Technics 1200G VS VPI Prime Signature

Technics will kill it with the right cartridge for this tonearm right out of the box.

So I know Technics originally showcased the 1200G with the 2M Black, but I'd be interested in what carts might be the best match. Also curious if any of the 1200G's "best" would also be a good match on the VPI Prime arm. Do they have any overlap, or different enough designs that it's generally not a great match for both arms. 

There are a wide range of cartridges that can be in “best match” category. No matter what was Technics choice. Tonearm mass with shell and cartridge compliance at 10hz is what you need to know. If you can avoid low compliance MC (made for super heavy tonearms) and very high compliance MM (made for extremely light mass tonearms) everything else is a perfect match for Technics tonearm. You can fine tune it with headshells of different mass and a subweight provided by Technics for tonearm. 

In my opinion Audio-Technica AT-ML170 OFC with Gold-Plated Boron pipe cantilever and MicroLine stylus tip is a perfect match for Technics tonearm, and it’s spectacular MM cartridge (mid compliance). 

But I could add at least 5 more excellent carts. With fluid damper and stock headshell you could use high compliance cartridges too. Grace Level II or F14 are superb! Stanton 981, CS-100 or Pickering XSV/4000 and XSV/5000 are great and still reasonably priced for NOS (they are excellent performers, exceptionally good). 

Other people will point you to the mainstream basic stuff that I am not interested at all. 

If you want something special look above, those are real killers!

I have an older VPI Classic 1 with the Unipivot arm and it is a bit disturbing at first watching the arm pivot from side to side. Once I got it setup properly it has been a joy. Takes time to set up however, it was part of the fun. I ended up having Brian Walsh professionally work his magic and totally satisfied. Plan on keeping the Classic 1 for quite some time. 

Hi Dears,

Is a Zyx Ultimate cartridge a good match with the 1200G?

The compliance is 12×10^-6cm/dyne but no frequency is mentioned. As it's a Japanese manufacturing, I assume it's given at 100Hz,  so roughly 20×10^-6cm/dyne at 10Hz. Will not be challenging with the Technics tonearm?

I am also hesitating between 3 TT: The VPI Prime, the Pro-Ject Signature 10 and the Technics.

Thanks,

I’ve asked before, why does there seem to be a lot of “ B” stock Vpi’s at Music Direct?