MM, MC, or MI cartridge

Wait ! First try and see how it sounds this way.

Ortofon Quintet Blue...easy set up, great sound for 500 bucks on my trusty old Linn Basik Akito. My Quintet Red is also a great MC, but hey...ya get curious (my Linn Basik cost 500 bucks used when I bought it some years ago). A Quintet Black is in my future perhaps but man...the Blue is sublime.

I run a Hana ML through a Sutherland phononstage (60 db gain, 200 ohm loading) on my VPI table/tone arm (JMW 10.5). A nice setup and I appreciate its resolution especially on classical symphonic and chamber music. For jazz it’s quite good but not appreciably better (to my tin ear) than my Goldring Eroica high output MC was.

Honestly, this is such a subjective scenario it’s really not valuable if your sonic preference, room acoustics and hearing ability differs from mine. Like much of this hobby, a matter of making the investment and hoping for satisfaction. I don’t have the luxury of a local dealer to loan me things to try unfortunately. And I don’t often find reviews to be much more than sales pitches…although I try to read several before buying. Bottom line, pay your money, take your chance…but from my perspective, you’re on a good path with your choice.

Interesting discusion. Just to add the J. Grado, who developed and patented the first MC cartridges, ditched that design for MI. Some of the subsequent Grado MI cartridges, amongst others, sound fabulous - great detail retreival,PRAT,  wonderful tracking and are virtually silent - provided you have the right turntable and can avoid transformer hum.

inna,

iI tried it, and it works, but unfortunately, doesn’t sound like it previously did.