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Cartridges: Complete Scam?

I’m very new to analog, and researching my options on forums I keep coming across the same sentiment: that past the ultra low-end cartridges, there is very little gains in actual sound quality and that all you’re getting are different styles and colorations to the sound.

So, for example, if I swapped out my $200 cartridge that came with my table for a Soundsmith, Dynavector, Oracle, etc, I may notice a small improvement in detail and dynamics, but I’m mostly just going to get a different flavor. Multiple people told me they perffered thier old vintage cartridges over modern laser-cut boron-necked diamonds.

It’s possible that these people are just desperately defending thier old junk and/or have never heard high end audio. But if what they’re saying is true, than the cartridge industry is a giant SCAM. If I blow 2.5k minimum on an Air Tight I better get a significant improvement over a $200 bundler — and if just all amounts to a different coloration, than that is a straight-up scam ripoff.

So guys — are these forums just BS-ing me here? Is it really a giant scam?
madavid0
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
+1 jperry!
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
OP- If you are really serious, then the answer is that in most cases, a $1K table and a $500 phono stage will not get the most out of a $2K cart.  And it certainly will not be plug-n-play.  Unless you have a dealer with good analog set-up skills (a rarity, these days) you will need a good protractor for alignment and a scale for setting VTF.  Maybe a good microscope for getting VTA and azimuth right.  Can't find a $300/$500 battery phono stage on MD's web site, so no idea if it has variable loading or whether the gain would be adequate for a LO MC cart.  If you are going MM or MI, $2K is very near top of line.  Of course, the show demo you heard may (or may not) have benefited from very careful system matching and expert set-up.  As someone said, LP playback requires a properly matched "system" where each piece needs to be selected with consideration for upstream and downstream components.  
has2be's avatar
has2be
555 posts
 
This is six of the Titles for the OP's threads initiated.

"Basis Turntables      :    Worth it Rip Off"
"Class D                     =   Trash?"
"Rega and ProAc        :    Bad?"
"Anticables                  :   Scam"
"Synergestic Research:  Scam"
"Cartridges                   :  Complete Scam?

I'm with @stevecham , on this thread , and the others above..............
It would be difficult to not believe an agenda and pattern exists....
luizfcoimbra's avatar
luizfcoimbra
25 posts
 
@madavid0

Properly matched does not mean matched to equally expensive gear, but to technically compatible gear. You have to look for compliance, mass, impedance, gain... that’s all.

Provided that the well regarded $2-3k cart is a good match (technically speaking, not financially) to the rest of your analog rig, you will definitely hear a lot of improvement. If it´s not, it may not sound any better than what you currently have. 

hope this helps...



rbstehno
1,455 posts
 
19lbs or 23 lbs for a tt is nothing. Mine weighs 150 lbs and I’ve seen and heard a few that are much heavier.
i wouldn’t put a lot of your stress on weight of a tt, it’s the whole package. I have friends that put $3-5k cartridges on tonearms and it just doesn’t work out. If you go out to vinyl asylum and check out the analog database on tonearm and cartridge specs, you will see which cartridges will match up with which tonearms. I know that soundsmith does a lot of their testing with vpi gear for example, but that doesn’t mean that their $8k cartridge will work fine with the vpi gimbal arm either.
1 more thing, years ago I used a grado sonata cartridge on a music hall mmf7 I think tt and I couldn’t get rid of the hum. Went to another tt and the hum went away
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