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Best Budget Phono Cartridge?

After upgrading my system for CDs and SACDs recently, I pulled my old turntable out of storage to see how it would stack up. It sounded pretty sick, and my best guess is that an old (very old) Stanton 681EEE is the culprit. I don’t want to spend a lot of money on this experiment, but if I can find a decent cartridge in the $100-250 range it would be fun to see how my old vinyl compares. I’m looking at the following new or NOS cartridges:


Audio Technica AT7V MM or AT-F2 MC

Denon DL 103 MC or DL 110 MC;

Grado Prestige Gold1

Sumiko Pearl MM  

Ortofon 2M Blue MM  

Shure M97xE

 Would any of you like to weigh in on this list, or add a favorite of your own? I’ll be inputing to a Parasound New Classic 2100 preamp.


128x128cheeg
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Grado all the way! I still have my vintage Grado G1 as a backup to my MC's! Because Grado's are MI types they are immune to capacitive loading! So can be used with any cable length!
mesch
3,524 posts
 
+1 Matt M. You could start with the red and latter upgrade by buying 2Mblue stylus which fits the red body. May need the extra money to get the TT up to speed.  

Grado cartridges are also very good. There is a new prestige series out. 
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Try Shure M97xe with the vivid stylus from LP gear .
czarivey
5,946 posts
 
I also would include ADS Type III and type IV cartridges. 
reubent
7,044 posts
 
As @mattmiller  and @mesch recommended, I used an Ortofon 2M Red which was included in my Pro-Ject Carbon Debut Esprit SB bundle. After a year I "upgraded" the cartridge by replacing the 2M Red stylus with a 2M Blue stylus. There was a noticeable performance improvement IMHO. However the price of the upgraded Blue stylus was more that the cost of the original 2M Red Cartridge.
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