Help me improve Rega P2

If you choose to upgrade the cartridge keep in mind that you should consider how well the load capacitance the cartridge would see in your setup matches the cartridge manufacturer's recommended range of load capacitance. Your phono stage has a rather high input capacitance of 220 pf. I would guess that the phono cable and turntable wiring adds roughly another 200 pf or so to that, bringing the total to the vicinity of 400 or 450 pf or thereabouts.

While that will be a suitable match for many MM cartridges, it is too high to be sonically optimal with many others. Including the Ortofons that have been mentioned (for which the recommended load capacitance range is 150 to 300 pf), and the Shure M97XE (for which the recommended load capacitance range is 200 to 300 pf). And I would be cautious about choosing any cartridge for which the manufacturer doesn't provide a load capacitance recommendation.

The manufacturer's recommendation for your present cartridge, btw, is 150 to 400 pf, which is a wider range than is usually specified. Just speculating, but perhaps Goldring's standards in deriving that spec are not as stringent as those of some of the other manufacturers.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

@Ilik - That's the funniest post I've seen in years. LP12s are more colored than an art museum.

Look for a used BSR turntable. The model does not matter,
then update the cartridge from any model made by Radio
Shack. I guarantee the sound will be remembered. This will
set you back about $50 total

Jmg1949, for $300 I must agree that a better cartridge would be the best upgrade. I am sure you will find Als' post helpful. I would not spend much to improve the turntable proper until I felt the need to refurbish. I was born in 1949. Can’t help but believe allot of great “products” hit the marketplace in that year. Cheers!

Al, I knew when I sow your post here I was about to learn something. Given the roughly 200pF contribution of tonearm wire and cable, it might be possible that cartridge manufacturers take this into account when making preamp loading recommendations? I ask this because the Manufacture rec for the Blue Point No. 2 I own is 50-100pf. Just a thought induced by your post, as most do. Thanks.

Thanks, Mesch! I've seen numerous indications over the years that load capacitance recommendations for moving magnet cartridges are based on the total of all capacitances between the cartridge pins and the phono stage input (inclusive of the latter). Which would seem to make sense since the wiring capacitance can vary greatly depending on the particular cable type and its length. And if the turntable has a connector on the rear (which I believe the P2 does not have) it would of course be readily possible for the user to substitute cables and thereby vary the capacitance over a wide range. The 200 pf figure, btw, was just my rough guess in this particular situation, and substitution of a relatively short cable having particularly low capacitance per unit length (were that practical on the particular turntable) could easily cut that in half.

Also, I took a look at the brochure and the user manual for the Blue Point No. 2 at sumikoaudio.net and I didn't see any load capacitance recommendation indicated. But I can't recall ever seeing a recommendation as low as 50 to 100 pf for any other cartridge. Also, the BP2 is of course an HOMC rather than a MM, and while I don't have a good feel for the sensitivity of typical HOMC's to load capacitance, I suspect it is likely to be dissimilar to that of MM's.

Best regards, and happy new year!
-- Al