What cartridge is mounted on the TT?
It may be worth pursuing a replacement stylus, depending upon what it is.
It may be worth pursuing a replacement stylus, depending upon what it is.
budget cart help
hey all, i'm new to the analog world and need a little help. i recently acquired a JVC QL-A75 turntable. the stylus on the cartridge that came with it is broken so i am in the market for a new cartridge. The local shop where i plan on having the cart installed has these in stock:
AT3600
Grado black, green, blue and gold
Shure M97XE
I am not looking to spend more than about $200, so my question is, which of these would be best? the cost to performance ratio is what i'm looking at. as in, i'm sure the Grado Gold is the best of the bunch but is it $100 better than the Shure? Or is there even a big difference among lower end carts?
I am not opposed to ordering something online and i was intrigued by the Ortofon's and have heard good things. so my last question is, what other carts are out there for less than $200 that would fit well with what i have? i was specifically looking at the Ortofon 2M Red or the OM10 or OM5E.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks
AT3600
Grado black, green, blue and gold
Shure M97XE
I am not looking to spend more than about $200, so my question is, which of these would be best? the cost to performance ratio is what i'm looking at. as in, i'm sure the Grado Gold is the best of the bunch but is it $100 better than the Shure? Or is there even a big difference among lower end carts?
I am not opposed to ordering something online and i was intrigued by the Ortofon's and have heard good things. so my last question is, what other carts are out there for less than $200 that would fit well with what i have? i was specifically looking at the Ortofon 2M Red or the OM10 or OM5E.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks
- ...
- 9 posts total
The best inexpensive cartridge I've heard is an Ortofon M20FL. With 4.0 mV output you can run it with any phono stage that has at least 38 dB of gain. Compliance is 20. You'll find plenty of comments about it through Google. Here's one from Audiogon: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1261135428&read&keyw&zzm20fl It isn't in production anymore, but you can usually find it as new old stock on ebay for less than $200. Unfortunately, I don't see any on ebay right now, but there's one listed on Audio Circle for $155. http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=87166.0 I have no connection to the seller. If for some reason you don't like it (doubtful), you can easily resell it. They go like hotcakes. |
Back again: Is the tonearm straight or curved/S-shaped? The deck originally came with one arm, but with the option of a straight or curved tone arm wand (think the S-wand added mass, but not certain). There was also a factory supplied moving coil cartridge that was unusual in that the stylus was modular and could be replaced by the owner/user. If it comes with an undesirable after market cartridge you still need to ID and research the tonearm as the new cartridge should to be a synergystic match between the two. The difference between inexpensive Grado and Sure cartridges (two mentioned so far), as far matching them up with a tonearm, is not a small one. In other words I don't want to see you to purchase a "good" cartridge that will end up performing poorly with your tonearm. |
- 9 posts total