Best MM?

I have no idea what "the best" is, but I installed a 2M Black on my brother in law's VPI Prime, and it sounds awesome for the price. Which is half your budget.

I would make the MI / MM short list from best on top

Blue Electric Shake Streamliner

ADC TRX-2 >TRX-3

ADC Astrion

AKG P-8 Aidas mods.

Elac ESG 796

Elac EMC

Denon DL-107

Decca Reference

SoundSmith Voice

GZM Korvet -008

I would have to go thru possibly dozens of vintage cartridges to determine which one I like most with Nottingham table/arm. It is such a pain to change cartridges in that arm because the wires are so thin. Besides, I would have to have them all at the same time. 
Stating that any particular vintage cartridge would sound better in any set-up for any taste is not quite right.
Chakster, which vintage cartridge would you recommend for me if you are familiar with Nottingham ? $400 or $1000 no difference if it's worth it.

The purpose of this forum is to enable each person to get the best bang for their buck.

It has taken me many years to discover the cartridge for me "that I could afford". This is a long story that I won't try to shorten. Way back when Corey Greenberg at Stereophile was my go to reviewer, I bought everything he recommended that I needed. I still have 3 preamps he recommended that are working. Naturally I bought the cartridge he recommended, and he recommended it wholeheartedly.

I found this cartridge to be hard and lifeless. It seemed everyone on this forum liked that particular cartridge except me; that's when I began the long discovery process.

First and foremost, some objective search for "the best" of anything is a foolish search; if such a thing existed, you couldn't afford it, and if you could, you would have one of your "underlings" find it for you.

Yes! There is a best cartridge in your price range; it is the best cartridge for you, and you will have to make the expensive process of elimination and discovery.

I have my complete record collection on an "external hard drive"; consequently I can review records all day long without leaving my listening chair. After upgrading to my present cartridge, I noticed a remarkable change in the music; each record seemed to reveal the essence of the musicians intentions. That caused me to decide to re-record my entire collection, and since then, I have a perpetual smile on my face.


It's not easy being a "musiophile/ audiophile" with complete emphasis on the music.

Been running a Grado Statement v2 as of late and I just love it. Traded in an older Grado Ref. v1( started out way back with a Sonata) and it was only 1k for new one. I’m glad to see new v2 Grados get a mention here. I’ve often wondered if I was just fooling myself about Grados in general and why the generally dismissive tone about them except for the more ubiquitous thumbs up for vintage Grado sig or whatever. Anyway a grand is a lot of money still and I’m not saying it’s the best, but I really like mine and one day I’ll try something else I’m sure. More and more though I’m less interested in scratching that curiosity itch, maybe I’n gettin closer to finding my sound, or tired of blowing money, I don’t know.