Yet more reading material for ya...
https://allforturntables.com/2018/05/03/the-7-best-moving-coil-cartridge-under-1000-bucks/
https://allforturntables.com/2018/05/03/the-7-best-moving-coil-cartridge-under-1000-bucks/
Best MC cart for Thorens TP16 MK1?
Yet more reading material for ya... https://allforturntables.com/2018/05/03/the-7-best-moving-coil-cartridge-under-1000-bucks/ |
Not your arm, or table, but for my 1st MC, I chose the AT you mentioned AT33PTG/II based on it's Stylus Shape; superior stereo channel separation and tight channel balance. Tracks lightly enough, sounds absolutely terrific, it's stereo separation the reason I prefer it to my prior favorite cartridge: MM, Shure V15VxMR body with new Jico SAS stylus on boron. Greater separation gives more distinction to instruments 'just off center', bass player just there, floutist ... as well as far left/right, and the strong center instrument/performer revealed in all it's glory. Bigger orchestra ... Certain recordings, very wide separation can be distracting, in that case I either use my Shure on my second arm, or adjust the speaker's toe-in to narrow the full width of the sound stage, easy as my heavy speakers are on 3 wheels. For 2 listeners, to get a nice wide center and audible left/right for both people, I toe-in even more: aim the left speaker at the right chair, right speaker at the left chair, gives very enjoyable imaging to both listeners. If you cannot alter your speaker's toe-in, an arm with a removable headshell will allow you to use a 'less wide' cartridge for certain recordings. |
At a glance I suspect a Denon DL103R would sound very good for you. I’ve used one for almost 15years now on my Linn Axis with Linn Basik tone arm. I had same concern about compliance initially when I did the math. But I decided to give it a go for nominal cost involved. It continues to deliver the goods every time no problem to this day. So I can strongly recommend the DL103r under the assumption that your tonearm is close enough to mine to get similar results from a cartridge compliance perspective. |
Think about future flexibility, I researched a lot and got advice here before I jumped into MC. After this one, who knows what future MC I might want to try, so I learned about the relationship of X factors and Impedance Loading first, and concluded flexibility would be desirable. I love the sound of my tube preamp’s MM phono, so I decided to use a SUT Step Up Transformer to boost the weak MC signal enough to go into the preamp’s MM input, and how loading can alter frequency response. MM Pass is an important SUT feature, it allows you to keep the SUT in-line and run a MM cartridge thru it without it’s transformer’s signal boost. No cable change needed, no 2nd input in the preamp needed. eventually I chose a vintage Fidelity Research FRT-4 as it has 3 tonearm inputs (front selectable), MM Pass, and 4 optional X factors and Impedance Loads. It is dead quiet. This one is in Russia, just to show it to you: https://www.hi-fi.ru/auction/detail/1135492?refsource=hifishark There are others, including current production, many of the Entre 100 are available, silver or black https://www.ebay.com/itm/203344578296?hash=item2f584806f8:g:-KcAAOSwgdFgcw5X As it happened, I added a second tonearm, then added a 3rd tonearm to my TT, and a friend gave me a vintage MC Cartridge, all easy due to the SUT’s features. |