Allnic Verito Z:Owners and those familiar

Dear Tom: Well there are a lot of cartridges under 1K that beat the Verito mainly MM/MI ones but even the Celebration makes a very good " job " and you always can choose something like this:

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1261423180&/Shelter-9000

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1261282177&/Soundsmith-The-Voice

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1261280408&/Miyabi-Standard

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1261118939&/Benz-Micro-LP

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1260796919&/Dynavector-XV-1s

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1260635219&/Audio-tekne-MC-6310

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1259039011&/Van-den-Hul-Colibri-XCM

At the end is you who have to pull the trigger, no doubt about.

Tom, some of us try to help nothing more.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Tom,

You seem to take my SONIC impressions of the Allnic personally. I answered your question posted.

I was commenting on its absolute performance relative to others. Something, to be honest, I think this cart needed because IMO its resolving capabilities have been overstated by sellers of it.

Perhaps a more constructive response, if you did not like my answer would have been to ask what I may suggest in your budget. Which unless I missed it was not stated.

I was not saying you have to buy a mega buck cart to be happy. I could be happy with any lower model Koestu often had cheap on the GON, Allerts lower priced carts are very good, EMT's are very good, Shindo SPU is great with the Hommage Step Up, all these carts are can be had near the Allnic price. All of which I would prefer, but that does not necessarily mean you will.

I found the Allnic rather dull sounding. To my ears the Zyx Universe is infinitely better as is the PC-1.

But I'm not a fan of the Magic Diamond either which, IMO, is grossly overpriced.

To each his own.

Please forgive me.It is very difficult to encompass the large number of cartridges available.It is also difficult when members' impressions are at the polar-opposites.
My previous experience has left me wary of the possible consequences of buying a cartridge,thus I feel that I cannot go down the used route.
If I were to look strictly at the manufacturers and their reputation,I would invest in a Benz.I have heard these several times and the manufacturer will support them.It is not my cup-of-tea,so I am ssearching else-where.Some other products/persons cannot say the same.
I have had a strong relationship with music and several manufacturers.I have worked in a recording studio and been asked to consult on several designs.I considered it a privalege to be involved.I have never felt that my opinion was any more valid than anothers-it is subject to ones' interpretation.What pleases one,may not please another.But I do feel that there is "a theme of truthful variation".

Would anyone be willing to look at their system/equipment and offer or surmise why the intrepretaion of this cartridge is so varied.There seems to be a consensus as to the qualities of the PC-1 and possibly the XV-1.
I should have stated my budget up front,but had hoped that my string of cartridge threads might have been followed-MY BAD.My apologies to all,but I am frustrated and down with the flu.

Tpsonic, frustrating indeed - and sometimes that is how I feel about my whole audio system. I have just acquired a brilliant piece of gear - the Accuphase C17 head amp. I don't need a head amp for gain, but the incremental improvement this unit adds to the signal chain is beyond denial. Of course I discovered that as soon as I put it in the chain, ground impedances changed and it took some time to discover the right interconnect and grounding configuration!

When I connect the Verity Z via the C17, the improvement is modest, when I put a UNIverse or Sony XL-55 thru it, the benefit is greater. Also, the best sound comes from using a really old decrepit looking low capacitance phono cable from SAEC with plastic phono plugs no less from the Dynavector 507 Mk2.

The Verity Z is dark, solid, deep, and musical. It is uninspiring if it is not loaded properly at the right impedance. It sounds better when loaded through transformers - probably because that balances the dark and slightly recessed top end. It does seem to require time to warm up and a cold room does not help. Also, it seems to sound best in medium to high mass arms.

In conclusion Tpsonic, imho it is a very good cartridge for the money, but there are no guarantees it will perform at the highest level unless you are willing to experiment with various setups. With that comment in mind, I would recommend you buy a cartridge that is known to work in a defined or your configuration of arm, cable, and phono amp.

Hope that helps, but it probably doesn't!!

Steve