Warm sounding phono cartridge

If the OP notices a significant increase in surface noise, pops/clicks, after changing the cartridge, then it doesn’t make sense that all of his vinyl would have suddenly deteriorated.  He seems to have a decent phono pre amp.  Perhaps there is just a slight misalignment of the cartridge so that it’s bobbing around a bit inside the groove 

@lewm

Azimuth.

Hi again….l agree azimuth defines left and right channels and crosstalk. I wonder if you think some of the things l have experienced apply to your azimuth experiences.
With regard to the OP and his noise/crackle issues, if the cartridge azimuth is out it will be detrimental to the tracking accuracy of the stylus.

If the tip of the stylus is skewed (azimuth not vertical) it will never find the lowest part of the groove. This will cause the stylus to ride up on one side of the groove and track much higher. Any minute damage on the records surface would then be accentuated as the stylus should be tracking the groove much deeper down and missing that detail. It is a misconception to believe that a stylus tracks totally the whole height of the groove.

l have noticed this myself and is a similar effect to incorrect bias compensation (anti-skating for our American friends). It is also true that too much force on one or the other walls of the groove increases the cartridges output from that channel too and throwing L+R balance out, but that’s a different problem.

Of course a badly worn stylus will do the same thing as an azimuth error as this would cause the stylus to ride up higher out the groove similar to fluff around the stylus that also increases surface noise. Of course noticing suddenly more noise can also indicate the approaching end of the stylus life and increased record wear/damage.

So perhaps the OP could try adjusting the azimuth first and have a few listening tests.

GRADO, GRADO GRADO! Warm sound and well detailed. MI.

Also, try for a stylus with a much thinner profile like a Shibata or Line contact, either will result in less pops and clicks but retain the detail of the music. If you decide to go for the MC route.

I don't know about the warmth of the cartridges I use, but I will say that I was using an Orfoton Black MM Cartridge on my VPI Scout and it picked up every single detail of an album.  This was wonderful on great recordings (almost all of my collection is vintage vinyl) but on a bad on recording it could be painful and sound thin.

When my stylus broke on the Black, I purchased an Orfoton Bronze stylus as a replacement.  It was about $400 less and I thought I would just try it.  

The result was I still got great sound and the stylus picked up very little of the noise that the Black revealed, and I could say it was somewhat warmer.  On the other hand, the stylus, didn't pick up all of the amazing detail of the Black.

The best and most obvious example of this was playing my vintage Ben Webster recording called Soulville.  The Black cartridge revealed every breath he took in a spectacular way.  The Bronze sounded great, but the detail, the breathing, and the soul kind of disappeared.