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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
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,556 posts
 
@rauliruegas you left out this bit:
Since then I've seen this simple fact play out again and again. Now we all know that if a cartridge isn't set up right it can have more distortion- and this is easily measured. And we also know that some arms simply won't allow you to set up a cartridge correctly as some of the adjustments needed to dial it in simply don't exist. So its not stupid- in fact I am suggesting quite the opposite: if you can't set up the cartridge properly you are leaving performance on the table! This should be really obvious to any audiophile...

Ag insider logo xs@2x
rauliruegas
12,757 posts
 
I posted:

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

R.

luisma31
516 posts
 
@atmasphere

but then I remembered how important loading is for high output cartridges
,Hi Ralph, as always you have all the right answers, what would you consider as a high output cartridge? Anything over 3mV?
Best Wishes

Luis





chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
3mV is not high output even for MM

For MC a high output is something like 1.7mV (but such MC carts must be avoided). People who’re using a high output MC do not understand that high output = coil winding and higher moving mass. LOMC with 0.2 - 0.5 mV are better than HOMC with 2mV. Everyone with MC cartridge should buy a decent phono stage first. If there is a problem with gain (MC phono stage) then MM and MI cartridges are better than all those High Output MC. 
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