MC versus MM. Which to choose.

I just got into Vinyl also. A friend told me to start cheap and move up. He said the TT is easy to break until you get used to handling it. I started with a Thornes TD 235. The first thing I broke was the stylus. Fortunately it was a $29.00 Sharp. After I got used to handling the needle, etc. I moved up to a more expensive version of MM (Ortofon 2M Black). I use a phono board in my pre-amp (Bat VK-32SE). My next step will be to switch to a better TT, new phono stage and MC.

Dear Mike, Me, too. I wanted to hear what idler- and direct-drive turntables could do, after spending 30 years or so in the belt-drive world, albeit not at the top of that world. My experience thus far leads me to stick with idler- and/or direct-drive vs belt-drive at a comparable price point (which is a very important qualification for me; I do not wish to suggest that there are no great belt-drive turntables, just that I do not wish to afford any of them). Unfortunately, in the process I have developed an affection for the turntables I "collected", and although, like you, I could now settle down with just one (or maybe two), I am finding it hard to let go of the ones I seldom use. Still, as I like to point out to my dear wife, I have had as many as seven here at home; now I have "only" four. She's a good sport. And I tell her they have been a good investment.

Which of the MM/MI cartridges did you audition in your own system? Just curious.

"I like or am fond of my TT's a,b,c...n'' is a different proposition from ''I need the TT's a,b,c...n''. Cheating seems to be a relational 'concept' in the sense of cheating
sombody else. As such it has a very negative connotation.
But the most cases are about cheating our self and there is
no sense in attributing negative assumptions to this kind
of 'cheating'. Ie : mind your own buseness. According to
the most fundamental rules of the private Law anyone is entiteld to spend his own money as he may prefer. In principle that is.

Regards,

Lew, regarding your question;

Which of the MM/MI cartridges did you audition in your own system? Just curious.

i'm at work, from my memory there was an Ortofon ML20 (or something like that), and an Azden of some sort, then an additional one. i gave the Ortofon to a friend, and still have the other 2.

tonght when i get home i'll get the details on the exact models. Raul very helpful to me in getting these and they did perform as advertised.

i would have no trouble living with any of these as my 'go to' cartridge.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Mike. For what it's worth, those two just happen to be among the few that I also have auditioned. The top Acutex's and the top Stanton/Pickerings are better, FWIW, and not that I think this will send you out to look for either. Not to say that the Ortofon M20FL or M20E (whichever one you tried) and the top Azden are chopped liver.