MP150 or MP200

OP.
I have a Soundsmith Bohemme cartridge. $1200 retail. I used It for several years. Recently got a Nag MP-200 for $385. In my system, the Nag blew away the Soundsmith. YMMV.

@fsellet

 From the F9 manual: "Grace deems the F9D a playback standard and recommends it with pride to music lovers, audio enthusiasts and professional users."" The F9P satisfies the extraordinary demands made by professionals, while bringing the F9F quality"

The "D" and "P" styli are conical and can't reproduce extended frequency range as "F" (shibata type or line contact type) invented for quadraphonic records (Discrete-4). 

So the "P" can't bring the quality of "F", the rest in marketing. 

F9F frequency response: 10 - 60 000 Hz
F9P  frequency response: 20 - 20 000 Hz


All those cartridges are from the 70's.

In the 80's Grace made much better cartridges and even their "disco" models were high-end (with beryllium cantilevers). 

I love PJ Harvey! Chak, I have been at this since 1965 and I have used most of those cartridges. Certainly the better ones as mentioned in reviews of the times. I have seen web sites where you can order replacement styli for antique cartridges. But, I am going to side with Uberwaltz on this one. Forgetting about MC cartridges there is no antique MM cartridge that can hold a candle to a Clearaudio Charisma in terms of build quality, tracking and sound quality. Some Japanese companies make fabulous cartridges, others just so so. Clearaudio makes consistently fine cartridges with build quality as good as any of the Jap companies as does Ortofon. Making generalizations is usually a mistake. 

I’m well late to this party, but wanted to share that I successfully added an MP500 (J-NP500) stylus to an MP150 body with excellent results, even though it’s not the recommended upgrade for the MP150. The resulting sound was a nice upgrade over the MP150 cart and stylus. In fairness, I haven’t tried the MP200 stylus, so can’t comment on those differences, but the J-NP500 stylus can definitely be added to the MP150/MP200 body.

The MP150H (nude elliptical on a tapered aluminum cantilever) was ~ $311, and had excellent midrange texture, spacious soundstage, and outstanding separation. Mostly very impressive. The treble had excellent air and detail, but slightly more emphasis on sibilance than I was used to with my AT-VM95SH nude shibata. The MP500 (superfine line contact diamond on a boron cantilever) tamed that slight emphasis nicely, and then some, retaining many of the attributes of the MP150 and enhancing others. The addition of the MP500 stylus cost ~ $256, so it wasn’t an inexpensive venture, but it allowed me progress incrementally, and also saved some cash in the long run vs buying the MP500 outright, which often retails in the $700 and $800 range now. I’m sure it’s not exactly the same as an MP500, but the resulting sound is very pleasing IMHO.

My understanding is that the MP100/MP110, MP150/MP200, and MP300/MP500 share the same bodies, and only differ by stylus. It’s worth noting that the MP200 and MP300 allegedly have essentially the same nude elliptical diamond on a boron cantilever, but their coils differ slightly. If that’s true, and the MP200 and MP300 stylus is the same, then it’s logical that the MP500 stylus would work well with the MP200 body also, as well as on the MP150 body. If you have an MP150 or MP200, a J-NP 500 stylus will work just fine.

@chakster 

hope it’s ok to reply to a two year old post…

I’m interested in your list of mm cartridges and wondering if these are still in your top ten? Are any of them truly low compliance like 7/8/9 measured at 10hz?

Here is your list..

“AT-ML180
AT-ML170
Stanton CS-100 WOS
Pickering XSV/5000 or XLZ/7500
Grace LEVEL II BR/MR 
Grace F14 Excellent
Grace F14 with Beryllium cantilever
Grado Signature XTZ