Cartridge under $600 for VAC VPI HW

@chakster

i recommended the Vasari Gold because I happen to like it very much. Specs mean nothing to me. The Cartridge sounds wonderful on my system and since I listen to 90% Rock Music, it is perfect for my needs. The ZU Denon 103 was a much more expensive Cartridge as it was the top grade at 700.00. Unfortunately I bent the canteliver by accident and off it went to Soundsmith. I bought the Vasari Gold Cartridge based on a fellow Audiogoner’s recommendation as he listens to the same kind of music as I do. He gave me good advice and I stand by what I said.  This new Cartridge was just going to be a back up but it is so good that the ZU Denon will now be the back up. 

If if you haven’t heard the Cartridge then as far as I am concerned, your opinion means nothing to me. Listen to the Cartridge and then tell me what you think.

As someone who is neutral in this vintage/modern debate, I can observe that some advocates of the vintage are often a little agggressive and uncompromising in their opinions. One thing to say is, as an example, that many vintage MM cartridges are much better than most or even all modern MM, and another to call all modern MMs inferior or junk. Perhaps unintentionally, it si close to calling those who use or consider using modern MM uneducated imbeciles.
Not very nice and in many case wrong.
Another point is that vintage, whatever it is, is not for everyone. One should be an expert when choosing, know places to service and fix them, and other considerations.
The Goldring 1042 that I've been using has been made for decades, I think, though it is not vintage in a full sense of the word.
This makes me half-imbecil, I guess.

@inna we are talking about materials used in design of one particular cartridge (against another) and this is obvious that bonded stylus is inferior to the nude stylus. Cantilever material also meen something for those who knows who it works. You can ignore specs on paper, but if you know the history then it’s obvious that Shibata and mode advanced styli were invented to suprass Conical and Elliptical. And design of those flagship cartridges changed the market and put it on another level. This is what we call a golden era of analog. At least no one of the modern designers of the high-end MC cartridges are not willing to use elliptical styli on them anymore (you know why). Denon 103 is an oldschool cartridge, designed in the 60s for broadcast stations in Japan, this cartridge and its sound has so many followers, i’m not belong to this group of people and i think i have my rights to post my opinion with arguments (always).

You tell me about a few modern MM cartridges with beryllium or boron hollow pipe (not rod) cantilevers and nude line Contact or better styli, please. Then we can see what is the price for those modern MM. Then we can compare this price to TOTL vintage cartridges. After we can make a conclusion about "bang for the bucks" of which i’m talking about here.

The reason why people buying Denon 103 is the price tag, it is very cheap classic MC cartridge with a history behind it, and that’s why it’s so popular. You will not find so many praise for TOTL Denon DL-1000 or DL-S1 cartridges for some reason, they are better according to Denon, but much more expensive, because of the materials used to design them.

I’m not trying to offend people who use modern MM cartridges. But for those who would like to spend less and to get more i will advocate vintage MM and vintage MC cartridges, based on my own experience with both vintage and modern. If you’re not agree please post your arguments.

@stereo5

If if you haven’t heard the Cartridge then as far as I am concerned, your opinion means nothing to me. Listen to the Cartridge and then tell me what you think.

This is not an argument. I wish you will listen your favorite Rock records with some of the greatest vintage MM some day. I’m always searching for cartridges, but i can’t ignore my intuition and common sence to buy such cartridge for the price they are asking for bonded elliptical tip on alluminum cantilever with specs like that, sorry. I’ve been there already, tried similar stuff and was not impressed. Glad it’s fine for you, no probs. I just can't see the advantages of that modern design over the top vintage MM from the 70s. 

chakster, I don't question either your expertise or your hearing. Even without understanding a thing about cartridges, like you I would not buy that Italian cartridge based on those specifications. If I could audition it before buying that might be different.
As for longing for the golden age of analog, I think most of us have it.
I like tape,vinyl is close to it, so yeah..

@ chakster

The closest I went for vintage was a used McIntosh MA6600 integrated which I bought from audio Classics. I bought a used Dynavector DV20L here on Audiogon and I got a Cartridge with a collapsed suspension. The seller gave me half my money back. Never again will I buy a used Cartridge. I wish I had kept my Shure V15 type 3 and 4 and my Pickering 681eee but at the time I got sucked in to a Ortofon MC20 and then realized a year later I wasn’t spinning vinyl any longer. Forget the specs, if you ever get a chance to listen to the Vasari Gold you will realize it is something quite special. It makes beautiful music with my Conrad Johnson amp, Rogue RP5 preamp and GE Triton References speakers