What Does It Take To Surpass A SME V?

Dear @neonnigth : I can read in the forum that you still are alittle distressed by the MC2000 tonearm to match it.

You own the SME V with a good EM ( 10gr. ) for that cartridge and can buy a Reed 3P 9.5" teak arm wand that comes with lower EM ( 8gr. ) than the V and will mate well too.

The VIV for that very high compliance is a mistake as is the 505 that I owned but at the end is your $$$$$ and your sound MUSIC listening targets.

R.

@neonknight Through a communication with a Third Party Technician Service with strong ties with Ortofon, it is now a case that since shortly before pre-covid times, Ortofon stopped releasing parts for their products to outside resources.

I missed the boat, as I missed a place on a final order, where I was to have another TOTR Cart' internals purchased and stored for an upcoming rebuild I had in mind. For me after hearing the results from a similar re-build the punt was worth it, but not to be.

Joseph Long 'Needlestein' is a very good option, the Service is not limited to a particular Cantilever/Styli, there are discussion to be had, and a viable design is in many cases available.

Joseph has worked on plenty of Ortofon Cart's from Vintage to Modern, salvaging non-working to fit for purpose, through to TLC on a heavily contaminated specimen.

A friend has told me of a individual based in Washington, who has very recently had a Kontrapunkt C overhauled by 'Needlestein' and are blown away, it was a wild card venture, and the Cart' has now superseded much more expensive modern design models.    

r

@pindac 

Thanks for the information. The second MC2000 that I have as already been fitted with a boron cantilever and microridge stylus, its now in its modified form. This has become my daily driver cartridge. Since the OEM cantilever was not savable, this is the best that can be done with it. The second MC2000 I have is getting a replacement diamond installed in the OEM cantilever now. So at this point I have a fully functional and refurbished OEM MC2000 and T2000, and a second MC2000 to be played on a casual basis. I have a MC3000 II and MC5000 for casual listening also. 

My SOTA has a Transfiguration Proteus on it, and the other arm on the Scheu has an Ortofon Verismo on it, and while those are considered to be pretty good cartridges, the MC2000 is really within the same class...provided you can deal with its incredibly low output and high compliance. It certainly is a more difficult cartridge to accommodate. 

Due to Brexit, the Third Party Service based in Holland, stopped dealing with Items from the UK.

This has been a loss, as the Technician really knows the Ortofon Products from the past 20ish Years as there is design used that the Technician has had a input to.

Being a Ortofon user as a preference, it is a shame to have had lost the support of such a knowledge base.

A Ortofon Cart' that has been under the hand of a Technician and optimised for mechanical function in relation to their intimate knowledge of the Brands Set Up Parameters, can standout as a contender to a upper level model.

I have experienced this, but after regular experiences and periods of usage increasing for the Cart's being compared, there is a time that arrives where the upper model shows it strengths.

The Verismo is one on my Radar, as has been the Proteus.

Your earlier reports has influenced my leaning toward Ortofon and the Verismo, as the Cart' of interest.

The only others on the Radar are the MSL Platinum and the Mutech Hyabusa.

I am assured through another source, maybe the most experienced I know of using modern and vintage Analogue Replay ancillaries, that the Hyabusa is extremely close to the Platinum and the extra cost is not necessary, if being without the MSL  Brand is not of such a concern. 

So the cabling showed up for the phono stage. I bought balanced Wireworld Silver Eclipse 8 interconnects and also grabbed a couple of pairs of Wireworld Micro Eclipse 8 tone arm wiring with XLR terminations with straight and SME style DIN plugs. This way I can also use the SME V or the Dynavector DV505 with this phono stage if I choose so. 

With the Verismo I also found it beneficial to select the medium, +7dB I believe, setting. A little more drive opened the sound up and provided a more dynamic and lively presentation. 

One thing I wonder about is the Neumann RIAA setting. I have read a bit about this, and it seems that some folks think its inaudible, while others believe its worth exploring. Yes I can install jumpers and make up my own mind. I am just curious if others have worked with it at all.