving coil cartridge I have heard and it will work fine in your arm.

Mike

Thanks for the input.
Yes, using JMW-9 Memorial Signature tonearm with Scoutmaster.  Believe it has a slightly heavier effective mass than the regular JWM-9 but I have conflicting info on that.
That Symphony was a fairly neutral sounding cartridge with that setups (and its compliance was 15) and that is by far what I'm continuing to seek out in a replacement.  So the 'modern sounding' . . .'exciting' . . . 'lively' . . . terms that were tossed my way by sales and the Co itself doesn't really sit well with me, although understood perhaps I'm reading more in that than there is.  Its just this time around retirement isn't too far off and reckless sums of money 'are' i.e. I'm not going to be in a position much longer to start laying down coin to try out things and keep replacing until I find something I like.  Living out in the sticks compounds that issue.  So with my own wits and a collection of anecdotes and opinions, I'll feel better making a decision on this.
I was eyeballing an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze that seems closer to what I was looking for.  No 'deals' with that as with Clearaudio's decent replacement program . . . up here (Canada) dropping $2500 down to get it.
one thing in all of this:  I'd really like the cartridge to be serviceable for rebuilds.  Waiting on a confirmation regarding that from Clearaudio, but I had a couple people point out to me that more than a couple long standing companies 'do' offer that ability in how they construct their cartrdiges.  That is a 'huge' plus after seeing this $1800 CDN Symphony having this bend and absolutely nothing can be done about it.
Thanks again

The Essence is representative of other cartridges in it's price range. I assume you are using VPI's unipivot arm? If you are the Concept and Essence are both pretty stiff at 9 um/mN. The Talisman is the real bargain in the Clearaudio line and it has a compliance of 15um/mN which would work better with your arm. The Taliman tends to be on the bright side but it does tend to mellow a bit with perhaps 50 hrs on the clock. It has exactly the same motor as the higher up MCs in the line excepting the Goldfinger which is different. If you are a high energy music fan you might want to see if they will offer you a deal on the Charisma, their top of the line MM cartridge. It is more neutral than the Talisman and boy is it punchy. It is the best rock and roll cartridge I have ever heard. It would take a current mode phono stage and a very expensive low impedance MC to match it's dynamic force. The Talisman will have a little more detail but the Charisma is more dynamic. Check out the reviews.