Ah the Old MM vs MC debate! Reminds me of the early/middling days of Da Thread, and the Great Cartridge and Tonearm Frenzy: signs of health to see it re-appearing here! Myself, overall I'm an MM man, but, certain tonearms do sound excellent with MCs on the Lencos and Garrards. But, in the final analysis, MMs are simply superior to MCs in the difficult-to-pin-down gestalt arena, and if I had to choose, I would have to vote for an MM. Fortunately, I don't have to choose!!
And the "humble" Denon DL-103 goes a loooonnnggg way to narrowing the gap between MMs and MCs at gestalt, and when mounted to a sympathetic tonearm (and it is VERY sensitive to phono preamp/loading, I find that, *generally-speaking*, with active devices it prefers 100 ohms, and with transformers it seems to open up at low impedances, like 3-10 ohms or so...but these are generalizations and final results unpredictable), simply rules at PRaT, which goes some way to making up for the slight shortfall in gestalt.
Ah what a complicated web! The Ortofon Jubilee, when mounted to the JMW 10.5 tonearm, gives THE most evenly balanced and "accurate" tonal balance I have ever heard (the JMW actually pulls this trick off with quite a few high-end MCs, seems to be its characteristic), and it also excels at PRaT and gestalt, though not to the extent of the always-slammin' Denon. But this too is valuable, as perfect tonal balance (AND perfect emphasis/capture of dynamic shadings, another JMW/MC characteristic) allows one to simply sink into the music (as opposed to being physically dragged into it - Kundalini Effect - as with the Denon) and forget about audio.
Though my Decca is always hooked up these days, I'm pining for my MMs, and if I have the time I want to mount my Black Widow or my Mayware (and some others) to Mr. Red and play with my MMs: the fabulous Ortofon M15E Super (which wows everyone without exception, and is the precursor of the rightly-respected and famed VMS series); the Piezo YM-308 MKIIX (which is a state-of-the-art information-retriever, and I have yet to hear it in my new set-up); and of course the various and glorious Grados, which may be the most overall musical cartridges ever made, and which set the standard (especially the Woodies) among ALL cartridges for retrieving air, imaging, and the sonic resonant signatures of acoustic instruments, AND of course the human voice. Plus, they rock, they do PRaT, they do bass, and they have a warmth which once heard, is very difficult to live without. Time, methinks, for some more fun with MMs :-)!! Thanks for inspiring me all!! Have fun with your removable-tonearm Lencos and other idlers!!
