Cartridge Opinions - Sorry


Yeah, another dumb "what's your opinion on these cartridges" thread. Back in the late 80's we had dealers where you could listen to the stuff.

So anyhow I have a Linn LP12 with Ittok arm and a 30 year old Audioquest B200L cartridge. I'm running it through the phono stage of a Jeff Rowland Coherence One into a Spectral DMA90 through a set of Kef R300's.

I prefer a little more laid back sound (err on the side of forgiving instead of fatiguing) but I like a lot of upper end detail, precise soundstaging, air, etc.

So far I'm considering an Ortofon Quintet S Black, Hana SL or a Benz wood - something at or below the $1k level.

I'd love to hear any opinions, suggestions, and experiences with those cartridges or others in the price range. I could possibly go higher if there is something out there that really shines for less than $1,500.

Thanks.


klooker
I've always been a fan of Grado woodies, though I haven't heard their recent offerings.  I'm using an original Reference Platinum right now.
The big deal you're going to find is that if the tonearm properly tracks the cartridge, then the choice of cartridge is far less important than people make it out. By 'properly track' I mean that no matter what is in the grooves, the music is always relaxed and well-defined, no hint of stress or breakup; almost as if you were listening to tape.
Dear @atmasphere  : "  the choice of cartridge is far less important than people make it ou...""

Since when?.  Everything the same the cartridge self quality level performance is an makes a difference.
All those cartridges I posted are diferent even that all are very good designs but performs " different ". Different cartridges in same tonearm performs different and what we listen is different too. You can take an " universal perfect " tonearm and not two different cartridge models will sounds the same.

Every audiophile knows the importance to match the cartridge/tonearm combination and to make an accurated geometry alignment.

Vintage and today gimball pivoted tonearms are well designed with bearings and build materials beyond reproach of anything.
We can take vintage ones as: Lustre GST-801 or Technics EPA 100 or any Grace gimball design that after 30 years are still working really fine or today tonearms as SME V or Kuzma 4point or Triplanar and the like.

Where exist a serious problem with tonearms is in the unipivot designs.

Anyway, after the LP the cartridge is the king and the tonearm is an slave of the cartridge an obviously an important item too.

R.


Since when?. Everything the same the cartridge self quality level performance is an makes a difference.
Apparently since tonearms have been available that are adjustable enough that they can really get the cartridge to track properly.