What is the preferred cartrige mm or mc and why


Curious to know why some audiophiles prefer a moving coil cartridge over moving magnet type. What determines this preference? Does the tonearm determine which type is preferred? Why? 
128x128gillatgh
Dear @gillatgh: In one word: IGNORANCE, each one of us ignorance audio/MUSIC levels. Tonearms has nothing to says about preferences.

Several years ago I re-discovered for my self the MM/MI alternative and was really exited and enthusiast about for years till I learned from those great MM/MI experiences.

One important thing that I learned is that the MM/MI alternative was diminished for years with out any true and real facts. This alternative is a really one but different from the LOMC alternative and certainly can't competes " face to face " with the best at the top LOMC cartridges ( vintage or today ones. ).

The @chakster you tube link comes from a 100% biased gentleman that is a manufacturer o non-LOMC cartridges and he makes money for that. Nothing wrong with that but he is not an unbiased audiophile. So his opinion is just one of the " pile ".

The same @chakster post about the Stanton can tell only one side of the whole Stanton design because I own both 981 models the the LZ and HZ that are even better ( both = than the 980 because the 981 are hand calibrated and in my experiences with the HZ has better quality performance levels than the LZ and obviously can play cleanly the 1812.

In the other side, the TAS link where  recording engineers preference for MM magnet in reality says per se nothing more than that were their preferences but all those engeneers are biased for what they likes and not which is better and all those engeneers gave their opinions based on the system equipment where they listened their recordings that  can't says MM/MI are superior to the LOMC cartridge alternative that's as a fact is clearly superior one.

@chakster is an enthusiast MM/MI " roockie " with a really long road to walk and learns why and where comes the LOMC superiority. He is wrong but he does not yet knows he is wrong and why is wrong.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.


Trust your ears.  I do.

After buying 2nd to the top line Conrad Johnson electronics and a Pass Labs phonostage, I thought I was good to go with my Rega RP6 with the Exact2 cartridge.  Every time I put on an album (after cleaning it on my Clearaudio Smartmatrix Pro), I was really, really sad.  Why?  Because it sounded like crap, that's why.  Compressed soundstage, lack of definition, and no finesse.  No particular bass presence, either.

Before deciding to get out of vinyl, I ponied up for a Rega RP10 with the Apheta2 MC cartridge.  Now?  All I buy is vinyl.

I know the really high end guys poke fun at the Apheta's (both 1 and 2), but it sounds good to my ears.  Fremer was right; classical sounds the best, but rock & roll is serviceable, and way, way better than on the RP6 with the MM cartridge.

My next stop is to try a Grado because I love the house sound of the headphones and had Grado cartridges growing up, or go with a Hana SL and see if i saves my RP6.

Happy listening.
I don’t have enough experience to say definitely -- and I doubt that you could make a single generalized rule about MM vs MC; I suspect there are really great ones of each type.

That said, conventional wisdom is that MC is better because of the lower mass of the moving coil vs moving magnet. But then there’s the additional cost of SUT or phono stage (unless your system already has a MC input).

My own experience is limited; I moved to a Dynavector 10x5 HOMC in the last few years, and love it, compared to the MM Rega Elys I had before.

Gasbose

@bsme85 , your comment was entirely unhelpful and not very courteous.
@liamowen re:
My next stop is to try a Grado because I love the house sound of the headphones and had Grado cartridges growing up, or go with a Hana SL and see if i saves my RP6.
I agree about the grado cart’s - very nice

However - You might want to rethink a Grado on a Rega - I had one for about a week - they can hum and the hum gets louder as the cart gets closer to the motor as the album plays.

Having said that, my experience was back n the 90’s - so things on the Rega motor front or even the Grado’s may have changed,

Here’s a 2008 Audiokarma posting...
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/the-dreaded-grado-hum-on-my-rega-planar-3.188070/

My cart is a Soundsmith modified Denon DL 103 - with the Optimized Countour Contact Line stylus and ruby cantilever, is superb - but it does have a shim to add a little mass for optimum Rega compatibility..

You do need to use a mirror’d protractor for percise alignment on higher resolving stylus types to get the best out of it - but an elyptical stylus
might be OK using a paper protractor.

The standard 103 is very good and great value at only $230, but the SS version (add another $400) extracts the most delicate nuances from vinyl.

Regards - steve