Gandme,
Thanks for clarifying on sonics. Very helpful, and got you many informed responses.
My partner and I listen to classical more than jazz but our sonic goals seem similar. Acoustic instruments and unamplified, unprocessed vocals need a complete harmonic envelope and as much low level detail as possible. These are vital to our ears too, as Dan_Ed knows from hearing our system multiple times.
Agree with posters above that you should aim a bit higher if possible, both because the rest of your system will support it and because it's difficult to get the sonics you're after with inexpensive cartridges. Sad but true IME.
- Agree with Audiofeil: Soundsmith and Ortofon are not particularly adept at harmonics.
- Neither is the Nagaoka MP-50 mentioned by Raul, though it might take more transparent electronics than yours to fully reveal its peculiar treatment of harmonics. I suspect other MI cartridges might behavior similarly in this area.
- Agree with Larryi that the Delos is on the warm side compared to higher end Lyras. A Titan i might be a trace on the cool side but it would blow your sonic socks off in other respects, including all the areas you mentioned. Not cheap however...
- Agree with Larryi's characterization of the Orpheus L. A terrific cartridge that came pretty close to our reference ZYX UNIverse during a one day visit to our system last month. Again, very worthy but not inexpensive...
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Dan mentioned ZYX. If your budget allows, an Atmos (now known as 4D) would let you hear everything you described and much, much more. In your system it should outplay the carts on your list by a very large margin.
The ZYX distributorship changed hands last year and things got a bit confused. I and others here are friendly with the old distributor, who's selling off old stock at substantial discounts, which represents an opportunity for you.
Read the Atmos review beneath my name. This is a near reference class cartridge (reasonably close to a Dynavector XV-1S, Titan i or Orpheus L) that can be had for around $2K. At that price it's a steal IMO. At the time we reviewed we thought it was competitive at $3500.
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The ZYX UNIverse is superb in precisely the areas you mentioned. No cartridge we've heard matches its extraordinary reproduction of complex, delicate and extended harmonics (real harmonics, not faked or bloomed ones). The nearly unobtainable Lyra Olympos comes close, but those cost a fortune if you can find one at all. The UNIverse is both our reference and our daily use cartridge.
However, IMO that would be overkill for you at the moment. It would mess with your anticipated budget, it needs an practiced and involved hand to play at its best and its capabilities exceed some parts of your system. I fear you wouldn't hear all it can do and wouldn't be comfortable recommending one based on the information you've shared.
Enjoy the hunt, but enjoy the music more!
Doug
