Jsonic, you asked, so here goes. Long but hopefully pertinent post alert!
Most audiophiles prefer MC to MM. Unfortunately MC's are more expensive, sometimes hideously so, and there are many who either can't afford them or decide they're not worth it. Obviously that's a personal choice. FWIW, to my ears a good MC is decidedly superior to any MM.
Think of the cantilever of your cartridge as a horizontal teeter-totter:
moving stylus moving coil or magnet
The coil of a MC is lighter than the magnet of a MM. Lower inertia allows the stylus to trace rapid groove modulations more accurately. Your stylus is expected to reverse direction up to 20,000 times per second, accurately. A lightweight car will handle those twisty roads better than a heavy truck.
Psychicanimal is surely correct that his MM cartridge performs best on a manly TT that can haul modulated grooves forcefully past its higher moving mass. Nevertheless, he would get still better performance with a cartridge of lower moving mass. Cars handle better than trucks even if the truck "has a hemi"! :)
Besides cost, another downside of a MC is that its lower moving mass generates a lower level electrical signal. Most MM cartridges output 5.0mV. The output of MC cartridges varies, but the best ones rarely generate more than a tenth of that. MC's require more high-quality amplification from the rest of the system, and component matching becomes critical.
The cartridge/table match matters, as Psychicanimal noted, but cartridge/arm matching can be even more critical. The following will be controversial for some, though I also know many will agree.
Great handling cars have fairly stiff suspensions to maintain tire contact with the road. The best performing cartridges have fairly stiff suspensions too, for exactly the same reason. These low compliance cartridges need an arm that resists lateral deflection well. Otherwise big groove transients will let the cartridge wag the arm instead of generating maximum signal.
Most audiophiles prefer MC to MM. Unfortunately MC's are more expensive, sometimes hideously so, and there are many who either can't afford them or decide they're not worth it. Obviously that's a personal choice. FWIW, to my ears a good MC is decidedly superior to any MM.
Think of the cantilever of your cartridge as a horizontal teeter-totter:
moving stylus moving coil or magnet
The coil of a MC is lighter than the magnet of a MM. Lower inertia allows the stylus to trace rapid groove modulations more accurately. Your stylus is expected to reverse direction up to 20,000 times per second, accurately. A lightweight car will handle those twisty roads better than a heavy truck.
Psychicanimal is surely correct that his MM cartridge performs best on a manly TT that can haul modulated grooves forcefully past its higher moving mass. Nevertheless, he would get still better performance with a cartridge of lower moving mass. Cars handle better than trucks even if the truck "has a hemi"! :)
Besides cost, another downside of a MC is that its lower moving mass generates a lower level electrical signal. Most MM cartridges output 5.0mV. The output of MC cartridges varies, but the best ones rarely generate more than a tenth of that. MC's require more high-quality amplification from the rest of the system, and component matching becomes critical.
The cartridge/table match matters, as Psychicanimal noted, but cartridge/arm matching can be even more critical. The following will be controversial for some, though I also know many will agree.
Great handling cars have fairly stiff suspensions to maintain tire contact with the road. The best performing cartridges have fairly stiff suspensions too, for exactly the same reason. These low compliance cartridges need an arm that resists lateral deflection well. Otherwise big groove transients will let the cartridge wag the arm instead of generating maximum signal.