Another vote for HANA, using the microline LOMC cartridge and love the detail and warmth it has provided.
Advice needed on MC cartridges
I’ve an Ortofon Black 2M cartridge on my VPI Classic 2 turntable, It’s a moving magnet type cartridge with a Shibata stylus and cost about $700 when purchased. I could easily be wrong, but am under the impression that the Ortofon 2M Black is about as good as it gets with MM cartridges and if I wished to upgrade I’d need to be thinking about moving into a MC, moving coil, type.
So I’ve been trying to learn something about moving coil cartridges and what differences or improvements in sound quality might be obtained by using one. My integrated amp, a Luxman 507uX Mk2, has a built in phono stage and can play either type,
Generally speaking, how much more would need to be spent on a MC cartridge before a noticeable, or significant improvement, might be heard in sound quality over the Ortofon 2M’s performance? What improvements in performance might you obtain using one a better quality MC over the Ortofon 2M Black? And third, what MC cartridges might you recommend that would fit in performance and budget wise with a system composed of the above equipment plus Magico A3 speakers. My other equipment is a Marantz Ruby CD/SACD player and a Shunyata Denali Hydra power conditioner.
I’ve never heard a MC cartridge in use so would be interested in following your advice and recommendations to see if I can find a dealer or someone that might be able to demo one so I can hear what the differences might be in performance. Thank you for any responses or suggestions
Mike
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@mijostyn : rigth, a warning on LO MI and the warning comes because the op is thinking in MC cartridges and the SS advise came from a MC cartridge owner that changed to MI. Of course HO SS can works through the MM stage. Prolem with dover is that has a way different commonsense than you and me or it like to " hit " me every time he " can ". Thank's for your post. R. |
@lewm nails it with a slight modification..no type is superior without careful consideration of the ecosystem it lives in…. arm, table, isolation, wiring and phono preamp / sut with appropriate and variable loading. I suspect Mijo has never heard a properly setup Lyra Delos, but that is another matter… Actually, we live in a world of fantastic cartridge values…. for under $3k, you have enormous choice of great sounding and technically excellent cartridges… As others have already named…. Enjoy your search and the music Jim |
I have the Luxman L-509x, Technics SL1200mk2 (tonearm rewire, damper) and I have the Marantz SA-KI Pearl player. I went from the Hana SH on the MM input to the Audio Technica AT33SA (LOMC) and am really enjoying the sound. While the Hana was a vg cartridge, I think the AT sounds more natural/relaxed. That could be HOMC vs LOMC, but the sonic differences are there. The AT33SA has an internal impedance of 10ohms and so matches quite nicely with the L-509x MC input impedance of 100ohms for loading. Just tossing out my story. |
Thank you all for your input. I’m learning a lot from you all. I’ll try to respond to each of your posts one at a time below. Noromance- glad you had good luck with your Decca stylus replacement Jasonbourne- thanks for the explanation on the the MC’s low inductance coil, faster transient response, and their lower cable capacitance loading. I’ll be looking int the Hana’s as several here have recommended them. Ghdprentice- you mentioned your $3500 Ven den Hull Frog MC cartridge took your system to a whole new level. Could you explain what improvement you have been hearing and what cartridge and type you’d been using previously? Socalm- thank you for your useful comparison of the performance of your Hana ML to the Ortofon Black 2M and the link. I really trying to get an understanding of how a MC might sound different form a MM so that comparison was spot on. Richdirector, yes the Luxman. 507uX Mk2 does have a built in phono stage you can set for either MM or MC. Don’t know what setting a MI might use but I’ll figure that out as I keep learning from all.of you. Mjjostyn and Dover, as a former Howard Johnson employer at age 16, I can attest to what mijostyns is saying. Interesting that you mention MC’s being brighter, generally speaking. I’ll have to listen for that if I’m able to get any demos. Thanks Knock1, thank you for the comparison of the Ortofon 2M to your Hana ML. A lot of folks here seem to like the Hana’s. LewM- Thank you for you long and thoughtful post. You provided a lot of pertinant information to consider. I’ve already read your post twice. Thank you. The low output type MC’s seem to get better reviews so far here. so i’ll keep that in mind. As you advise I won’t be buying vintage or used. If you don’t mind my asking How do you think a Audio Technica ART7 might sound differently than my Ortofon 2M? Tim_p- i’ll definitely be looking into the HANA line. Jim (tomic60)- Thanks, I am trying to dope out how much more more i’d have to spend to get a significantly better/different cartridge performance from my Ortofon Black 2M considering the components and setting of my current system. You mentioned an upper end $3000 figure for a good cartridge. For my current system with a VPI Classic 2 turntable do you think a cartridge costing that much might be overkill for my system? Or should I really be thinking of cartridges of that cost as suitable for my system .without any other system upgrades? I’ll look up Lyra Delos cartridges too since you mention them. Erikt, Thank you for mentioning the AT33SA and how well it matches it matches with the MC impedence of your Luxman-509x. That's definitely pertinent to my system and I’ll be sure to look up the AT33SA in short orfder. Thank you much. Hope I didn’t miss anybody and thanks again all. You’ve given me a lot to think about and research. Mike |
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