The greatest MM and MI cartridges ....

Dear D,
It surprises me that you start a thread about MM/MI cartridges when I can't remember a single MM cartridge that you have mentioned in the past or any that you claim to have influenced you?
Is there an agenda to you question? :^)
Regards
Henry

I don't think anyone has really understood the question posted here?
It is asking for a 'list' of 'classic' MM/MI cartridges which have influenced the audio world and have 'stood the test of time'.
Please read the thread on 'Great MC cartridges' started by Syntax for a definition of 'Classic'.
It is not solely what you may like?.....and certainly does not encompass modern designs like the Clearaudios.

To accompany my list.....I think I need to describe the state of high-end audio in Britain and Australia in the late 70s and early 80s.
Here in Australia, Britain was the 'heart' of the 'renaissance' in high-end audio.
The States were considered 'crude' and unsophisticated with no credible audio press....hence the need for 'underground' magazines like The Absolute Sound and Stereophile although we never saw or heard of Stereophile till much further into the 80s.
Ampzilla and Son of Ampzilla were about all we heard of America and a little later......Audio Research and Conrad Johnson.
There was a 'known' British sound to speakers....and an American 'sound' to speakers.......and the American was very much derided.
The British mainstream audio press (Hi-Fi Answers and What Hi-Fi) provided unbridled criticism and intelligent discussion into all things high-end whilst the names.....Linn, Naim, Rega, Wharfdale, Celestion, Gale, Kef, Quad, Mitchell etc held sway with all audiophiles and through their connections with cartridge and arm manufacturers in Japan.......the Japanese audio industry was interwoven with the high-end British.
Consequently......cartridges (most made in Japan) were very prominent in the British press whereas I can recall little discussion of those when we eventually were able to get our hands on The Absolute Sound issues.
With this history in mind, my list of Classic MM cartridges would be:-
Decca London
Nagaoka MP11
Stanton 681EEE
Garrott P77
AT 155LC
Signet TK-3 series
Signet TK-5 series
Signet TK-7 series
Empire 1000ZE/X
Empire 4000D/III
FR-5E
Technics EPC-100

Dear D,
Do you mean.......be 'faithful' to a cartridge for the rest of our lives to the exclusion of all others?
This was not a condition of the great MC cartridges and I don't think it's in the nature of a true audiophile to be 'monogamous'?
Let me just say that I could happily live with only one of the MM cartridges on my list than any single MC cartridge I have yet heard.

Hi Fleib,
The Decca London is the only cartridge on my list which have neither owned nor heard.......and it's position at the top is certainly not meant to indicate any ranking.
The London had already achieved near legendary status in the late 70s with George Hadcock purportedly having designed his eponymous GH-228 unipivot arm specifically for it?
Together with the myth that no two samples sounded the same and a near continuous 40 year production history......it deserves to be on the list.

I agree with Timeltel that no list would be complete without the venerable Shure V15/III although again, I've neither heard nor owned.

Jeremy,

Anyone care to recommend MM and MI cartridges which have great dynamics/attack (like a MC) with detail and tonality to boot? From what I gather, this is something only really good MC do well but thought there might be exceptions.

It is not my experience that MCs possess any of those advantages over MMs. I realise that you are quoting an oft- repeated mantra by reviewers and others but I would really like actual examples to be submitted for peer review? :^)

I also second Daniel's appreciation of the Professor's contributions to this thread.
I have found his encyclopedic mind....and faultless ears.....to be a guiding light for me in this honorable quest for analogue perfection :^)
His recommendation of any cartridge should never go uninvestigated and the recent mention of the Acutex LPM 310/312/315/320 is a case in point.
From the depths of Kentucky.......a well packed parcel arrived chez moi containing said mentioned Acutex :^)
A difficult run-in period (especially on the 315) saw dividends with the 312 eventually singing on the TT-101 turntable.
Mounted on my 'go-to' Yamamoto Ebony headshell in my 'go-to' multiple-adjustable MA-505S tonearm........the Acutex LPM 312 enveloped my room (and within it my ears) with a sound so lush and exciting....it is probably banned in certain states of the southern USA?
That it must be 'coloured' goes without saying :^)
If we emphasise the lower registers so that they 'hit' the guts whilst retaining a tunefulness and tightness more akin to the 'real thing' than any other cartridge I have heard...........we must have a 'coloured' sound?
If....at the same time......the midrange stuns with a realism and three-dimensionality almost unimaginable from a cartridge costing somewhat less than $10,000.......we must have a 'coloured' sound?
Add a high-frequency performance which shimmers and tingles and vibrates and shines without a hint of harshness or distortion and we must have a 'coloured sound'?
Throw in a soundstage that reaches forward and swallows you whilst showing you a room you never had behind your speakers and we must have a 'coloured sound'?
But can it really be 'coloured' when ALL these attributes are combined at the same time?
Can we really be suspicious that one cartridge can be so revealing compared to others when we see that one turntable can be?
Why are we surprised that one component can get it right whilst most others can miss the mark so badly?
OK.....so I'm drunk! But as well as being intoxicated on a fine blend of Scotch.....I am also intoxicated on a sound conjured by a small metal and plastic blob sitting on the end of my tonearm.
Will I persist with the recalcitrant LPM 315? You bet I will......why?.......because the Professor tells me to :^)