best cartridge for 60,70's classic rock, folk ....

I use a XV-1s and listen to much the same kind of music. I've never heard an Atmos, but from what I've heard of a Universe I would guess that the Atmos will have a very neutral presentation. You should try to hear both and decide for yourself. Both are very good cartridges.

I have the zyx atmos on a triplanar arm using an Amazon reference. I listen to a lot of the music you describe, patricularly Neil Young, Floyd, Electric Dylan, Cream, Hendrix, and others from that era. I also listen to the Whiter Stripes, Black Keys from now.

I also had the airy3 before moving to the Atmos. It was a hard choice between the well reviewed Universe and the little known Atmos, but Mehran in particular, convinced me that for rock and roll, the Atmos might be slightly better.

So I went for it and I have not been disappointed. This cartridge really rocks. Its fast, provides substantial base even on my minimonitors, and gives each note its space allowing rock & roll to come out open and spacious. Even some of the more challenging passages from the Black Keys are handled with ease.

Now of course this is also dependent on your other components but everything you have can definately handle the Atmos. I've also noticed it takes awhile to open up and mine is just breaking in, but once it does, well it blew my head off.

Plus Mehran is an added bonus as he is just a great man to do business with.

Hope that helps.

Your all overthinking it, By far the most prevelant system used for playing back these records originally was a gerard changer with a cheap shure cartridge. Go to a thrift shop and pick one up cheap and you will enjoy these records the way they were meant to be heard (you might roll a fatty while your at it). You can still find some of these titles on 8 track if your really feeling nostalgic.

Rccc - I thought I was the only one rolling anything nowadays!

Anyway, everyone else, why such expensive carts for rock?