For around $450 2M Bronze and a bit more Blue Point Special EVOIII high output $550.
9 responses Add your response
1+ on the 2M Bronze. The Grado Prestige Gold 2 has a consumer replaceable stylus and the Grado Reference Sonata 2 will outperform all the previously mentioned cartridges. For MM cartridges it is very hard to beat Ortofon and Grado. My favorite MM cartridge is the Ortofon 2M Black. At it's price it is a real winner. (also removable stylus). High output moving coil cartridges have higher effective masses due to the larger coils and tend not to track as well. |
All the cartridges here are usual suspects, available in every online shop, all of them have been mentioned in every post here with the same question. I have no idea why people need any of them, this is what dealers will offer to you everywhere by default, all those new Grado, Ortofon, Hanna, SoundSmith .... you name it. For $400 you can’t buy anything special if you’re looking for NEW with retail price under $400 in the shops. What you can do is to buy a vintage MM or MC cartridge and spend your money on something superior (much better value). If you’re looking for MM or MI then most top of the line cartridges from the 80’s are much better than anything new at the same price today. You can have better cantilever (like Beryllium ...which is not available in any modern design), better diamond profile (like Stereohedron or MicroRidge...) and the cartridge still can be NOS (New Old Stock, unused). You can’t buy ANY new cartridge for this price with advanced cantilevers/diamonds under $400. What you can get is overpriced cartridges with huge distributors margin included in the price, but the sound quality of those cartridges are average and most of them considering entry level today by the media. The choise is better if the budget is more like $600-1000, but anyway i think most of the spectacular vintage MM/MI or even MC cartridges on the used market are superior. Especially if the price is something like $400-800. I’ve been buyin them for years and always happy about the result. Let me mention a few killers you can find (hopefully): Audio-Technica AT-ML150 OCC with Berrylium/MicroLine or AT-ML170 OFC with Boron/MicroLine Grace F9F, F9U, F9E or F9L Victor X-1IIe (Titanium Pipe cantilever) or X-1IID with Beryllium/Shibata Ortofon M20FL Super (FineLine diamond) Garrott P-77 ADC TRX-2 Sapphire Stanton 881s mkII or Pickering XSV-3000 with Nude Stereohedron You can’t go wrong with any of them! Take in count mid or high compliance (depends on the model) for your arm. And the list of MC can be that big too P.S. Clearaudio got the MM generators for their overpriced cartridges from Audio-Technica (Japan) |