Inexpensive MM Cartridge

Hi Peter,

Congratulations  on your purchase. This is a great choice! I also have a late 70s vintage tt, Technics 1900. Currently using it with Nagaoka MP 110. It costs 130 which is a 100 less than my previous Orthofon Blue but sounds much better! From most direct comparisons between budget cartridges Nagaoka comes on top. Forget the technical specs, when you hear it you’ll be blown away. Please, let me know how it sounds with the vintage turntable.

Best,
Emil

I'm late to the party but when it's time to try a newer MM cart, I can recommend the Audio Technica VM740ML
Also the AT7V is a very affordable but enjoyable cartridge.

Chakster, he bought the Nagaoka. be happy for him instead of your usual BS about cartridge choices of what is good and what is not.

We’re talking about technical things here than you @mr_m do not understand, probably. I’m sorry for you. You can send your Christmas Card to the OP if you want to celebrate his purchase with him!

I’m talking about something that every cartridge designer understand better than you. It’s obvious that MicroLine profile is superior to Elliptical profile, because it’s not only last 3 times longer, but it reads the groove much better and reproduce music with noticeable extensions on both ends (such ass much deeper bass and crystal clear highs).

The OP noticed than Nagaoka cartridges are low compliance Moving Permalloy carts!

Actually the MP-200 is not bad, it’s better than entry level MP100 with bonded conical tip, or MP110 and MP150 with very low dynamic compliance at 6 cu (100Hz).

The MP200 dynamic compliance is 7.2 cu @ 100Hz which is about 12cu @ 10Hz - this is still a low compliance. This may be one of the reason why the MP200 frequency response is very models 20Hz - 35kHz, not to mention its average 0.4 x 0.7 Elliptical profile. And it’s not just about specs in the manual, it’s about cartridge limitations in real life.

Higher compliance Audio-Technica with MicroLine stylus tip on Gold Plated Boron cantilever is a better cartridge than low compliance Nagaoka MP with Elliptical profile on Boron cantilever.

The AT-ML170 and the AT-ML180 in my opinion are the best MM cartridges ever made, they are not available today, but newer AT cartridges available at very reasonable cost (many people admitted that in this topic). The best MM/MI cartridges are normally high compliance, the tracking abilities of those high-ish compliance carts are simply amazing. 

This thread has been very helpful, and should be useful to many others in the future.  For me, it was a toss up between the Nagaoka 200 and the AT740 and perhaps the Goldring. Truth be told, I probably could have gone with lower cost models in the same lines.

@chakster - I just want to point out that the dynamic compliance of the AT740 is 10, whereas the Nagaoka is 7.2 (they do not actually state 100hz, but that's probably a reasonable assumption).  On a scale reaching up to 35, the difference b/t 10 and 7.2 seems small. Yet 10 is still almost 50% higher than 7.2.  Anyhow, if necessary, I'll add mass to the tonearm. If I were really seeking a higher compliance cartridge, perhaps the AT740 wouldn't be enough of a change?  Thoughts?  Here is a scale from Ortofon Support:

Low compliance < 10 cu.
Medium / moderate compliance 10 - 20 cu.
High compliance > 20 - < 35 cu.
Very high compliance > 35 cu.
Note: Dynamic compliance @ 10 Hz.

Thanks everyone. 

So Chakster, how do you explain Soundsmith's decision to make low compliance, low output moving iron cartridges. What could possibly be the advantages over "The Voice" which is high output (2.12 mV), high compliance other then matching high weight tonearms? What are your favorite styli. I like the Gyger S to which Soundsmiths OCL is very similar.