I am not a great believer in changing components to correct problems in other areas. If you get a cartridge that rolls off the highs to sound better with your too bright speakers, then you are stuck with a cartridge that rolls off the highs. Better to upgrade by trying to move closer to neutral, so that every component change gets you closer to where you want to be. Once neutral, you can change one component if you want extra warmth, treble, bass detail or whatever. Having one component roll off the highs, while another boosts the highs is just looking for aggravation down the road.
New cart for under 1K
I am looking to buy a new cartrdige for my setup. My current system consists of a VPI Scout II with a Black Knight platter and 10.5SE tonearm (the TT Michael Fremer demonstrated a cartridge setup at last years show in NYC), JM Focal 936's, Mac solid state power & pre, and a Dynavector P-75 phono pre-amp. The Focal's are very accurate and tend to be bright in the highs. Brightness is what I am trying to avoid. I've found the highs to be too harsh for my liking, especially with vocals. Sibilance is also an issue and something I have attempted to control with speaker placement, VTA, damping fluid, and the tone controls on my old Mac preamp. My current cart is a Grado Gold. I am hopeful that upgrading to a new cartridge helps eliminate some of the treble harshness and provides a sweeter overall sound. I'm interested in the Dynavector 20x2 so far. Any other suggestions for 1K or under, Benz, Ortofon, Sumiko (Blackbird, a little over 1K, but what the hell)?
Thanks for you assistance!
Thanks for you assistance!