Cartridges that get strings right?

I agree that “everything matters”. HOWEVER, in my experience the sound of recorded strings, massed strings and violins in particular, pose unique challenges for phono cartridges. The sound of the violin is unusually rich in harmonic content. When a violin string is bowed, many of the fundamental tone’s harmonics are excited simultaneously. The sound of many violins playing together seems to make it very difficult for most phono cartridges to track properly and without breakup or audible strain.

I am not sure what exactly the OP means by “get it right” since a cartridge that tracks well can still have an unnatural tonal balance which would make the resulting string sound not “right”. Conversely, a cartridge can have great innate tonal balance and have problems with tracking and audible breakup. Any other component in the audio system can also have tonal balance problems and make the resulting string sound not “right” and is why “everything matters”. But, I would say that if correct string sound is a priority, exceptional tracking ability is a good place to start in choosing a cartridge. Of course, the tonearm and its synergy with any given cartridge will affect tracking and why, once again “everything matters”. Having said all that, of all the cartridges that I have owned, for sheer tracking ability the Shure’s are hard to beat; but I generally don’t like their tonal character. MC’s with highish compliance (for MC’s) , like the van den Hul’s that I have owned have offered the best balance between innate tracking ability and tonal balance for realistic string sound.

Yes delivering the details of massed strings in a good recording is a big time hifi performance test, one of the toughest!  So much going on harmonically at any particular time with massed strings!

I have a Denon DL103R cart on Linn Basik tonearm on Linn Axis table to Electrocompaniet step up transformer to Audio Research sp16 pre-amp with phono stage. This setup does the job. Took some work and time to get there testing with high quality recordings containing massed strings but worth every minute and dollar to get there.

Dear @pigvin : Get it right for whom?. You can be sure that almost each audiophile has his own " get it rigth " in almost any udio subject.

Yes, like you as we attend more and more often to MUSIC live events s we will know better about that " get it rigth ".

Of course tht everything is important in the room/system but the room/system only can reproduce what the cartridge pick-up or what the lasser pick up in a CDP.

So I agree with @frogman : cartridge tracking abilities is the main issue along the cartridge quality motor levels and agree with him too that van den Hul cartridges like the Colibri ( low output. ) is really good in any sense and a precise answer to your question.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Agreed with others.   Massed strings seems one of the biggest "fall-down" points I experience in audio reproduction.  They so easily can sound synthetic, or like digital samples rather than having that delicate combination of bow-on-string vividness and texture, yet with a relaxed sweetnees, and also being appropriately rich sounding, rather than the thin, shrill tone strings are often reduced to when playing in the higher registers.
As it happens, the combo of my Transrotor turntable with a Benz Micro Ebony L cartridge, with my little Spendor S3/5 speakers, finally give me that lushious "strings sound beautiful...like strings!" sensation.  I've been luxuriating in any track that has strings ever since using this combo.

Further following on to Frogman's and Raul's posts, because of the complexity of the sonic signature of even a single violin, let alone a massed array of them, the aural sensation produced in a "live" hall may at times exceed the capacity of music reproduction technologies to convey it. If you attend a lot of live orchestral concerts, you may never be quite satisfied with what you can achieve at home with similar music. Ignorance is bliss, and all that.