What Cartridges to use with Triplanar IIV Tonearm?

All,

The thing about a Triplanar mounted on a good turntable reminds me of the old Fred Astaire movies. Fred didn't need Cid Cherise to create the illusion of working with a great partner, although Cid was one of the best (RIP Cid).

Fred could can dance with a coat rack and make you believe that it took dancing lessons. Similarly, a Triplanar on a good turntable will make an awful lot of otherwise pedestrian cartridges sound good.

Some thoughts:

1. The venerable Denon DL-103r. Palasr and Salectric have written some provocative comments about this combination. I cataloged some of their comments on Audiogon in this thread:

http://www.galibierdesign.com//phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=17

Yes, it's lacking in the audiophile tricks, but delivers the musical goods. Worst-case, you have a backup (after future upgrades) that shames many $1K cartridges.

2. Soundsmith rebuild of the Denons. Peter Ledderman is quickly gaining a well deserved reputation. I have yet to try one of these rebuilds.

3. Ortofon SPU Royal N - not your grandfather's SPU - a modern cartridge with an extreme line contact stylus profile and vivid tone colors (without robbing the top end in the manner that the vintage, conical stylus SPU's do). This is Frank Schroeder's favorite Ortofon, BTW and I agree.

4. Dynavector 17D3 (disclaimer - I sell these, so take this recommendation with a grain of salt).

5. Artisan - my buddy at Artisan audio is OEM-ing some Swiss-made cartridges in the $400-$600 price range.

About the Benz LP which I realize is out of your price range. Yes, the top line Ebony bodied Benz breaks with the tradition of a bloated mid-bass which draws attention away from unbearably bright systems. It is a cartridge I could live with for a very long time.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

I don't have a Phono Stage yet. I am looking for one as well. Any suggestions for a Solid State phono stage would also be appreciated. BTW, I heard that Triplanar was demoed using Ortofon Jubilee by the owner of Triplanar last year at one of the Audio Shows. Has anyone heard the combination?

Thanks.

The Jubilee is nice, but the SPU Royal-N is better and less expensive. It doesn't work quite as well with arms on the lower side of average however, and hence the Jubilee's popularity. The SPU Royal-N and Triplanar are a match made in heaven, as is this cartridge with the Micro Seiki MAX-282.

Triplanar used to exhibit with van den Hul, but has switched as of late. I'd be very surprised however to hear that he's switched to the Jubilee, however.

Is there a reason why you're limiting yourself to solid state? Getting solid state to sound good takes some doing - as with Raul's Essential. This is the only solid-state phono stage I've heard that I could live with, but that's just me. Unfortunately this comes at a price that is out of your realm (5-figures).

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

All of "this" lower priced,but superb,cartridge "talk" only reinforces a thought I had after auditioning some mega expensive digital gear recently...."Analog,at almost any level, IS amazing"!!

The dealer was comparing two different "two box" high five figure CD unit/combos,and then switching to a "superb to the max" Lyra Helikon/Brinkman table combo...The total system cost,was in the mid six figure range.

The electronics were from Vac,VTL and a superb Japanese mfgr,of the highest order.

Well though the other folks attending the session,were inpressed by the "digit" stuff,the analog front end "absolutely" stole the show!!

This "means" something!!

But to the uninitated "digi" lover,it seemed that "they" were not interested,in the least",in furthering the journey!...I actually believe some folks "shut down" to analog,due to the "hunt" for music.It's SO easy to buy CD's!

Hey,I have and "like" my digi stuff,but even a "mid" level analog equip,set up well,is simply in another league!

Hopefully,I can get back to listening to LP again,after my latest "six month" round of troubles go away(i'm not holding my breath,but do alot of praying these days-:)!!...Yeah,I'm worried,as digital is starting to sound pretty good!

Lucky is the man who can spin a disc,in the analog domain!
Best

Responding to Stringreen re: Benz warmth, I was referring to models in the OP's price range, which I've heard and which did indeed sound warm, slow, soft or even bloated. Like Dan, I haven't heard the higher priced models but they're above Mikeaudio's budget. If he had $4K+ to spend we'd all be talking up our favorite world class cartridges, as we've done so many times here, and rightly so of course.

Mike,
I echo Thom's question. Why a SS phono stage? You won't find many, if any, below $6K that can match comparably priced tube phono stages.