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Cartridge Opinions - Sorry

Yeah, another dumb "what's your opinion on these cartridges" thread. Back in the late 80's we had dealers where you could listen to the stuff.

So anyhow I have a Linn LP12 with Ittok arm and a 30 year old Audioquest B200L cartridge. I'm running it through the phono stage of a Jeff Rowland Coherence One into a Spectral DMA90 through a set of Kef R300's.

I prefer a little more laid back sound (err on the side of forgiving instead of fatiguing) but I like a lot of upper end detail, precise soundstaging, air, etc.

So far I'm considering an Ortofon Quintet S Black, Hana SL or a Benz wood - something at or below the $1k level.

I'd love to hear any opinions, suggestions, and experiences with those cartridges or others in the price range. I could possibly go higher if there is something out there that really shines for less than $1,500.

Thanks.


klooker
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Coltrane, as long as it does not hum on your turntable!

Rauliruegas, there is a slight change in VTA with tracking error but it is so slight that it is most probably meaningless. The current standard VTA seems to be 92 degrees. I use a usb microscope and set VTA so that the oncoming surface of the stylus is exactly at 90 degrees. This seems to work well. I went through the process of changing VTA in about 20 minute increments up +- 1 degrees and could not hear a significant difference. This was with a Clearaudio Da Vinci a cartridge with a fine line stylus. 
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,110 posts
 
@mijostyn That 92 degree SRA thing is an approximation- an average. Any LP will actually be slightly different. Hard to know how much of it you'll actually hear.
yeti42's avatar
yeti42
287 posts
 
“ I have master tapes and I've only heard a couple of combinations that really held up in that regard.”

There’s an important word in here, combinations.


Do those using microscopes ever then vary it a little and listen to check it’s actually optimal?
rauliruegas
13,125 posts
 
Dear @mijostyn : Other than what atmasphere posted and I agree with him is that those 90° and 92° can't remain over the recorded LP surface, no way LP is not perfect and pivoted tonearms has that tracking errors and your tonearm/cartridge/TT alignment can't be perfect either.

R.
cleeds
6,117 posts
 
mijostyn
... there is a slight change in VTA with tracking error ...
Huh? The two angles are completely unrelated.
The current standard VTA seems to be 92 degrees.
Oh, no, you’re confusing VTA with Stylus Rake Angle.
VTA is typically around 20 degrees today.
The geometry of this is clearly defined by Risch & Maier, who wrote the seminal treatment of this:
"VTA is the angle between the surface of the record and the line described by the contact point of the stylus in the groove and the pivot point of the cantilever."
March, 1981 Audio, see it here on page 21.
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