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
It looks like I should add the AT 440MLb to the list of possibilities... any comments?
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Thanks viridian -- I had heard that replacement styluses for the 681 were not worth it, as the body doesn't age well; have you heard otherwise?

Regarding the VTA, you are right that the turntable doesn't have an adjustment, but I thought that could be done either at the cartridge head or platten.  Is that a bad idea?

Also, thanks for the Nagaoka 110 suggestion; I'll look into it.
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What a great thread on Stanton 681 replacements -- thanks viridian!  One of my concerns (in addition to that body ageing thing, with which I totally relate), was that the JICO replacement stylus is $167, and I didn't see any point in spending that much $ to resuscitate a cartridge body that may not be in such good shape.   But if the author of the thread is right, it sounds like the Pfanstiehl 4822-DEE-P is a decent replacement stylus, at only $29 -- that's a no-brainer!  At worst, I can use it as a backup set of "rock skis", for my rutted records that would otherwise tear up good needles.  Thanks, too, for the advice on rough VTR adjustment; if the Phanstiehl doesn't work out, I may yet need to try it.  Or maybe just get a better arm...