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Help with NEW MC cartridge putchase

I am certain that this question has come up before, but here it goes again. I would like to purchase a good quality MC cartridge to go with my tube phono stage (40 db of gain). The rest of my equipment are all based on tubes and I use SET amps. I currently am using the ClearAudio Aurum Beta S model, which is a MM cartridge. But I want to experience-- hopefully towards a positive direction--the sound of the MC cartridge. I am not looking for anything that costs an arm and a leg. No more than $750. If you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it. Thank you
kasboot
jimbo3
304 posts
 
Jeff Wu- Yes, with two tone arms of different designs, compliance can be a concern. Different combinations can resonate and cause trackability problems. A high compliance cartridge on a low mass arm is essentially the "tail wagging the dog", or, in other words, the cartridge will control the movement of the arm rather than the arm controlling the cartridge to stay stationary (laterally) and tracking the groove. (This is overly simplistic and I hope the high/low compliance terms are correct- I keep forgetting which is which.)

Generally speaking, most arms are medium mass and most cartridges are medium compliance, but you'll want to check before spending alot of dough only to find that you have compliance issues.

Regards
Jim
classical_man
9 posts
 
Jim and Twl

Thanks for your comments. I have VPI MK3 turntable with audioquest PT5.0 tonearm and Monster Alpha II HO cartridge with nomial output 1.5mV(high output of Moving Coil). My audio env. :preamp - SYRAH, Amp- ARC VT100 and Speaker- Aerial 10T. How can I improve the quality of sound "significantly" by upgrading the combination of tonearm and cartridge under $1200.00? Any suggestions?
twl
3,251 posts
 
Jeff, my recommendation would be to upgrade the VPI-MKIII to the MKIV package. For $800 you get the platter, bearing, and suspension of the TNT, according to the VPI web page. This would be the best improvement in your price range. The next step would be to sell your AQ arm and get a Rega RB-300. Then move up to a high end MC cartridge. For the $1200 you can spend, you could do the table upgrade and the tonearm, and still have a little left from the sale of your AQ arm to save toward the cartridge. That route would get you the best sound for your money. The other thing you may consider is to sell the whole rig and buy a nice used high end table here on the Agon that is already set up with the arm and cartridge you want.
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