OK, but in what specific ways did the Klimax TT + Majik cartridge sound "better" than Majik TT + Klimax cartridge? Did you listen at home, or a Linn dealer or a friend’s home? I have been fooled by listening anywhere except in my very familiar system at home. I can understand that a dramatically inferior TT + inferior tonearm using a detailed cartridge would sound worse than a superior TT + superior tonearm with a less detailed but reasonably decent cartridge. That’s kinda like 2 good factors against 1.
Regarding my experience with the bad SOTA Sapphire TT vs Linn Valhalla with my same great Alphason arm + Denon 305 moving coil cartridge, the SOTA was so muddy like a leaden elephant, that in this case I agree with Linn’s and your hierarchy. With my excellent Linn Valhalla vs Goldmund Studio TT’s, the reverse was true--detail on the Linn was slightly inferior to the Goldmund by X, using the same Alphason arm and Denon cartridge, but with other cartridges, the Linn + Alphason was far inferior by 100X to Linn + Alphason + the most detailed Denon 305 cartridge.
Another experience I told you about in the past, was that when my Denon 305 was younger, the Linn or the Goldmund TT’s with Alphason arm sounded 100X more detailed than my CD player on the same recording. But years later, when the Denon aged, the CD player was far more detailed. And yet, the aged Denon still plays music decently, so I haven’t been desperate to swap in my refurbished Denon. But the young vs old cartridge is like the life changing difference between the athlete before and after he fractures his hip.
The post by mglik above is most informative--
"IME, upgrading from my very good Myajima Shalabi cartridge to a Lyra Atlas SL was, by far, the greatest improvement ever."
So I conclude that sometimes the Linn hierarchy is correct, and other times the cartridge is most important. As far as Jay is concerned, he is getting the best of everything, as he usually does, so this debate doesn’t really matter. Still, I am questioning whether the Kronos TT + arm + euphonic Koetsu cartridge will bring the detail of his SOTA digital system, but I am very confident that the Kronos + arm + SOTA Lyra Atlas SL cartridge will blow away the digital system in nearly every sonic parameter. So I change my mind, and now advise Jay to get the very best cartridge. The increased cost of the Lyra Atlas SL over cheaper Lyra models will be amply revealed by the SOTA Kronos TT + arm. I also speculate that a $5K difference in cartridge cost will yield greater benefits than the $30K cost of the SOTA Taiko Extreme server.
Jay, I’ve following you for 5 years, and I have never before been as excited about your findings on your new vinyl endeavor. I predict this will be life changing for you. I can even imagine your daughter doing her own YT channel for kids on the glories of vinyl as she delicately does the setups.
