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MC suggestions

I have long been a Grado fan.  Currently running a Statement Reference v2.  I love it, but.  I auditioned the Ortofon Quintet Black and the Dyna 17d3 and the Benz Glider and while each were excellent in their way, the overall feeling, despite being faster and transparent left me wanting, I was happy enough with my Grado. Id like to take another crack at this now. What I am looking for at this point and I hope you guys can make some suggestions, is a cleaner, and more live sound. This combined with a nice sense of space and width to the soundstage.  Is this asking a lot in my price range which is 2.5k(ish)?  I am of the opinion after spending sometime trying to figure this out, that an el34 based tube amp combined with the Grado cart are just too similar in voicing(warm).  I had hope that running a ss phono stage combined with the low output statement would be just the synergy.  It definitely moved the needle in the right direction and I could live happily if I didn't think I could push it a little farther in the detail direction without losing what I love about the Grado sound.  That is primarily it is not brittle, its natural sounding, nice soundstage all around.  Perhaps if I had solid state amplification it would be a synergistic match made in heaven.  Some carts I have been thinking about are VAS, Miyajima, Dyna(I did really like the 10x5 I listened to at one point).  Not to rule out Lyra but would be worried about the thinness I've read about from some users.  Grado fans seem a little few and far between and I wonder if there are previous fans who have moved on.  Maybe I just need to have a couple carts around and their is no one right cart. I have hesitated pursuing a cart change because my system has been tuned to Grado's sound but if I can get close with another company making MC's that wouldn't call for recalibrating my rig that much would be great.  Thanks for reading and sorry to be so long winded.
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fourwnds's avatar
fourwnds OP
277 posts
 
@tomic601 hey!, whaddya know, maybe there is more Grado fans than I thought! Grado’s there sure is something about them for that full bodied natural presentation(midrange?). Seems like you got some nice set-ups going.
2-votes Lyra. with Nagaoka coming in with a photo finish needed and a dark horse Shelter breathing down everybody's neck : )

@mulveling right on!, I appreciate your recommendation, Shelter was not something I was remotely considering. Not for any reason, just under my radar. I’ll have to do my due diligence here and check em out. Lots to think about.

Thanks again everybody for your responses.

@johnss I started to think about what you said. I think I was thinking if I was buying new, but on the used market, if I could get into one of those Herron’s for that price that I’ve read sooo much about. That would be an alternative I hadn’t considered. By all accounts they are quite something.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,945 posts
 
The Herron is on my radar as well

the inputs about the Bronze are spot on, another lovely sounding musical cartridge 
mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,928 posts
 
I can also confirm the Cadenza Bronze is also a great match for the Herron VTPH-2A! I think you could be very happy with that pairing. In my 2nd system I’ve been mixing/matching between the Bronze, Accord, Herron, and a Rogue Ares Magnum phono stage. Here are my loose & subjective ratings for the 4 combos, with my reference Koetsu Coralstone + FR64S w/ VAC Renaissance SE phono stage in the main system being the "10" reference (and at a very large multiple of the cost):

1. Shelter Accord + Herron: 9.0
2. Cadenza Bronze + Herron: 8.5
3. Cadenza Bronze + Ares Magnum: 8.25
4. Shelter Accord + Ares Magnum: 7.0

I use a Fidelity Research FR64fx arm on these combos; SOTA Nova V table.
Dunno why - just haven’t gotten that 4th combo to really sing for me yet (tried 20x and 40x gain settings on its internal SUT). Any of the other 3 combos are great, but the top 2 really start edging into special territory. I’m also a bit of a nut for NOS tubes. I use a quad of Telefunken smooth plate 12AX7, and a stock 12AT7 (which I believe is an Ei Yugo smooth plate) in the Herron, with 500 ohm loading plugs. In the Ares I use Mazda silver-plate 12AX7 and 1950’s Sylvania black plate D getter 12BH7.

Another factor to consider is that Ortofon has very good service/support. When your Cadenza wears out you can get it completely rebuilt (they only retain the shell) for roughly half of the list price - good as new again. To be honest I’m not even sure what support Shelter offers, if any - and I’ve had no luck so far getting info towards that end from my dealer.

The Cadenza also has a very easy to work with specs: 5 ohms and nearly 0.5mV output, which makes it an easy match to either active MC inputs (like the Herron) or SUT’s in the 10x - 40x range. The Shelter is also 0.5mV, but its 15 ohm coils make it a poor match for the higher gain 30x/40x SUT’s (like in the Ares). The Shelter does work very well with a Sky 20, though.

Call Keith Herron up and ask him about pricing if you’re interested in going that route, btw. I’m not one who is going to say the Herron is better than anything ever - I do like my VAC better (I also really like the phonos VAC builds into their preamps!) - but it’s a lot of sound for the money, and so is the Ares Magnum (given the right cartridge pairing) for that matter.
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rauliruegas
13,101 posts
 
Dear @fourwnds : Next are very very good alternatives for you and better than any of the other named here but the Coralstone:


https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9c5fe-zyx-universe-cartridges

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9bda2-dynavector-te-kaitora-rua-brand-new-cartridges

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9c350-van-den-hul-colibri-xgp-gold-lw-new-latest-version-cartri...

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9bb73-transfiguration-audio-proteus-cartridges

Btw, Lyra Kleos is an excellent performer and the gentlemans that could say " tinned " sound are just with a wrong audio system.
The top model in the Cadenza line is very good too.


Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,945 posts
 
 @mulveling thanks so much, i looked at the Areas magnum the other day, may borrow it for extended listen...I love the NOS as well. The magnum case rings like a bell, what are you doing there ?
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