Should I try a MC cartridge and phono pre?

I agree with Plato, Elizabeth, MWilson and the people at MMF (who are to be commended for offering such honest advice). Putting a high end cartridge on a low end TT and arm is probably a misallocation of your resources. We're not saying you won't hear an improvement, you certainly will, but you won't hear anywhere near what the cartridge is capable of. IOW, you'll have paid for performance you cannot hear.

I upgraded my entire front end last year. By chance, my new cartridge showed up before my new TT and arm. Being as impatient as anyone, I naturally tried it in my old, low/mid-fi rig. It made a nice improvement, but when the new TT and arm arrived I entered a whole new universe.

Another point, if you choose a cartridge first you may restrict your choice of tonearms, phono stages and even turntables. The higher up the chain you go the more critical component-matching becomes. If you have no first hand experience with higher end vinyl playback, choosing the cartridge first might restrict your choice of related components in ways you don't understand until it's too late.

The upgrade path recommended by the most experienced vinyl guru's I know is: TT >> arm >> cart >> phono stage. My limited experience confirms that this is probably best. I recommend you review your budget with the goal of upgrading TT and arm first, with the cartridge to follow. If you decide to go this way and need TT/arm advice, search the threads or start a new one for ideas in your budget range.

Good luck whatever you decide!

When I went through the MC stage of life my TT was an Empire 598, and later a Sony PS X800. Neither are reputed to be SOTA, but in both TT the MC sounded great. I have since gone back to MM (for practical reasons) but the TT was never an obstacle to MC performance. On the contrary, the higher tracking force used with MC (at least the Ortofon I used) would tend to make it LESS sensitive to arm characteristics.

Eldartford,

No offense, but during your MC days did you actually hear a more SOTA rig in your system? If not, how can you possibly know whether those limited rigs hindered your MC's performance? You never gave the cartridge a chance.

MCs are more responsive to low level input than MMs. That's what makes them better, but of course that also makes them more revealing of problems. The fact that MCs respond optimally at higher VTFs does *nothing* to isolate them from a mismatched arm or a poor table. The sloppy arm bearings and motor rumble of my old TT were *vastly* more audible with my Shelter 901 than with my ADC XLM MkII, despite VTF being 1/2g higher with the Shelter. As a matter of fact, higher VTF's will actually emphasize some problems. For example, if a TT is susceptible to stylus drag effects then higher VTFs will make things worse.

Maintaining well-matched components while upgrading is more likely to satisfy and less likely to cause problems than having one component that is head-and-shoulders above other, closely linked components.

Thank you all, I guess it's decision time. My TT is in a separate all vintage system, of gear that I purchased in the 70s. Everything still sounds great, but partly for sentimental reasons I wasn't planning to change any of it, except for cables, interconnects, and the cartridge. I would still like to improve the overall sound though, if possible. I was thinking about a modest improvement like a Creek pre and possibly a Denon 103R cartridge, or is there a MM that would sound just as good at this price point?
If I decide to get another TT, I would probably put it into the newer "digital" rig.
Thanks again, Sonny

If you want to keep the retro kick alive and go MC, the Denon is an appropriate choice. If you lend credence to the MM / matching argument in this thread, here's another suggestion: a Shure V15VxMR.

The V15VxMR is the latest in a legendary lineage that began in 1964... it's still an "editor's choice" reference MM cartridge, and has been improved in every new version. It's a very fine MM cart with great bass, trackability and toe-tapping pace. I happen to run an early '80s V15 Type IV cart (new stylus) on my Michell Gyro SE/Rega RB600. This is very much a case of the "upgrade order" suggested by Dougdeacon - I haven't bought a new 'cart since getting the new 'table and arm, I like the V15 just fine!

Whatever you do, best of luck.