I went from an Ortofon 2M Black to the Hana SH (high output) MC. As much as I enjoyed the detail of the 2M Black, I found it unforgiving and revealing of every flaw on a record. The Hana is more detailed and surprisingly more forgiving. I can't say how pleased I am with the Hana and I was able to plug into my IA's MM port without the need for a phono pre-amp.
Advice needed on MC cartridges
I’ve an Ortofon Black 2M cartridge on my VPI Classic 2 turntable, It’s a moving magnet type cartridge with a Shibata stylus and cost about $700 when purchased. I could easily be wrong, but am under the impression that the Ortofon 2M Black is about as good as it gets with MM cartridges and if I wished to upgrade I’d need to be thinking about moving into a MC, moving coil, type.
So I’ve been trying to learn something about moving coil cartridges and what differences or improvements in sound quality might be obtained by using one. My integrated amp, a Luxman 507uX Mk2, has a built in phono stage and can play either type,
Generally speaking, how much more would need to be spent on a MC cartridge before a noticeable, or significant improvement, might be heard in sound quality over the Ortofon 2M’s performance? What improvements in performance might you obtain using one a better quality MC over the Ortofon 2M Black? And third, what MC cartridges might you recommend that would fit in performance and budget wise with a system composed of the above equipment plus Magico A3 speakers. My other equipment is a Marantz Ruby CD/SACD player and a Shunyata Denali Hydra power conditioner.
I’ve never heard a MC cartridge in use so would be interested in following your advice and recommendations to see if I can find a dealer or someone that might be able to demo one so I can hear what the differences might be in performance. Thank you for any responses or suggestions
Mike
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@dover , @rauliruegas is warning skyscraper to get the right output version for his phonostage, high or low. The cartridges have different internal impedances. People do make that mistake buying a low output cartridge for a moving magnet phono stage and wonder why they can't get any volume. Moving coil cartridges tend to be brighter which many people like but many recording engineers will tell you moving magnet/Iron cartridges sound more like their master tapes. Like always, a generalization is likely to fail somewhere. It all depends on what you like to hear. It is why Howard Johnson's made 28 flavors. |
Switched from 2M Black to Hana ML which I think is much more relaxed, still detailed and melodic but not as aggressive as Ortofon. Overall much better experience for me. There were few recordings i.e.. Tina Turner's What's love got to do with it, that some notes from Ortofon were simply cringing to my ears. |
Anyone who tells you that MC cartridges are categorically better than MM and MI cartridges is at least lacking in experience with a variety of cartridges. That’s the nicest way I can put it. Since I cannot agree to the inherent superiority of MC vs the two other major types, I also cannot agree that we know the mechanism; low inductance is nice in theory, but it is clearly not the sole determinant of best sound quality, for the very reason that there are so many superb sounding MM and MI types that have much higher inductance. Compliance, moving mass, cantilever material, stylus shape, resonance control, and black magic all seem to be important. There are 100s of very good sounding cartridges from which you can choose, and 1000s of opinions about them, but don’t assume that the 2M Black is the best you can do in an MM cartridge, and certainly do not discount the excellence of MI type cartridges, like those currently made by SoundSmith. Among MCs, the "low output" type in general sounds better to me in my system than did any of the high output versions I have ever heard at home (Benz Glider X2, Transfiguration Esprit, any Sumiko). Among reasonably priced LOMC cartridges that you can buy new, I really like my Audio Technica ART7, which is now sold as the low output version of the ART9X series. For about $1K, you cannot go wrong with that choice. The Dynavector 17D3 is excellent, so the latest version 17DX is probably good too. As a neophyte, you probably should not buy a vintage cartridge, so I will refrain from listing the many that I own and love, and for goodness sakes don’t buy a vintage FR cartridge, no matter how good, just because there are pros and cons regarding that vintage. Audio Technica, Ortofon, Dynavector, Hana, Grado, SoundSmith and a few others are quality companies currently making excellent cartridges that you would fall in love with. I can’t honestly name any current production MM types that are sure to out-do your 2M Black, because I don’t own any; mine are all vintage. However, if Ortofon make an MM rated above the 2M Black, it is probably superior. Raul named some Clearaudio MMs he likes, too. AT make superb MM cartridges, too. AT makes at least one of the cartridges marketed by Clearaudio, for Clearaudio. In the end, you have to make the buying decision. Consider it a step in your own evolution as an audiophile. Over time and with more experience you will begin to know what you like without input from others. |
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