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Cartridge recommendations

I think I need to replace my MC cartridge.  It's a Madrigal Carnegie.  I'm no longer convinced that a replacement needs to be a MC.  That was true when I bought the Carnegie but time and technology have changed.  I read last night that under $500 you're better off getting a MM.  At the $500 point and up, a MC starts to make sense.  At the $1,000 point, absolutely, get a MC.  But that was one opinion.

I'm setting a tentative budget of $1,000 to $1,500.  At $2,000 I become Ukrainian (fierce resistance occurs).

I have a Grado cartridge that I use on my 'other' TT and have a preference toward Grado cartridges.  As an aside, I visited the Grado website last night and found it very difficult to navigate.  I wanted to start by selecting a price, then go from there.  I could not find any pricing in the brief time I spent there.  I know it's there, I've seen it.  I'll try again.

So I'm looking for suggestions.  MM, MI, or MC.  I prefer warmish (Grado is known for that), smooth and hopefully detailed.  Sound staging is irrelevant.

I've started a second discussion aimed at questioning if the Carnegie is truly dead, as I fear.  If you want to chime in on that I welcome your expertise.

listener2
yeti42's avatar
yeti42
287 posts
 

If you have the arm for it the Ortofon SPUs have a warm full bodied sound but they’re low compliance. If there’s a removable headshell than just worry about balancing the 30g weight of the pickup head but if you need 1/2” mounting than the naked N series weigh in at ~16g with the included adaptor so the arm needs to be on the heavy side, 15g is probably enough but a little more might help. I’m getting very good results from a Royal N on an 18g arm, so much so that I’m in no hurry to swap it out for my rebuild Transfiguration Proteus.

 

The various Hana cartridges keep getting recommended as good value, the low output ones more so.

 

listener2 OP
12 posts
 

If you have the arm for it...  That's an interesting question.  I don't know the answer.

I have an Eminent Technology II, (mounted on on a VPI HW-19 MK II)  I'll have to dig out the ET owner's manual to see what the specs are. Since the tone arm (a boron tube I believe, or some material that makes it stiff yet light) rides on a column of air, I think a heavier than usual cartridge might be too heavy.

And to all others, thank you for the responses. 

I'll check out LP Gear. 

I also sent an email to Soundsmith asking if they can rebuild the Carnegie.  If they can, that might the more cost-efficient way to go.  I also asked them a few questions about their cartridges.  No response yet.

avanti1960
1,405 posts
 

The Audio Technica  ART9XI  "ART 9" competes and beats many $2K cartridges and nothing under 1800 touches it.

An internet legend that is justified.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,154 posts
 

If the Hana ML works on that arm and with your phono amp, it’s an amazing cartridge.

djspinner's avatar
djspinner
58 posts
 

Here's a guide that's been posted elsewhere on this board regarding matching ET-2 tonearms with cartridges:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/eminent-technology-et-2-tonearm-owners/post?postid=1693347#1693347

I'm not aware of a boron arm wand.  The stock arm wand is aluminum.  The lighter one is the carbon fiber and the heavier one is magnesium.  Assuming you have the single leaf spring and the carbon wand, you'll want to use a low mass, medium compliance cartridge.

I use the AT-OC9XML on my ET-2 tonearm.  If I had the funds I probably would bump up to the ART9XI.  I'd love to try a London (Decca) Super Gold someday, but those suckers are hard to get dialed in on many tonearms, especially a linear tracking one on a suspended turntable.

 

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