The greatest MM and MI cartridges ....

Griff..., Thanks -- been there and done that. I've owned the CA Virtuoso and Maestro. The Virtuoso is very very good, BUT the Maestro at MSRP of $1250 is noticeably better -- if you can believe it. I recall one reviewer said the Maestro was the best MM on the market today. The open question was whether it was worth spending twice as much on the Maestro as the Ortofon 2M Black???

Well . . . I've owned them all. I originally mounted the Virtuoso and Maestro on my rebuilt Thorens TD 160. I thought the Virtuoso and Maestro sounded just great. I decided to take the plunge into "serious" vinyl and sold the Thorens and bought a VPI Classic. The Classic is built like a tank. Problem is the da*n JMW uni-pivot is a PITA. None of the cartridges I mention above were compatible with the JMW arm, possibly because the JMW arm uses an unstabilized uni-pivot architecture.

I moved on to the Sound Smith VPI Zephyr which works well with the Classic/JMW set up.

This post is obviously about vintage MM and MI carties that withstood the test of time. Notwithstanding my troubles with the Classic/JMW set up, I surmise that the CA Virtuoso and Maestro, and Ortofon 2M Black will join the list of venerable cartridges too, if they haven't already done so.

Griff..., do you think the Virtusos with SS retip sounds better than a stock Virtuoso out of the box??

B&O MMC-2.

Dear Bifwynne: IMHO yes. Mine coming from there but if you want the Virtuoso " glory " don't change the cantilever build material: aluminum.

Now, if you already own the Virtuoso and want to hear it again but with some improvement then you have other option: go to LPGear and buy a stylus replacement for the Audio Technica AT95-SA :

http://www.lpgear.com/product/LPGATN95SA.html

the Virtuoso is build by Audio technica and according to experts here on Agon ( Fleib and others. ) the used model was the AT-95 ( while with differences. ) and you can change your Virtuoso stylus for the AT and test it. I own the AT-95SA ( Shibata stylus shape against elliptical in the Virtuoso. ) and it is very good performer if not at the same Virtuoso level but the Shibata will help the Virtuoso ( this came with aluminum cantilever too. ).
This one could help you too:

http://www.lpgear.com/product/LPGATN95VL.html

If you decide to try it then we in the MM/MI long thread will appreciate that you share your experiences about with us, either: through AT options or SS re-tip.
Thank you in advance.

Btw, here you can read a Virtuoso review:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?ranlg&1313624221&&&/Clearaudio-Virtuoso-Wood-Cartridge-

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Raul.

Dear Griffithds: ++++ " It's depressing to know that I currently own a $3500 MC (Benz Micro Ruby III), that can only sightly better a couple of the cartridges that I mentioned. I hav other MC's that can't beat ANY of them! " +++++

that's what I found out 4-5 years ago and I never felt " depressing " but excited for the new " discover " and I can tell you that till today that kind of excitement still there. I can tell you that my MM/MI discovery was when I already invested over 100K only in LOMC cartridges. Now, I have two alternatives for my LPs, time to time I listen my LOMC ones and I borrow/ed latest LOMC cartridges from my friends.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Bifwynne,
I agree with Rauliruegas. The SS retip did improve what was already an excellent cartridge. We are talking hear the SS basic, $150 retip. Yes, there is 2 other options from SS for additional charges, but it requires the cantiliver to be change to gem stone instead of alum. Personelly, I would be afraid it would no longer sound like a Virtuoso wood. You might like it better, you might not?