MP150 or MP200

I have been reading Chaks posts for YEARS on vintage MM carts and tried quite a few out myself mostly based on his glowing testimony.
Unfortunately I cannot say that any truly lit my fire, most did indeed work just fine although I did have one ADC cart collapse the suspension within a week of purchase ( sent back via eBay for full refund so no big deal).

Not a single one of them could get close to any of my good MC carts, not one. Think Koetsu Black Goldline, Scheu Analog SL, Ortofon Cadenza Black. Even the Ortofon 2M Black was a lot better to my ears.

Now maybe Chak does own some stellar examples I have not tried and I wish him all the best and hope he sincerely enjoys them but for myself there will be no more vintage MM experiments, just sold the last of them this morning!

@uberwalts the ADC is Raul’s favorite, not mine. You gave up pretty quick. In fact the ADC Astrion that Raul liked long time ago was the worst cartridge I even heard. 

Now please tell me do you own or owned any of my top-10 MM that I love and use for a long time against $5000 LOMC

AT-ML180
AT-ML170
Stanton CS-100 WOS
Pickering XSV/5000 or XLZ/7500
Grace LEVEL II BR/MR
Grace F14 Excellent
Grace F14 with Beryllium cantilever
Grado Signature XTZ

As far as i know you never owned any of them, correct me if I’m wrong.

My Favorite MC cartridges are:

Miyajima Kansui
Miyabi MCA
Miyabi Standard
Ikeda 9c III
FR-7fz

Seriously, If you want a stellar MM you (or anyone else) could ask me, not some idiots who's selling defective or worn/broken items cheaper. I only buy perfect samples or NOS samples for my collection. 

You can buy modern replacement styli for vintage cartridges that use modern synthetic rubbers that will last for decades out side. Styli back from the day are probably bad by now. Not only that but quality control was pretty poor back then.

@mijostin you can’t buy modern replacement for most of the best MM cartridges from the past because those type of cantilevers are NOT available anymore. But NOS originals are still available (but rare). If all post about weakness of rubber is nothing buy a fantasy, I have practically tested so many vintage MM (the best ones, not crap).

Instead you’re talking about rubber parts, do you think it’s more important ?

After years of contributing on this forum I have posted thousands of pictures and articles, but people like you ignoring everything and continue to post nonsense.

-Ever heard about Boron PIPE or Beryllium PIPE cantilevers ?

-Ever tried a ceramic cantilevers (also pipe) ?

-Sapphire or Ruby that are completely different from what SoundSmith can offer today ?

-Gold-Plated Beryllium maybe?

-Even aluminum cantilevers from Japan is not what you can buy today.

You will never find any of those great exotic cantilevers today, no matter how much you can pay, even on $20 000 MC you will never find a Beryllium anymore (production of this material was restricted long time ago), no more Boron Pipe (too expensive to made) ...

Quality control was MUCH higher and those cartridges made in JAPAN !
This country was way ahead of USA or Europe in technology.

This is the reason why the best MM are from JAPAN and they are extraordinary good even today because of the quality control and very high competition between the giants of the industry.

Even cartridge design (visually) was much better than all those ugly looking modern cartridges. Headshell integrated carts like this one is superior design and engineering. I can't post all of them here now, but there are so many amazing cartridges made in analog era, not in digital era. 

Chak
Do not take things so personally.
Did you not see the line in my post where I said you likely had some stellar carts I had not tried?
And I am really happy they work out for you so well.
Please share the same sentiments for those among us where they do not work out as well.
Thanks and stay safe

I'm pretty sure we are going overboard on the subject of new vs vintage in the context of phono cartridges . There is always a middle ground where we can all be happy .

I remember my first true highend cartridge , a Supex 901+ . It was a high output Moving Coil cartridge which sounded wounderful 
 Even today when you see them being sold at ebay , audiogon or USaudiomart they don't have to wait for long to be sold but they sell for quite a bit of money . And they are vintage . I bought mine at 1979 , cost me 225.00 at that time . Had it connected to the phonostage of a Audionics by Oregon BT2 phonostage and that into a pair of Dynaco Mark 6 mono block power amps .

What I am trying to say is when a piece of equipment is good , it is good , period . Take a well performing pair of Dalquist DQ10 speaker and I'm pretty sure they can stand their ground against any modern speaker design with the latest and greatest computer animated design 

So don't disregard something just because it was design 20 or 30 years ago . Same thing applies to vintage cartridges . I remember Harry Pearson of the Absolute Sound use to say that the midrange of the ADC MM cartridges is the best he has heard in his life . Apply the same to the midrange of the Marantz 8B tube amp