MM Cartridge Comparison

The Ortofon would be my choice. Also consider the OM20 for the table you are using.

Shure V-15x mr will give you everything required, save and except for snob appeal, prestige and a trophy for show-and-tell.

Yes, you can use a high-output MC. Refer to the pre's owner manual for recommended cartridge output and impedence. To hazard a guess, anything over 2.0 mV is likely to work well. My opinion is that a good moderately priced HO MC will generally sound better than the better MM cartridges.

Regards
Jim

I just mounted up an AT 440ML on an SME3009 III on a Linn LP-12, and boy does it sound sweet for the $80-$90 it is going for! It doesn't get much better than that in MM. (I have had V-15 V, Grado Platinum and Sonata, Van Den Hull MC One (MC), AT OC-3(MC)) NeedleDoctor.com has it for $99, I got mine from Ed Saunders for $80. Why pay more while you are investigating?

The Shure is a great cartridge and is nice for the anti-static dust brush and the damping helps it work in a variety of arms, but costs 3x as much. When I first mounted the VdH MC One, my first impression was how similar it sounded to the V-15 V!

Tom

I would also suggest the M97xE Shure. I have both this and a Type V and they are each excellent. The stabilizer brush will work on the Yamaha stock arm and help track warped records.
I use SL1200 and SP15 Technics tables with the SME 3012R arm with dampner on the SP15. The M97XE will sound just slightly brighter than the Type V which some find too polite. You can later buy a Type 5 stylus at Garage A Records ( best prices )to use on the M97 body as it is the same as the type V. The AT 440ML mentioned above is also a great buy for the money.
Whichever choice you decide on make sure you invest in a suction type record cleaning machine as this will make the vinyl experience high end. Brushes and fluids are fine but they realy do not clean the record without the vacuum.

Ron-C