Inexpensive MM Cartridge

@peter_s 

@petg60 how about a Goldring 1042?

Just bought a Goldring 1042 as a backup to my Soundsmith Zephyr. I’m very impressed. Highly recommended. Beats my old Grado Red with 8mz stylus by a long mile.

@bkeske  A source of concern with the Goldring is the following:

1) The Cartridge is very sensitive to capacitive loading. Some experimentation with it will be necessary to get the best match to your system. I ended up with 51 kOhm resistive Load and 120 pf capacitive load (plus the Tonearm cabling - probably another 50 pf or so).

2) The cartridge is a little more than usual sensitive to VTA (Vertical Tracking Angle) adjustments (for a Moving Magnet Cartridge), so experimentation is on order.

For this setup, there is not adjustability to cabling or capacitance in the phono preamp, and the tonearm has no VTA adjustment.  Perhaps there is a cartridge that is less sensitive to these non-adjustable features?

Best cart  under $300 is Nagoka 150 .

Don’t underestimate the AT95e. Cheap and a lot better than you think. Your pal will be grateful you saved him/her a pile of notes and the sound will be awesome.

Dear @peter_s  : @noromance  advise isway better that any one in this thread could think till they own and listen in their room/system.

I own 3 versions: 95e, 95ex and 95ml.

https://www.lpgear.com/product/AT95EX.html

Any one here can try it, is really inexpensive and I'm totally sure all will be nicely surprised of its really good quality sound levels.

For you is so inexpensive that if you don't like it you still have 250.00 for other alternative.

In the other side this statement posted here is totally false:

"  Stylus shape is the important criteria for good/better/best groove contact/fidelity ".

That gentleman has no clear idea what he is talking about.

Anyway, give a try to the 95.. You can't lost nothing at all.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.