Thanks lewm, bummer it's not as good, since that is what's available new. I bought a jico for my empire 4000 d/lll & am breaking it in. It sounds great on most albums & fairly bad on other albums that really sounded good with my clearaudio MC. Hoping that issue goes away.
Well Tempered/CROFT/Harbeth...London SG or NAGAOKA
This system has performed very nicely with my Charisma Denon 103.... However, I don't want to keep borrowing my Step Up and 0.5 meter Interconnect from my main system. So I'm leaning toward a HO/MM to simplify and get this setup up and running on it's own. The synergy between the London and CROFT phono is well documented... And as many know, they like damped arms, so the SG should perform well with the Amadeus. The London SG retails at around $1,200 US. Enter Nagaoka... I believe the NEW Well Tempered MM is actually a modified Nagaoka, but based on it's price, it may haven begun life as a 150 or 200. I'd likely go a bit higher up the line to a 300 or 500 series. The London seems like the way to go, but I do have concerns about the whole no Cantilever thing. I guess these are not for the faint of heart, as they say. Then of course, I don't want to sell the Nagaoka short. I like what I've heard about these, and they seem to fall in to the more full bodied, and not Hi-Fi or exaggerated camp. The London, I'm not so sure as they say these are so alive and open sounding. That may not be a bad thing, as long as they are not crude or etched in any way. Thanks in advance!
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chakster- good point, but I don't know that I'm missing something. The Charisma, to my ear, is a real overachiever at $750 US. Charisma Audio in Canada, is the distributor for WTL's. I had his 100% backing on this combination. So again, maybe the damping allows some cartridges that wouldn't normally do well on the (low mass) Amadeus arm to work. " It’s good that you don’t have WT Nagaoka cartridge, maybe you have to try Garrott Brothers p77i cartridge if you want to stick to the new carts only." Is there a reason you feel the WT (Nagaoka) or for that matter, an MP300 or 500 would be less than ideal? I'm sorry... I admit the technical side of this is something I rely on dealers, forum members, and others for. Cheers -Don |
Well, in my opinion the majority of people just read the reviews and looking for widely available cartridges, dealers pushing what they got, but what if the review is not available and your dealer does not have a certain cartridge? Does it makes this "unknown" cartridge inferior to something that comes from the very big manufacturers like Nagaoka? I guess when famous MM thread was created 90% of those forgotten cartridges were unknown, but people were shocked how good they are compared to some very expensive new carts. Garrott Brothers reputation is second to none, people who taking care of the brand today are very good too. The price of P77i Dynamic Coil is AUD600 (equal to $460) it’s cheaper than Nagaoka, but it’s an amazing cartridge with Garrott MicroScanner II stylus. There is a higher model in Garrott line too: the Optim with Ruby Cantilever and Fritz Geiger Signature stylus. I think this is a good alternative to Nagaoka. An old Garrott p77 (not p77i) is one of my favorites, i remember when i bought it from fellow audiogon member i was thinking about Nagaoka MP-50 and he had it too, but explained me that Garrott is much more interesting cartridge. I’ve been using mine on Reed 3P "12 tonearm and was happy about the sound compared to many top quality MM cartridges i have in my arsenal. However, i think the AT-ML170 is a better cartridge and the higher price for AT-ML170 is reasonable compared to Garrott p77. The construction of the cantilever of the AT-ML170 has no analogs in today’s world. It’s hollow tapered Gold-Plated Boron pipe. The stylus tip mass is extremely low. The AT-ML180 is even better. Anyway specs on paper is not always telling you how good is the cartridge, but you can check the specs for AT-ML170 for example: Frequency Response (Hz): 5 - 40,000 Vertical Tracking Force: 1.25 +/- 0.3 Tracking Ability (microns) at center value VTF: 90 Tracking Ability (microns) at upper value VTF: 100 Channel Separation (dB at 1kHz/10kHz): 31/21 Channel Balance (dB): 0.5 Output (mV at 1kHz), 5 cm/sec): 4 Vertical Tracking Angle: 20 degree Stylus Shape: 0.1mm MicroLine Stylus Construction: Nude Square Shank Cantilever: Gold-plated BORON Wire Uses For Coil: PCOFC Recommended Load Impedance (ohms): 47,000 Recommended Load Capacitance (pF): 100 - 200 Dynamic Compliance @ 100Hz: 10.0 (* please note that Dynamic Compliance @10Hz will be around 18-20cu) Static Compliance: 40.0 Cartridge Weight (grams) 7.0 Replacement Stylus: ATN170ML This article will help you to find more interesting things about top qulity MM cartridges: http://www.regonaudio.com/Stanton881AudioTechnicaATML70.html |
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