Hey Virian,
Where can I get the Shure for $65?
Where can I get the Shure for $65?
Good low-price cartridge for listening to rock.
Currently, I have an Ortofon Super OM10 mounted to a Music Hall MMF5, Ballari pre-amp, Cerwin Vega LS-10s, and a Cayin 50T amp. Origionally, I was thinking about a OM20 needle upgrade but I have read some negative reports on it. Was also considering a Grado Gold, but I tend to shy away from it because I have heard some problems with those cartridges as well. One cartridge that looks interesting according to the reviews is the AT440MLa by Audio Technica - everybody seems to rave about it and says it can be compete with cartridges that are far more money.
Does anybody have any suggestions or comments on the cartridge.
Does anybody have any suggestions or comments on the cartridge.
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I think I am going to go with the AT 440 MLa. One last thing I would like to say. With my above mentioned setup(The MMF5 with the Ortofon Super OM-10)CDs in my opinion seem to sound more detailed. Keep in mind that I am using a sony cd player that is nothing special - Best Buy deal. Needless to say, most of my vinyl is in excellent condition. After doing some research, I couldn't find any reviews that raved about the OM20 stylus being much better. So, this is why I have been kicking around changing my cartridge. I like the way the Ortofon tracked though and was easy to place on a particular track of the record. One thing that I did notice after reading the review that the cartridge is not "very forgiving" either, and my experience seems to confirm this. |
Have to agree about Denon DL series being great.Sure was always standard bearer with V15 and now that it's been out of production it got re-reviewed somewhere and they said still a great cart that can be found new for it's $300 list.Folks have to define "Low Cost".But for me $200 is what I'd pay UP to for second deck for scratched LP's.Wish someone mentioned cost of Audio Technica.BTW where are the rave reviews about it?Here on 'Gon or other sources? Cheers Chazz |
How do you have your MMF sited? What kind of rack, platforming, and mat are you using? A turntable is far more vulnerable to internal component noise, feedback, and room resonances than other electronic components because the cartridge is far more microphonic. Until I sorted out the platforming and turntable mat on my current rig (Technics SL 1210 M5G and either Ortofon OM 10 or Shure M97xE), I blamed a lack of inner detail on the cartridge. Isolating the turntable better and using a better mat revealed that either cartridge was plenty detailed for my taste. My CD player in the same rig is a Sony ES series CD/SACD player which was a big leap in detail over the CEC I had before. Yet, compared to the turntable, it's not so much the detail that I find so winning in the LP playback (though I don't find it lacking, either), it's the body of the sound and how it somehow communicates the emotion of the music better. Everything improved mightily when I put the turntable on a butcher block cutting board and put the cutting board on a set of Vibrapods. YMMV of course. After doing some research, I couldn't find any reviews that raved about the OM20 stylus being much better.There's a bit of buzz over the OM 20 and it's definitely perceived as an overachiever. See http://www.furious.com/Perfect/vinyl48.html. Absolute Sound named the OM 20 and 30 (Super) both as Editor's Choice budget components, giving a slight subjective edge to the 20. See http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=OROM20S. For a link to download the full TAS review, go to http://www.avguide.com/products/product-2771/. Here are a couple of reviews at www.audioreview.com: http://www.audioreview.com/cat/analog-sources/Cartridges/ortofon/PRD_337138_5823crx.aspx Note that the first review is written by someone who had the OM 10 for some years but decided to upgrade to the OM 20 replacement stylus. |
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