A good cartridge match for Thorens 150 mkII?

Update.

I upgraded the cartridge a few years ago to a Grado Reference Platinum 1.  This is a lovely sounding cartridge for the price and certainly light years in my opinion ahead of the less expensive Prestige Blue.  Better deeper sounding bass and nice with voices and strings.

But while all frequencies were well represented, the Platinum suffered from some noticeable hum (as did the Blue).  I was able to clean this up to an astonishing degree by installing a Shunyata Venom Defender in my simple Wiremold power strip (why/how?) 

Another issue emerged when I started using the table with a subwoofer that extends below 10Hz.  I started to get real rumble problems that were especially pronounced on some records.  I attribute this to the Grado having too much compliance for the medium mass TP13a arm.  Interestingly, replacing the Platinum with the Blue again in this set up reduced significantly the rumble problem, perhaps because it has less bass capability or is a better weight/compliance for the Thorens arm?

I started cartridge search and landed on Shelter 201 based on user comments/reviews.  Even with only about 5 hours on, it is clear this is a better match zero hum, even with volume cranked up at the run out.  Perhaps more importantly the Platinum rumble problem is solved so I'm thinking this is a much better compliance match.

Generally this is a very good cartridge, faster and not quite a sweet sounding as the Grado Platinum, but super quiet, good dynamics and drive, nice spatial resolution and bass (but school is out on the bass till I have more hours on the Shelter).

Sheesh, You must be right because the Gold stylus costs 2X ($55 more) than the Blue stylus!

You may very well be right..I bought the Grado Blue and upgraded to the Gold stylus.Sounds great to me...

Thorman, Thanks. I actually think the stylus is the same for the Blue/Red and the Silver/Gold lines while the coils in the cartridge body are different - "ultra-high purity long crystal" oxygen free copper wire in the case of the Silver/Gold and "standard" oxygen-free copper wire in the Blue/Red. Do I have this right?

The other good thing is you can upgrade to the Grado Gold just by buying the Gold Stylus ( around $110 ) ..They all used the same cartridge body so upgrading the the Gold Stylus is a 2 minute change .........

Update.

OK - I recently took the Thorens into my local dealer that usually does the work on turntables to fix a broken cuing mechanism, adjust the suspension and upgrade the interconnect cable. Turns out the belt I had purchased from another vendor was the wrong one, and I replaced that with the OEM belt as well. While in the shop I asked the technician's opinion about the combination of the TD 150 mkII and the Grado Blue cartridge. He said that it was a combination they often recommend.

Long and short, I decided to kept the Grado Blue for now and fiddle with set up a bit further. In place of the stock rubber feet, I placed a 3/4 inch thick Oak block under each corner of the plinth to support the Thorens above the the wooden platform it has been sitting on. I then adjusted the VTA from clearly too low to too high and back, finding the spot where everything just "snapped into focus". Horns blatted like real horns, guitar bodies resonated, voices reverberated, etc. - everything was "just right". The best I can describe this if you haven't experienced it is like the aural analogue of getting the focus correctly adjusted on a pair of binoculars.

This particular experience of a cartridge "snapping" into focus was the most dramatic of any of the other five or so turntables I have owned and gone through the same process with. The wooden blocks seem to have cleaned up a lot of stray vibrations and stored energy, allowing the cartridge to better do it's thing. The appropriate belt also had a big effect on timing, and now the platter starts without chattering up to speed - a big improvement.

So for now, I am very happy with both the table and the Grado cartridge. If I make a change for cartridges recommended above, I will report back.

Thanks!

Medium - Heavy (about 15g)

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Thanks much for the feedback.

But is it a "pretty heavy" arm or a "light" arm???

Denon 110 also. Many prefer it to the 160 (I do) and it is available at about $100. I have one, the 103 is better at about $150 if it suits your arm and phono stage, the 110 has considerably higher output.

I would consider the Denon DL103 or DL160.

That arm is pretty heavy (sorry no accurate numbers known) and the Shure M97xe has pretty high compliance. Probably not the best match.

I've used a number of cartridges on my TD150 with the TP13A arm, and I've had the most success with low- to medium-high compliance cartridges (20x10-6cm/Dyne or less, roughly). It's a light arm so counterintuitive to use a DL103 with it, but the combo was wonderful for me and outperformed the Denon (stock and Soundsmith rebuilt) on my AT 1005 MkII arm (on another table). I'm currently using vintage MMs with the table and enjoying them immensely.

Other than the DL103/103R to consider, other current production cartridges you might look at could include the Sumiko Pearl, Ortofon 2M Blue, and others you can find at the cartridge database using compliance numbers in the search function. I haven't tried a Grado on mine so I don't know if it will hum, but a nice used Platium would be be well within budget and you could sell if it didn't work well.

I would consider the Grado Gold if you like a bit of warmth..Also the Shure M97xe would be another...