Clearaudio Virtuoso vs. Maestro

I am just breaking in a Maestro, which replaced a trusty Virtuoso Wood I had for years. Right out of the box, the Maestro has greater resolution - easier to hear into the mix, and better resolved timbre of instruments - coupled with even better power delivery in the lower mids and bass. So far a definite improvement, and presumably will be even better with 100 hours or so on it.

I've owned both and am waiting on my 3rd replacemnet Maestro Wood. If I do anything different, I might try the retipping by Soundsmith with the special V tip. I have not heard a better MM cart than the Maestro. The best cart I have experienced was a Van Den Hul Frog.

My friend swears by his hi output Denon DL 106, but I'm a bit skeptical when comparing to the Maestro.

Havent compared directly with Virtuoso, but my Maestro Wood has excellent resolution and much greater detail than the Clearuadio Aurum Beta S it replaced. Easy to match with Phono stage, great tracker and good PRaT. Sure there are better carts if you want to spend more $$ but dont forget the law of diminishng returns. Difference of roughly 100 bucks between Virtuoso and Maestro wood. Works for me but YMMV.

Lev - Why are you on your 3d Maestro? Did they wear out / break? Were they defective from the manufacturer? I didn't think the cartridge has been on the market long enough to go through 2 already.

Hi Honest1

The first Maestro was damaged by the stupid factor involving me, the Cardas Sweeper Record and a friend. The second Maestro had about five years on it and again, the stupid factor with myself and the same friend took over and I allowed the cantiler to swing into a tool. The diamond seemed worn. I'm sure the cart had well over 1200 hours on it. I was trying to recalibrate the cartridge and my friend and I were both tired when stupid occured.

The reason I on my third Maestro is that nothing is as satisfying without going into MC units such as Van Den Hul, or Koetsu

I had a Maestro and it was an excellent cartridge which I thought had great detail until I got a ZYX airy 3SB (MC).

Dear Honest1: I own the Virtuoso and is a fine cartridge. I can't compare against the Maestro because I never made that real comparison, I heard the Maestro and like me and seems to me a little more " refined ".

These Clearaudio are competitive but if you want something that can/could compete with top LOMC cartridges then IMHO this one is a good alternative:

http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=NAGAOKAMP050&Category_Code=NAGAOKACART

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.