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Much better MM cartridge than Shure V15 IV?

Hi, I have a Pro-ject 2 Xperience turntable, and I'm running a Shure V15 IV with Jico SAS stylus on it. I'm wondering how much higher quality MM cartridge can I attach to the carbon Pro-ject 9cc arm without exceeding the capabilities of the turntable/arm combination? Grados tend to hum on this deck unless I shield the motor's EMF. I have not tried anything else yet. What would you suggest as a clear significant cartridge upgrade?
sumaato
sumaato OP
100 posts
 
Thanks David, for your perspective on the V15 versus 2M Black. Yes, if I was to invest upwards of $600 on a new cartridge, it had better be a startling upgrade!
I'm slowly getting the impression that my cartridge is already near the high end of the MM landscape, and it may require a lot more money to improve on this result, particularly if I went for MC plus new phono.

I have to at least try some good MM phono stages to see if the bucks would be better spent improving on the Rogue's built in phono. Rogue just released a new phono preamp called the Triton.

Meanwhile I'll follow some of the advice here and look at cables/jumpers etc.
sumaato OP
100 posts
 
Well, I finally DID investigate stand-alone phono stages and I am now a very happy owner of a Graham Slee Reflex phono MM stage with it's PSU1 power supply. Simply brilliant! I think I got it right in terms of the best place to put my money. The sound opened up very much, so did the soundstage. The detail, instrumental timbre and smoothness are in another league now. It makes me realize just how good the Shure V15 with Jico really is! I did not expect so much of a shift upwards in the beauty of the sound. There is no sense of compression or harshness. Orchestral massed strings have lost their glare and confusion.

Upgrading the phono amp raised this critical link into the same domain of quality as the Cronus amplifier and the LS3/5a speakers. Great synergy now.
auntjenof2
42 posts
 
Does anyone know if the Soundsmith stylus upgrade would
benefit the Clearaudio Maestro?
dlaloum
227 posts
 
Absolutely! Yes it would improve the Maestro...

A number of contributors to Raul's MM/MC thread have done a stylus retip/recantilever on CA MM's with great success...

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1200430667&&&/Who-needs-a-MM-cartridge-type-when-we-ha

Note that this is a very very long thread - the CA MM discussion has been over the last 6 months....

And a few people have purchased the basic bottom of the line CA body, and had the stylus upgraded giving the TOTL Virtuoso/Maestro cartridges a seriously hard time at less than half the price!

The body for all the CA MM's is the same, although the mounting material can differ (aluminium, different woods).

bye for now

David
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