MM, MC, or MI cartridge

Greetings 

To be fair to my ears I will eventually finish refurbishing my Heybrook TT2 turntable with a Sumiko Premiere MMT  tonearm. I’ll install a Grado XTZ MI Cartridge on it.

 I haven’t listened  to a MI/MM cartridge in my system in over 35+ years. I have only used MC cartridges. I’m looking forward to listening to the Grado cartridge. If I enjoy the Grado cartridge I’ll look at updating to a more current MI/MM cartridge.

My previous response was based on how cartridges sounded to me 35 years ago.

Joe Nies

Dear @wolfie62  : Now I own that ADC in stock condition. I posted a thread of the ADC 26/27 original status where I made tests comparisons against top today LOMC cartridges and overall in my room/system me and the owners of the today LOMC cartridges been in agreement that that Pritchard design is just superb and could outperform any other cartridge.

 

I know that you prefer the 10E MKIV and is ok. I have the 26 with 3-4  replacement stylus and now that you brougth here ADC name I will send to an update with boron cantilever and maybe Shibata stylus shape or VDH and yes with the length cantilever of same dimension than the original aluminum one.

@rauliruegas 

Unfortunately for you, the ADC 25/26/27 carts are no match for the 10E MKIV. The 10E-4 came out after those carts, and just before the XLM. The 10E-4 was a test bed to prove Pritchard’s latest development in coil design and coil poles design. The improvement was used in ALL subsequent designs from the XLM to the Astrion. Your ADC 26 and 27 lacks this key technology. I used the 10E-4 with NOS R-26 and R-25(1) styli. It’s the very best of the very best ADC made! I still have 3 NOS of each styli. The styli for the 25/26/27/10E-4 are identical except the original R-15E was a bonded elliptical, not nude. 
 

But you will never achieve the level of performance with the 25/26/27 cart bodies as the 10E-4, regardless of using a retipped stylus. They all lack the fine level of control of the 10E-4. And the XLM to the Astrion lacks the sound of the 10E-4. So your getting a retip won’t raise the performance to the level of the 10E-4. 
 

I did the retip myself. I bought the boron rod and diamond on-line. I have a fine metallurgical microscope and alignment reticles on one of my eyepieces. But from here on, I’ll use Joseph Long. It was an exercise in patience. I used a worn R-15E stylus and cut the aluminum canti where it enters the armature. Then secured the boron rod inside the aluminum sheath. 

Dear @kinross  : " Just to add the J. Grado, who developed and patented the first MC cartridges, .."

I think that you have a misunderstood about because your statement is wrong due that was not Gado who patented the MC principle but no other than Ortofon and they stated this fact in his site information.

Grado company born in 1953 and Ortofon patented the MC cartridge principle in 1950. Later on 19158 Grado started his patent for MC that was approved in 1960-61:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US2591996A/en

R.

OP,

After reading a review of the Hana ML… sounds like a great cartridge. Congratulations, I look forward to hearing about what you think of it.

rvpiano, I'm aware you listen to lots of classical music.  Do you spend much time listening to other types?

I ask because of the experience of a friend who had quite a refined musical ear.  He could not find just one cartridge that suited all the various classical and jazz recordings he regularly listened to.  I do remember he preferred a Grado for vocals, both jazz and opera.  Then he had a different favorite for symphonic and big band and a third for chamber music and small group jazz.  I don't remember which those were but it was nearly 20 years ago so probably doesn't matter now.

Depending on your arm and table (you didn't identify those) there are a few ways to do this.  If you have an interchangeable headshell that may be the simplest and least expensive.  Adding at least one additional tonearm would reduce changing headshells, particularly if you were satisfied with two cartridges.  Also is the choice to add a second table/arm, but that is not practical for many people.

BTW, I assume it was the cantilever you bent, not the stylus.  They don't bend, they break. ;^)