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suggestions on MM to MC upgrade

Current setting is Linn LP12 (pre-cirkus, valhalla) + Ittok LVII + Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood + Lehmann black cube, sounds wonderful - may be a bit on the rich side, but it sounds great to me, plus Virtuoso seems to track on anything. I am thinking to go to MC route and already obtained a Linto from the bay. However, I am bit concern how much should I spend on the MC cart so that it won't be just a lateral move. Here are the list of a few carts that I am looking at:

Audio Technica OC9
Audio Technica AT33PTG / EV
Ortofon Kontrapunkt
Ortofon Jubilee
Ortofon Cadenza
Clearaudio Concerto

The price range is pretty wide, and I don't know too much about other carts anyway - in fact, among the list the only one I listend to personally is ATOC9. Any suggestion is much appreciated.
gxleetw
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rauliruegas
13,002 posts
 
Dear Danielvrandeburg: Good that you like it, very fine quality performance.

You need to loadd as best in your own system and remember that different capacitance values makes a difference too so you have " play " with capacitance too.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.
blue_starfish
16 posts
 
Alternatively you can consider keeping the cart and upgrade the phono instead.

More transparency, and added pace. If possible, borrow one to try if it is worth the upgrade. Look at MM phonos from Graham Slee and Whest.
jwglista
206 posts
 
This is an interesting thread. I have a Clearaudio Emotion TT with Virtuoso Wood cart and really do admire its highly organic sound. I have, however, been curious about the world of moving coil. From what I've been reading, it seems like it might take a substantial sum of money to move into the MC world from the high end Clearaudio MM carts if one wants to hold onto that organic sound.
transnova's avatar
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transnova
350 posts
 
I have several excellent MM cartridges including an Ortofon 2M Black and a Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood.I enjoy both a great deal.Recently,I purchased a used Denon TD 316 with a nearly new Denon DL 110 cartridge(high Output MC) fom a fellow Audiogon member.I am shocked at how good the table/arm/cartridge combo sounds through an inexpensive Vincent phono preamp! I have owned far more expensive MC cartridges from Benz,Dynavector and Signet,yet;this might be the best sound I have had from vinyl.There is very little surface noise and the soundstage is deep and wide.The mids and highs open and shimmering while the bass is tight and well defined,if not overly large or deep.
lewm
12,845 posts
 
Dear Danielvradenburg, You must mean 250,000 ohms or 250K. Correct? Or are you really loading your MM at 250 ohms? Thanks. I am rather surprised that you hear so much difference between 100K and 250K loads. Do you have any idea of the capacitance at the phono stage interface?
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