Looking For A Dialogue Around Using An Ortofon MC2000 In My Current System

Afraid it is not that easy, quite a bit of work has to be done before that can occur. Have no idea of the number of hours on the diamond, so it needs to be evaluated. I have a package slated to go to Expert Stylus with my Ikeda 9 for refurbishment, so it makes sense to send the MC2000 along with it to be checked out. Pretty sure that is what I am going to do, its just a matter of getting it boxed up.

When it comes back I don’t have enough gain in my phono stage to listen to it, and do not have any step up devices to make that work. So I have to do the leg work and decide which ones could be possible. Now my seller tells me if I could locate a Mac C50 for him in the US he would be willing to sell me the T2000. But I find no C50, so at the moment there is not a pathway for me to obtain the T2000, but perhaps there will be in the future. Only SUT on the net available at this time is a T1000, but it does not look like it has enough gain.

If you read the Stereophile review Holt uses a Well Tempered arm, which the magazine reports in a 1984 issue to be 10 grams. However since it rides in that silicone cup, depending on paddle depth, it may act like a higher mass arm. What is concerning is that Holt reports that after a few days of listening the cantilever looks like its starting to collapse. Now he does say that it never changes from that and completely fails. However, I would prefer that not occur to start with, as I don’t need any heart attack inducing events. The question becomes is it because of arm mass, or is it because of the fluid damping. Which if I could answer that question would determine which arm I install it on here. So far I am leaning towards the Dynavector with the Supex head shell to be the safest option.

Essentially I am just trying to determine the safest pathway to using the cartridge, and not waste a bunch of money on the pre pre amp choice. I have a Conrad Johnson HV1 sitting in the garage that a useless moving coil step up device for me because it does not have enough gain for these Ortofon cartridges, and the gain structure of my SS amp/pre amp and somewhat higher efficiency speakers makes the noise floor of the HV1 audible. This is the kind of misstep I would like to avoid in the future. That is how come I phrased this thread "a discussion".

Yes but all the options are out on the table for you. You can’t find a T2000 but you can obtain a suitable substitute that may even be superior to a T2000. You can source either a SUT or an active gain stage from Intact Audio. Apparently a SUT is available off the shelf from Jensen. There are also some very high gain current driven phono stages available. Each option requires $$$.

Dear @neonknight  : Forgeret about JGH or STP rdeviews of the MC 2000. 

I know very well this cartridge own/owned 3 new samples and I really like it and as a matter of fact I can remember that was me whom brougth Agon this cartridge ( maybe I'm not, can´t be totally sure. ).

Anyway, the best professional review of this cartridge was made it by Pisha through Audio magazine and he used a Technics SP10 MK2 TT and mounted the cartridge in the great Technics EPA 250 and used not only the T-2000 SUT but other SUTs too and in that review Audio made deep measurements on the MC-2000 where they found out that the cartridge has a compliance of 30+cu and even that the combination with the EPA 250 puts the resonance frequency down 5khz the cartridge traked cleanly the Telarc 1812. As I said great tonearm and very good combination with the MC 2000.

You not necessarily have to go with the T2000 and my opinion is to go for the Entré 100 SUT that gives you 33db of gain and Entré is very well designed SUT as a fact the same today My Sonic Labs people ( Go figure !.).

Here at very good price:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124903575831?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20201210111314%26meid%3D8963e134b0384d8eb9b8c1584f0be005%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D143182655595%26itm%3D124903575831%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv9PairwiseWithPLXWeb&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A1249035758318963e134b0384d8eb9b8c1584f0be005%7Cenc%3AAQAGAAACAKRQH5sEcWCyQKdCZm8ZpIwf8B%252BxffmKIB4jE%252FmgTZbZZplfzdPvIX%252FY2LeLs5%252B6Aho%252BJ3VegdVVA6m9kof%252FIC2nXCBKjbbQ2BULkWQk0Sk%252BrwfWzH8KIM76yJy%252Bg7btrW7vdBl44Gy1Tdp5%252FE6xjKCcOYVW0blLphasP90Sa04DYAcKCmbtfGcm5lxvjiXyWaKVhSBvtWy2QDbEwawsGmqauadEcR%252BwOuezrfntHN7gtZ9TYATDvnZnqOOl2Ob7yE9ATN3D1TMN79WRoYywwfbx7yhU0v59JN9nUt4Wg%252BpROs2GPRidDZSvsRgTykoY4UFLeeKjOekSz6F8NeJJ8kSk8aWcz3El4HtrWh%252Bfaa17ilpUBgD692Rx5fgGWeIYGupVnpxIP7y3lgOrIZYG1BGZzteoNXmShBBHIo%252FCZoSZN88gto03cYH2803ZtWe5KjuYE1NWcrONgdWKZ8eyGggXTXmnEQ%252FB9nBs9i9egFvLPr6XnHTqEmd9esNurpM9dETbzGwQfVpapz6GM92qGNFP%252FIUC4LqC3HP38%252F4wJIQJ9%252FbLqTa28zF5s4ASdZLdrtj3%252BCHSG4DW95nZy%252FrmBxecpRDUkz3HR5MR39ATY6h%252FBowJrzbJmRmSe3amv8LCl6m1RjETfdesYrVdq3QqQhn4yUbuOWJYv6c5XpNBChEK%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2047675

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

@lewm 

Yes it certainly makes sense, and since I own multiple low output Ortofon cartridges, the reality is I am going to need more than one gain device. So if I find one now I can wait for a T2000 to become available, and then move this device over to the MC200u or the MC3000. The interesting thing is the T3000 is able to perform well on the Esoteric phono stage into the MC setting. But that seems to be the lowest output voltage it can take, as the MC200u sounds stilted and hard going into that phono stage, and its output voltage is .09 mV versus the .11 mV of the MC3000.

I will call Dave and weigh that option versus the Jensen it seems, as their high output SUT is intended to be used with low output Ortofon cartridges. But in the past I have had a preference for sound from a solid state phono systems versus SUT I have used in the past. But then again, I have not owned one built to the quality level of the T2000. 

But Raul suggestion of an Entec is a good one also, I have seen their units available. Know of their history of being a product designed by Mr. Matsudaira.

Neon, If you are using a SUT into an "MC" phono stage, be very sure that the phono input resistor is 47K ohms, not the more typical 100 ohm range, albeit because the internal resistance of the MC2000 is only 2 ohms, you probably can get away easily with values lower than 47K ohms. The rule of thumb is that the internal R of the cartridge should be about 1/10 of the phono input resistor value, ideally. So for a 2-ohm cartridge, you could actually get away with a net 20-ohm input impedance. Keep in mind that the input impedance seen by the cartridge will be the value of the phono input resistor divided by the square of the turns ratio of the SUT. If the turns ratio needed is 1:30, that would give you a net input impedance of ~52 ohms with a 47K resistor, so you don’t want to go much below 47K.