The Bronze is a solid choice, but I personally like the Nagaoka MP-200 around that price point.
Cartridge for my friend
So a year ago or so I had replaced my Pro-Ject Carbon Debut with a Marantz TT-15 and I had posted here that I would buy a new cartridge for the Carbon and do a A/B to see if the Marantz purchase was worth it....
Well that never happened because I ended up selling the Pro-Ject to a good friend who is also a new and budding audiophile! So cool to see the excitement in all his new audio discovery!Anyway he has a nice little system going and he is retiring from work here in six weeks... I thought I do what I’d said I would and buy him a upgraded cartridge for his TT as a retirement present. Now it’s a small budget I’m working on and I know how fast cartridges can get out of hand price wise so I want to keep it under $750.
The TT came with a Ortofon 2M Red and I was thinking of going with a Ortofon 2M Bronze for him? Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks for any insight that will help me get a perfect cartridge for my friend and a new member of our club!
Well that never happened because I ended up selling the Pro-Ject to a good friend who is also a new and budding audiophile! So cool to see the excitement in all his new audio discovery!Anyway he has a nice little system going and he is retiring from work here in six weeks... I thought I do what I’d said I would and buy him a upgraded cartridge for his TT as a retirement present. Now it’s a small budget I’m working on and I know how fast cartridges can get out of hand price wise so I want to keep it under $750.
The TT came with a Ortofon 2M Red and I was thinking of going with a Ortofon 2M Bronze for him? Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks for any insight that will help me get a perfect cartridge for my friend and a new member of our club!
13 responses Add your response
I would seek out Teo Audios CBP cartridge, this is a reworked AT95 MM cart that comes with a bonded elliptical for $229.00 and a money back guarantee if not satisfied. I bought one and really love it, beat my AT ART9 and really gives my Grace F9 with Soundsmith OLC stylus upgrade a real run for it's money. Just upgraded the stylus to the ML but do not have enough time to say if the upgrade was worth the xtra $150.00 except for the 3 times predicted stylus life. Enjoy the music |
There are many absolutely amazing cartridges at this price (under $750 as you suggested). One of them is Garrott p77i from Australia (if you want new). If you never heard about this one you’d better search. High-End classics like Sony XL-50, Grace F9 with F14 (RS14) stylus, Audio-Technica AT-ML170 OFC are stunning performers, unbeatable by new MM. Ortofon is not the answer, especially if you want something different (better). |
Dear @264win : Ortofon is very good option and comes from a very well regarded cartridge manufacturer. Other really good option is this Nagaoka model: https://www.lpgear.com/product/NAGAOKAMP300.html Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS, R. |
@264win, Two notes of caution; from the Pro-Ject manual USER GUIDE (project-audio.com), the tone arm is very low mass - 6g, so you want to stay with a medium compliance cartridge such as the Ortofon 2M series, the Nagaoka MP-300 and the Garrott P77i. However, the tonearm does not have ability to easily adjust VTA (there is an option, but its not pretty - Manual-VTA-it.pdf (project-audio.com). The problem here is that advanced profile stylus used by the Ortofon 2M Bronze and the Garrott P77i are very sensitive to VTA. So unless you happen to luck out, there can be frustration because the cartridge may not sound very good. In general, elliptical stylus (hyper-elliptical being the better) such as the Nagaoka tend to be more forgiving of VTA. Since the Pro-Ject is delivered with the Ortofon 2M Red, the Bronze should be a drop-in; but send an email to Pro-Ject and ask them. Otherwise, given the limitations noted above, there are people on this site that can make good recommendations. |
264win, I did similar on my Carbon going from Red to Blue. The improvements were immediate and not subtle. To me, that would indicate that there is likely more room for some improvement so Bronze, as a price/quality point should be the sweet spot, staying in the 2M family. I retired 2 years ago so if he doesn't like it well, you know how to reach me. 264win asking about a cartridge. I didn't miss that irony. Kind of a 300WSM guy my self. |
