I highly recommend the 2M Blue. It took a while to break in but after about 200-300 hours it went into another world. If you listen to Blues and run a tube amp you will truly enjoy the cartridge.
Cartridge recommendations
Need a need a new Cartridge for my Marantz Tt150. Want a good cartridge without breaking the bank. 300-500 range. Someone recommend ortofon 2m Blue.am I making a mistake not spending more? Seems you can go crazy with cartridge costs.I have a Prima Luna primium hp, a pro ject ds tube phono stage and a pair of Focal Electra 1028 Be. Appreciate your input.
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- 36 posts total
I picked up a NOS virtuoso ebony cartridge for about the money you mention above & it is outstanding for the money. Betters the LOMC's I've used prior to it. I can see how you could break them though. The stylus is certainly not protected. Kinda sticks out there just daring you to break it. If you don't mind going old school, check out Raul's large mm thread. There are a lot of great old mm or mi cartridges out there that you can still get high quality stylus's for. |
Also worth checking out is the AT33 PTG/II MC, I was able to get one on eBay for $460 including shipping. I was choosing between the Hana EL vs AT33 PTG/II and spent a several weeks researching and reading forums. The deciding factor for me was that my previous cart is a AT440MLA MM which served me well with no issues. So far I'm really happy with the sound, it tracks really well and is more refined compared to my previous MM cart. Its still early days as I'm breaking it in but I can strongly recommend the AT33 ptg/ii based on my experience. |
Here is a pretty decent resource that you can get a sense of different cartridges actually playing music. The recordings are of sufficient fidelity that, at least for me, i can get a sense of the differences in the sound of the cartridges. The narrator’s comments I find helpful too. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKNKJ_uFheEftryRCvbmfNg/playlists My vote is also for Nagakoa. Its a good value. |
- 36 posts total