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Fun with MM cartridge

Greetings,

I haven’t listened to a MM cartridge in over 35 years. Since I bought my first MC cartridge there was no need for me to listen to MM cartridges any longer. They just extract more music from records.

I have 3 turntables in my system, all with different MC cartridges. A few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to pull out one of my MM cartridges from my toy box and give it a listen. I installed a Grado XTZ on the TT. Gave it a listen, it sounded dull and lifeless. It’s a hard cartridge to drive, has a low output. I even move it to my MC input on my phono drive to get more gain. Same outcome. I was disappointed with the sound, since it has very few hours on it. Went to my toy box and installed a Grace F9E cartridge. Put on an album and gave it a listen. It put a big smile on my face. What a nice sounding cartridge. It had a good sound stage, bass was good, had good width, depth and height. Played a few more records, it is a fun cartridge to listen too.

I still prefer my MC cartridges but the F9E will stay on my TT for right now. Every once in a while I’ll listen to it, just to have fun.

Joe Nies 

joenies
elliottbnewcombjr
5,922 posts
 

a similar thread

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/high-performance-moving-iron-cartridge-candidates

I posted there:

search youtube for soundsmith, this popped up, being retired, fresh cup of coffee, I watched and enjoyed the whole thing, over an hour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul0o7UEqtkA

of particular interest if you are short of time are:

46:30 Major advantage of Strain Gauge is seriously minimized Cantilever Jitter

51:30 Anti-Skate: set with blank side or dead wax area of VINYL (proper material for resistance on industry standard bottom of tip).

57:00 LOW output Strain Gauge cartridge versions are made for Marketing Reasons (not a reduced mass issue in strain gauge technology).

105: fix for arm with no anti-skate feature: shim up the upper left corner (assuming arm is upper right) until you get it right.

fixed coil explained here

lmnop
65 posts
 

My MM carts are never out of my rotation. When I’m listening to Husker Du, the Minutemen or live electric Miles I prefer the presentation of a MM. if I’m playing my audiophile Blood On The Tracks one step, I’m listening to it with a MC. Easy to do with a multi table set up. Currently using a Glanz 610, Audio Technica 760, Mofi Mastertracker, Nagaoka 500. Looking forward to the new Nagaoka coming out.

rauliruegas
13,129 posts
 

Dear @joenies  : Agree with @lewm , your Grado is truly excellent performer.

Today top of the line Grado AEON 3 that @awise1961  mentioned comes with similar design and the AeON  is a10K+ cartridge.

Yes, 1.5mv  " low " output.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

lewm
13,722 posts
 

Chakster is not giving away his NOS ATML-170. That's for sure.

rauliruegas
13,129 posts
 

Dear @joenies  : My mistake. Your vintage Grado is not similar to the AEON but to the top of the line EPOCH 3 that's the one with a price tag over 10K: go figure .

R.

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