Inexpensive MM Cartridge

Chakster. Specs aren't everything. Try listening to the comparisons for once instead of your technical diatribe. I don't ignore specs, but like anything else in this hobby the proof is in the listening. I have had carts you have mentioned specifically the Stanton 881S with Stereohedron profile. My average lifespan for that cartridge tip was about a year to a year and one half with average use. I've had elliptical stylus that have lasted WAY longer than that, and guess what? They sounded much better that the Stantons. I know I have mentioned this many times before, but the Nagaoka bested my beloved Soundsmith Boheme cart which cost me $1200.

@mr_m 

So you're comparing two cartridge on the same tonearm?

1) Nagaoka dynamic compliance is no more than 12 cu converted to 10Hz (you can check dynamic compliance stated at 100Hz here). 

2) SoundSmith Boheme available in two versions, high compliance is 28cu, mid is 22cu at 10Hz.  

The difference in compliance is at least twice as much! 

I may not be a professional, but I do know how to set up a turntable, been doing it for 50 years. You can spew specs all you want but as I said, the proof is in the listening. Do you bother doing that???

I do compare all my cartridges here and now, not in my memories from 100 years ago, I'm doing it now (all those best MM/MI versus best LOMC) on different turntables with different tonearms. 

As you admitted cost is not the answer, your cheaper cartridge is better than your more expensive cartridge. This is what I've been posing here for many years with some crazy discoveries. 

Regarding Stanton 881s I must admit this is "best buy" for those who looking for inexpensive cartridge, and it was Doug Sax's monitoring cartridge, not mine. I trust professionals, but I don't use 881, what I use is CS-100 WOS as the best from Stanton (which is surpassed my Stanton 980). 

Stereohedron stylus was upgraded with mkII and official life span of this profile is over 1000 hrs, unfortunately elliptical can't do even 50% of it, I'm afraid your information is false. But in general elliptical can be very good too, but you have to change it more often with a new one before it's too late. 

@peter_s

I am assuming that the AT and the Nagaoka dynamic compliance values are reported for the same frequency. It’s fine if it’s 100hz - I said that was a reasonable assumption (though not stated by Nagaoka) in my post. In any case, I was just pointing out that the value for the Nagaoka (7.2) isn’t that different than for the AT740 (10). Even if you convert them both down to 10hz (x2 or x1.7), the ratio stays the same.

Right, but there is a difference between 7.2 and 10, don’t you think so ?

And lower models of Nagaoka MP series are 5.5 - this is extremely low compliance. Do you know that with a cartridge like this people are using tonearms with 30g effective mass (those tonearms are super heavy and associated with 70’s era). But Nagaoka making MP cartridge today with dynamic compliance as low as Denon DL-103 from the 60’s. The problem is that tonearms of today are NOT heavy. If tonearm/cartridge matching is important for you I think you have to increase the mass of headshell. 

The elliptical have the advantage of succeeding with less than perfect alignment. That is a reason they are good choice for someone without tools and skills.

Only if you can detect it, if you have overhang gauge given by tonearm manufacturer your alignment is correct on tonearms fixed to TT by the manufacturer (like on the most cheap turntables).  

Many of us it seems have had darn good experiences with that Shure M97xe elliptical. Shure's also has the advantage of the brush, damped for warps and/or springy floors, and to pick up dust prior to the stylus.

The brush invented by Stanton as far as I know. 

The advanced stylus shapes need very careful alignment not only to perform to their increased potential, to avoid groove damage if improperly aligned.

If a person can alight one cartridge then he can align another. If he can't align any cartridge then it's a problem. I do not see any difference in alignment of any cartridge with whatever profile following the manual. 

The alignment must be completely off to damage the records. 

@rauliruegas In Russia, where I'm from, we normally break the nose of a person who's saying in public anything you said in your previous posts. But since you have mental problems and almost everyone on audiogon is aware of your mental problems, I will leave it like that. You're nothing but a p......y, who act like a p......y on public forums and luckily banned on most of them, except this one for some reason. If you want to say anything to me, say it directly to me and I will reply to let people know who you really are.

If you think I'm selling something please post a proof with links.   

@chakster Yes, I do think there is a difference (~40%). 

What I don't know, is what is the effective mass of my S-shaped tonearm on the Pioneer PL-512, which is a from 1978.  Anybody have a clue on this?

BTW chakster - I'd appreciate it if you could remain civil here.  No reason to contaminate a thread with this kind of BS! 

@mijostyn 
¨What could possibly be the advantages over "The Voice" which is high output (2.12 mV), high compliance other then matching high weight tonearms?¨    
¨Market driven¨  check out this  P. Ledermann  interview around minute 56.  https://youtu.be/ul0o7UEqtkA

I'm a big Grado fan, but for this table, given the age and arm mass, I'd tend to lean towards an Audio-Technica, or maybe an Ortofon 2M Red/Blue. Just seems like an appropriate match. 

Back in the day, We sold tons of PL12Ds as our entry level table, and they seemed 'happier' with an A-T than a Grado. The Ortofon VMS20E (ancestor of the 2M Red) was a bit rich for most folks, but worked &  sounded wonderful.

Note: these were not the quietest turntables ever made, but they were dead reliable, even in college student beer-soaked hands. Maybe that's why we favored the A-Ts - as I recall they didn't seem to break cantilevers as often as other carts. 

Cardani, I had that discussion with Peter and that was his answer. It is interesting that he rails against the stupid pricing of high end audio but does the same thing himself to a lesser degree. The Voice and the Sussurro are essentially the same cartridge just with different compliance and output but the Sussurro costs $2000 more. Market driven. He has to keep his company alive and profitable. In relation to the rest of the market his pricing is fair but if you put a ruby cantilever/OCL diamond in a Sussurro it will cost you $650. Put the same diamond and cantilever in a Voice and it will cost you $450. In reality because the Voice does not require additional step up devices or a high gain phono stage it will certainly have a better signal to noise ratio and be more dynamic actually sounding better than the Sussurro. Peter will not say this outright but alludes that this is true. The only reason he makes low output, low compliance designs is so that audiophiles can use their expensive high mass arms and phono stages. Market driven. 
After decades of using moving coil cartridges I have rediscovered fixed coil designs and enjoying very much what I am hearing. I am very attached to my phono stage an ARC PH3 SE. You solder in capacitors and resisters for matching. There are no switches in the signal path. The gain stage is as simple as it gets using three 6922's, a tube that I really like but it only has 54 dB of gain. It will run moving coils down to 0.4 mV but it really dances with fixed coil high output designs up to 4.0 mV. I have not heard a phono stage in my system that sounds better. The only other formats that tempt me are a current mode phono stage with a very low impedance moving coil and Peter's strain gauge cartridge. I have to say that The Voice is an extremely well made cartridge. It is sitting in it's box waiting for it's turntable. Sounsmiths least expensive cartridge the Otello is above the OP's budget. Below $300 I really think AT corner's that market. The VM95ML is an amazing cartridge for $170.

Sumiko Pearl for around 125 bucks...astonishingly good.

I would stay away from Grados unless you have rock solid floors or a TT that is wall-installed away from vibrations. Also the tracking is so poor. The Grados are know as dancers!  I was happy to move away from mine and into a MC cart with a full suspenson cantilever! They do sound nice though when not jumping around...