Phono preamp worth it with MM cartridges?

Seriously....not just bashing...but get rid of the Exact cart...literally, every other cart I’ve had (including less expensive ones) has sounded better (at least to these ears)....my opinion is that it may be handicapping everything else.

Makes me wonder how many Rega Exact purchasers have been unnecessarily turned off or left unimpressed by vinyl.

For sure though...this is just my experience/opinion....So, grain of salt...

wqgq_641, your arm is a light intermediate mass arm. The 2M black should work well. The Clearaudio Charisma would work perfectly. IMHO it is one of if not the best MM cartridge available today. It is also priced that way. The Clearaudio Maestro V2 is a bit less expensive and also excellent. There are the Grado cartridges. The Ref 3 is a standout. The Master 3 is about the same price as the 2M Black. Then there are the high output Soundsmiths. The Carmen MKII is about the same price as the 2M Black. I think you get more for your money with the Grado Master 3.
I prefer cartridges with fixed styli. There are trade offs in making a stylus replaceable.  

what to your ears would be a better sounding MM? My local dealer offered me the 2M Black which I’m open to as a long time fan of Ortofon but he thought it comparable to the Exact. I guess there’s no point buying a better cartridge than the deck/arm I have can do justice to?

I really wish the dealer had talked me into a getting P6 to begin with. The other option at the back of my mind is to do neither and move the Exact to a new P8 and sell the upgraded P3.

Can you adjust VTA of your tonearm to properly set up another cartridge?

There are many amazing MM cartridges, but I prefer those best from the 80’s (they are crème de la crème of MM). Depends on the budget, under $750 I always recommend Pickering XSV/4000 or cheaper XSV/3000SP. Wonderful cartridges, especially the XSV/4000 with Stereohedron stylus. If you can’t find NOS ask me! The Pioneer PC-1000 mkII is another favorite at the same price as the XSV/4000. What else? Sony XL-50 is very special for reasonable price (Boron Pipe cantilever!). And I like Grace LEVEL II but it’s very expensive!

I hope you can change Rega to Technics GR :)) 

If he has a Rega arm/table...he may need spacers, etc. ...depending on the cart.

As they tiredly say...been there, done that.

Chak, do you really think an MM phono stage needs the option of 30 ohms loading? Or was that a typo, and you may have meant 30K or 30,000 ohms, which does make sense?


Buy the very best MM phono stage you can afford, but don’t assume cost and quality are proportional. If you succeed in reaching that goal, you may never need to “upgrade” if you purchase a LOMC cartridge, because you can add a SUT or pre-preamp for more gain. To get where you want to be is a process of trial and error for each one of us. No one can tell you what you will like. I’d suggest Sim Audio, Herron, Hageman, K&K units with at least 40db gain or any excellent used unit to save money.