Received The MC2000 Back From Expert Stylus Today

Have spent some time listening to the MC2000 for awhile now. Just a few things to note. The upper registers are as transparent and detailed without being harsh or grainy, this is the best I have heard to date from analog. Granted my experience with cartridges tops out with a Transfiguration Audio Proteus, and there may be other cartridges out there that can outpace the MC2000, but I have not experienced them yet.

Secondly the mids are as neutral as JGH described in his first reviews of the cartridge, but I can see where this is not a persons cup of tea, or that system synergy may be an issue if the audio gear demands a full bodied cartridge. It is not that the MC2000 is lean, but rather that it adds nothing to the midband. 

So far I have not really been able to form an opinion on the bottom end. It is not thunderous, and at times seems lean. I can work a bit with VTA and see what happens here, as it seems I need to do more work in this region. Also this cartridge is not a macro dynamic bad ass, not like the Ikeda I have. 

All in all a very nice cartridge, and capable of high end performance even after all these years. I enjoy listening to it. It has become one of my favorites, and I imagine I will keep it in the ready for nights where I can sit down and fully appreciate its abilities. 

In the midrange, my MC2000 can be uncannily good at conveying the sense you are there at the performance. I hated when HP used the word "holographic", which was then copied by other reviewers who were not in his class linguistically, but "holographic" is one way to describe what I sometimes hear.  Some LPs are just not good enough to allow that sensation, unfortunately.

@lewm 

Yes the midrange has a purity that is exquisite! I have decided I want another so that I have a spare when one goes in for service. These are indeed special. 

Do you suppose it's possible to run the MC2000 on a SME V? The V is reported between 10 to 11 grams, so a touch high. But Ortofon sold the cartridge with a 10 gram headshell and expected people to use it. So a V should be in the realm of possibility? 

neonknight, If you want another you should ask nandric .

If i am able to acquire another one of these MC2000 I wonder about the possibility of running it on a SME V arm. Arm mass is between 10 and 11 grams as I understand, and it seems like the compliance is 24 dyne at 10 Hz. If the arm comes in at 10.5 grams the resonance frequency calculates at 6.93 Hz. Not as bad as I thought. If 11 gram arm mass its 6.85 Hz. It seems like this might work, as there is a scanned PDF article on the net regarding the T2000 review in Stereophile where the arm was set up with a MC2000 and the resonant frequency was in the 5 Hz range and the reviewer had no issues with warps or mistracking in that set up. 

Now its a matter of finding another MC2000.