Age old discussion I know but MM or MC? Benefits?

The pudding metaphor will not do. But pudding kinds well.

I was pretty late with those FR-7 kinds which Dertonarm

recommended to me. But then I wanted them all. But by

comparing them the FR-7 was the first looser, then come

FR-7 f , then FR-702 . The winner or the best ''pudding'' among

them was without any question the FR-7fz. Despite the fact

that M. Cotter has chosen FR-7f for his celebrated combo.

In ''mini shoot out MC '' ( thread in this forum) FR-7fz and

Koetsu Coral stone were chosen as the winner with two

votes for each.

The Magic Diamond was my ''best cart'' for a long time till

I got Allearts MC 2. In direct comparison Allearts ''pudding''

sounded better. Thanks to the fact that I own Kuzma Stabi

Referenc with two toenearms (Reed 3P and Sumiko 800)

as well Basis Exclusive with two separate phono-pres I

was able to do ''A-B-B-A'' comparison between them. So

only in the context of such comparison one can say that

one is better sounding than the other. There is no way to

conclude from those comparisons about other ''puddings''

 in general.  

Implicit comparisons, ''better than '' imply comparison between

at least two objects. In logical sense this comparison is the same

as ''longer than'' between people because it imply an ordering or

sequence like a>b>c, etc. In Greece for example people are

ordered by an assumed ''average length'' of, say , 170 cm. Those

above 170cm are considered to be ''long'' those bellow as ''short''.

 I myself am considered to be a long guy in my native Serbia

because I am 184 long. In Holland however I am considered to be

''average'' because ''long'' in Holland means above 190cm.

So in Greece , Serbia and Holland the length is assumed to be

an quality or property of an person and this make no sense.

One can't have different properties depending from countries in

which one is accidental present.

Consider now the question ''which is the best cart ?''

This make as much sense as ''who is the longest guy?''

By this question some ''inherent qualities'' of an single cart are

assumed to be ''the best''. But the answer is only possible by

some comparison. Say: among my 5 carts the ''x'' is the best in

comparison with 4 other carts because...

I try to avoid my (young) brother chakster who would like to

answer the question if MM carts are better than MC kinds or

the other way round (grin). For this kind of comparison we need

quantifier ''all'' (''all MM'' + ''áll MC'') while ''all'' is not a name

which refer to peculiar objects. With ''all' we want to express

generality which contradict any specific comparison.

Dear chakster, Your question is, among other, ''am I rational

with this hobby?''  I asked myself the same question but because

I am much older I asked this question long before you. The

answer start with the ''old Greek''. Seneca was the first who stated

''man is a rational animal''. The Greek used an wrong analogy

to judge about people. I call this ''metal  analogy'': ''honest like

gold'', ''iron strong'', etc. So a kind of ''constant quality '' is assumed.

Consider the statement ''copper sometime conduct electricity and

sometime not''. This looks crazy but why? Consider than this

statement; ''humans sometimes  behave in accordance with laws

and sometimes not''. Nobody will consider this statement as

 ''strange''. People know from experience that this is true.

Well your ''error'' is your belief that ''humans are rational '' in

the sense of ''constant properties'' like copper which is assumed

to conduct electricity always. That is why you are questioning

your own rationality and wonder about the amount of your carts,

tonearms, TT's ,etc. The answer to Seneca and as such also to

you is like this: ''being rational is fine but not all the time''.

Our hobby is not rational because passion is a kind of opposite

to rational. I also own nearly all ''carts of the month'' despite the

fact that I hardly use MM carts. When Raul started this thread

experiments with MM carts were for free. Even better. One

could sell his cart for more than he paid for because their prices

increased when Raul recommended them.

This is of course not the case with MC kinds . Alas (grin).