Depending on what you have for a phono stage now, upgrade the cart to an MC as long as the current phon stage can accept it. Start slow. Then upgrade to a better phono stage. I have been told the cart is more noticeable than the phono stage. I have a Saturn Audio phono stage that I love, I am looking to upgrade my cart to a Dynavector.
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Whatever you end up doing, I hope it suits you well. I happen to disagree with this:
- as I have some MI cartridges that will give any MC a run for their money (London Deccas). But money isn't the best way of judging quality: I have in the last few days revisited a pair of $5k cartridges, both MI, which I can swap in to replace a $1k MP-500. And I ended up wondering why I bothered to buy more SME 309 headshells for them. The Grado Statement 3 is perhaps being libelled by me. It has no character, and perhaps that is a desirable characteristic. The Soundsmith Sussurro is livelier, more detailed, but suffers from a lack of bass when run through my VAS SUT. The MP-500 sounds better than either of them. Now I write this with my ear corrupted by Benz Micro LP-S warmth. That has become important to me, and I keep wondering if I should use my mono-converted Ruby 3 for everything (I don't hear stereo having only one ear). At the end of it all, as long as we like what we hear, we should be satisfied. |
@ssg308 sorry, I didn't see your question until now. But yes, there are lots of other good cartridges and brands, but it's more of a known quantity to move up an Ortofon model line given you like the 2M Black.
I'm not really sure that was what came across in the thread. |
I run three systems with turntables and one is a less sophisticated one that I wanted a lower priced MC cartridge in so I installed a Goldring Eroica LX and have been quite pleased with it. That might be a good way to see if heading into MC will be a good move for you. Another way might be to find another hobbyist looking to move further up and willing to sell his current pickup to fund the move. I use a Lyra Clavis like that in a second system. A third way is to buy a complete turntable with even higher end pickup, used. I've done that too - bought a table with a Koetsu Urushi for less that half what the cartridge alone would have cost at the time. You can keep or sell on the rest of the table. |
@deadhead1000 how is that sound different ? |
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