How good does a TT have to be for a good cartridge


I have often wondered would you get good sound from a really good cartridge on a decent but not super good table. I am not an analog fanatic. I do own two fairly basic modern tables. One is a plain VPI Scout and the other a Music Hall MMF 5. Could I expect great sound from either one with a very high caliber cartridge that might cost lets say $3-5K . Is this an example of not being able to put lipstick on a pig?
mechans

Showing 3 responses by kbarkamian

Since turntable systems all work through vibrations, you want only the right vibrations getting to the cartridge. If the deck and arm are adding vibrations, the cartridge will pick them up. A better cartridge will more easily pick up those vibrations, as they can't tell which vibrations are the right ones (from the record groove) and which are the wrong ones (from the deck and arm). With an inferior deck that adds vibrations, the result is degraded sound.

Following this logic, you'd want as good a deck and tonearm as possible, as garbage into the cartridge = garbage out of it. I'm not calling either of your decks garbage by any means, but I'm not sure it would be worth your while to go all out with a cartridge. It'll most likely be similar to a great set of speakers ruthlessly revealing all the flaws of an inferior source or amp.

I wouldn't spend much more than the cost of the deck and tonearm on the cartridge. I have a Pro-Ject 1Xpression with Speedbox II and acrylic platter, and run a Dynavector 10x5. While demoing the cartridge, I got to hear the shortcomings of the deck. It's a great match IMO, but the 10x5 is capable of better performance. One of these days when I have more disposable income, more vinyl, more time to listen to it, and my daughter is older than 14 months, I'll buy a better deck for the 10x5.
The 10x5 is OK and nothing more? A lot of people would disagree with that statement. I've heard a lot of cartridges on my deck for about the same price - Linn, Grado, Ortofon, and Goldring to name a couple - and nothing came remotely close to my ears.
"My local dealer did a blind testing of carts on a very hi res system...the verdict/?...many couldn't distinguish between a 200 dollar cart vs 2k cart al things being equals...save your chips...other hi rollers will dispute this...but everybody wants to justify their purchases...even at the hands of clever marketing"

I've heard the same arguement for amps (so long as they're not clipping), cables, and DACs. To my ears, everything makes a difference. I may not agree with the hifi rags and some users as to the magnitude of the differences, but they definitely don't all sound the same IMO.

I've heard cartridges compared where all things were in fact equal, and heard a difference every time. This wasn't once or twice either.

Cartridges work by vibrations. Will every cartridge pick up every vibration exactly the same way? Different styli fit into grooves differently. Different cantilevers and their suspensions will allow those vibrations through differently.

This is the first time I've heard all cartridges sound the same though. I thought turntables and cartridges were immune to this nonsense, but I guess you learn something new everyday. Quite possibly the most absurd 'all x components sound the same' agruement I've ever heard.

How's this one - assuming correct placement and room acoustics, all speakers sound the same, except for low frequency extension.