Hello...
I have an SL-1210M5G and 4 cartridges:
Stanton 681EEE MKIII
Shure M97XE
Grado Prestige Gold
Denon DL-160
Each cartridge has less than 50 hours so they are just barely broken-in but my initial feelings are:
Stanton 681EEE - Good. Tracks well. Not using brush. Plays ok but it seems to be subdued and missing brilliance. Decent soundstage. Good midrange response. Maybe too much bass which sounds muddy to me.
Shure M97XE - Good. Tracks well also. A bit more forward than the Stanton. Clear, with a nice soundstage but IMO just missing the mark.
Grado Gold - Excellent. Bright and lively. Handles difficult material well. Well-balanced soundstage. Midrange is smooth. Lets me know about every pop and click in the source material. I DO prefer it over the previous two.
Denon DL-160 - WHOA! Absolutely the biggest soundstage! On several recordings I had to make sure that I wasn't using 5CH surround processing because there were definitely ethereal 3D effects. Some recordings sound like S**T though.
As I said, all of the cartridges are not fully broken-in and their characterics will certainly change a bit over time. I can envision using a different cartridge depending on what genre of musics I am in the mood to play in the evening. All are brand new, not NOS.
I would like to audition the Audio Technica AT440. It seems to gather favourable reviews
Understand this. These cartridges are NOT cheap here in AU. They start at A$200+ I have a small fortune tied up in the four of them. It is a good thing that I am single again, otherwise I would have to endure the b***hing about paying a lot of money for something so small.
My ageing ears 2c worth.
Regards,
Jan
I have an SL-1210M5G and 4 cartridges:
Stanton 681EEE MKIII
Shure M97XE
Grado Prestige Gold
Denon DL-160
Each cartridge has less than 50 hours so they are just barely broken-in but my initial feelings are:
Stanton 681EEE - Good. Tracks well. Not using brush. Plays ok but it seems to be subdued and missing brilliance. Decent soundstage. Good midrange response. Maybe too much bass which sounds muddy to me.
Shure M97XE - Good. Tracks well also. A bit more forward than the Stanton. Clear, with a nice soundstage but IMO just missing the mark.
Grado Gold - Excellent. Bright and lively. Handles difficult material well. Well-balanced soundstage. Midrange is smooth. Lets me know about every pop and click in the source material. I DO prefer it over the previous two.
Denon DL-160 - WHOA! Absolutely the biggest soundstage! On several recordings I had to make sure that I wasn't using 5CH surround processing because there were definitely ethereal 3D effects. Some recordings sound like S**T though.
As I said, all of the cartridges are not fully broken-in and their characterics will certainly change a bit over time. I can envision using a different cartridge depending on what genre of musics I am in the mood to play in the evening. All are brand new, not NOS.
I would like to audition the Audio Technica AT440. It seems to gather favourable reviews
Understand this. These cartridges are NOT cheap here in AU. They start at A$200+ I have a small fortune tied up in the four of them. It is a good thing that I am single again, otherwise I would have to endure the b***hing about paying a lot of money for something so small.
My ageing ears 2c worth.
Regards,
Jan