The greatest MM and MI cartridges ....

To accompany my list.....I think I need to describe the state of high-end audio in Britain and Australia in the late 70s and early 80s.
Here in Australia, Britain was the 'heart' of the 'renaissance' in high-end audio.
The States were considered 'crude' and unsophisticated with no credible audio press....hence the need for 'underground' magazines like The Absolute Sound and Stereophile although we never saw or heard of Stereophile till much further into the 80s.
Ampzilla and Son of Ampzilla were about all we heard of America and a little later......Audio Research and Conrad Johnson.
There was a 'known' British sound to speakers....and an American 'sound' to speakers.......and the American was very much derided.
The British mainstream audio press (Hi-Fi Answers and What Hi-Fi) provided unbridled criticism and intelligent discussion into all things high-end whilst the names.....Linn, Naim, Rega, Wharfdale, Celestion, Gale, Kef, Quad, Mitchell etc held sway with all audiophiles and through their connections with cartridge and arm manufacturers in Japan.......the Japanese audio industry was interwoven with the high-end British.
Consequently......cartridges (most made in Japan) were very prominent in the British press whereas I can recall little discussion of those when we eventually were able to get our hands on The Absolute Sound issues.
With this history in mind, my list of Classic MM cartridges would be:-
Decca London
Nagaoka MP11
Stanton 681EEE
Garrott P77
AT 155LC
Signet TK-3 series
Signet TK-5 series
Signet TK-7 series
Empire 1000ZE/X
Empire 4000D/III
FR-5E
Technics EPC-100

Mentioned was the AT-95. this happens to be the same cartridge as the Linn K5 or the Clearaudio Aurum Beta S. I own all these incarnations, and I assure you that they are really nothing to write home about. They not bad, mind you, but they fall way short of mind blowing. I'll probably never mount them on a tonearm again.

Also, I failed to say in my previous post that the TRX3 was an ADC offering that was designed by the same man who designs the ZYX cartridges. If you ever happen to see one, grab it.

I certainly agree that there is a good number of very good performing MM and MI cartridges out there.
What I am missing however are a few MM/ MI cartridges which do display greatness.
Is there any MM cartridge (or MI) out there were you would say:
"that's it ! I could live with this one forever - no need for any other cartridge no more."
If there is any such thing out there which didn't trigger my attention so far, I would honestly like to know.
Me myself musing since a long time about having a MM cartridge made to my specifications.
As I for one still believe that the possibilities of this design haven't been fully explored yet.

Dear D,
Do you mean.......be 'faithful' to a cartridge for the rest of our lives to the exclusion of all others?
This was not a condition of the great MC cartridges and I don't think it's in the nature of a true audiophile to be 'monogamous'?
Let me just say that I could happily live with only one of the MM cartridges on my list than any single MC cartridge I have yet heard.

Hi Mosin,
**Mentioned was the AT-95. this happens to be the same cartridge as the Linn K5 or the Clearaudio Aurum Beta S. I own all these incarnations, and I assure you that they are really nothing to write home about. They not bad, mind you, but they fall way short of mind blowing. I'll probably never mount them on a tonearm again.**

What those cartridges share is the same housing and stylus plug. The generators are all different. The K5 has output of 4.5mV, the others are 3.6mV. The 95E has 2.8K impedance as opposed to 660 ohms for the CA. What is similar is the stylus/cantilever, cu, and obviously your listening conclusions. I suspect that if you put a different stylus assembly on the Aurum Beta S, you could equal or exceed the performance of a Virtuoso. The generators seem to be identical.
Regards,