I have the same turntable and arm combination, and had it serviced a couple of years ago. The dealer suggested and installed a Ortofon MC 15 Super, which souds great. IMHO spending more on a cartridge is not worth the effort since the SME 3009 is not the best arm around. And for the 'shell life': my experiences are that if you don't use a cartidge, it will remain good. It'll only need some running-in time after you install it.
Ortofon MC Question
I've recently gotten back into vinyl and have had a lot of fun setting things up. In case some of you ask, I've got a Thorens TD125 with an SME 3009 improved, has the detachable headshell. Once I got looking I found a whole bunch of old cartridges that I had packed away in the eighties. I've been trying cartridges with the new TT, like Empire 2000z, Stanton 681EEE, Shure M91ed, and they all sound so much better than they did on my old Garrard DD75. I even bought a new Ortofon super OM30. I almost didn't bother with one of the old carts, being that it's a MC and I thought I'd lost the head amp. Well I found it and installed the Ortofon MC20. This cart sounded better than All the rest. It bothers me because it's probably 20 some years old. What I need to know, are the new Ortofon MC's, like the X-1 and X5, any where the same as my old MC20? I know they're higher output and don't need the head amp, but would they be similar?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.