What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?

Bdp, I owned a Decca London back in the 90s and your synopsis is a good one. Especially comparing it at its best to a horn loudspeaker.

back it up by inviting anyone to come and listen with me.....anytime. if you were here in my room would you go on and on like your posting? would anyone?🙄

I've been to Mike's.  He is a gentleman and very gracious and generous.  In talking with him, it's clear that he's humble and while he has a great deal of knowledge, he's also a continuous learner.  There isn't a hint of braggadocio or ego, just a love for music. 

As far as his system goes, all I can say is wow!  It's far and away the best I've heard.  He's put the work into his room and has taken a system approach that has resulted in something magical. 

This forum is following the pattern of others I've seen, where over time the experienced and knowledgeable members leave because of a few know-it-all egotistical posters.  After a while, most of the posters that are left are inexperienced members asking basic questions and then the next level of experienced members start leaving and after a while, the forum shrinks and becomes relatively inactive. After some time, what you end up with for the most part is the blind leading the blind.

There's a level of anonymity and insulation that the internet provides.  Some of you might behave in person exactly like you do on the internet, but in real life you wouldn't be invited back to someone's home or to hang out with a group of friends.

I've learned a lot from this forum and others and look for every opportunity to pay it back.  In that spirit, I try to limit my comments and opinions to things that I have actual experience with either in my system or that I've heard in a friend's system.  I don't want to be part of the "noise".

@noromance 😁😁😁

@mikelavigne , Listening to music together and sharing the experience is a totally different proposition then trying to describe what something sounds like at a 2000 mile distance. In listening together you now have the framework to interpret what that individual is trying to tell you. Now their opinion has meaning.. It is a shame that we are unable to do more shared listening. Perhaps we should form regional groups that get together once or twice a year giving group opinions on this that and the other. Since we are both LZ fans I'm sure we could loosen a few fillings. That has to be the box set of all time. But then there is that Bill Evans Riverside box..... 

@big_greg " I try to limit my comments and opinions to things that I have actual experience with either in my system or that I’ve heard in a friend’s system. I don’t want to be part of the "noise", ".

This is solely my intent, it is also why I am very happy to meet with others, or travel to meet with others, venues such as in my home, their homes, or a pre-arranged meeting place, where a group are to attend to share in the available experiences from lined up demonstrations.

It is all done under one umbrella, which is to be a ’sociable participant’ within a small group of like-minded enthusiasts. No different to your visit to Mike’s and others you may have choose to spend time with. Where the outcome is usually always that advantages are recognised, amounting to great value. The overall outcome of the encounter, being indelible and very much worthwhile sharing with others.

By increasing my experiences with fellow enthusiasts, is indirectly a route to learn, this extends to learn much about how others are creating their own systems in their own environments.

I have on numerous occasions been left with a curve ball, from one’s approach, something new to me, be it a Brand or a DIY Build or ancillary and have been supplied ’if looking to be affordable’, another item of interest/curiosity added to the ’must’ try out on my system list.

To sense within a Thread, that a communication is present from an individual that is locked away in their own space, Smashing Down on the Keyboard, as an alienated individual. Attempting with a ’futility’ to convince an individual what is right and wrong in their choice, is from my perspective a repellent.

It is very difficult to consider accepting a content from a contributor, who is seemingly without any structured interactions with like-minded kin. A contributor that produces such an impression from my observation, is not a source of supply of information where I find myself content in the information that is being offered, there is not anything being made available that suggests creativity or offers any stimulus, it is quite the opposite.

I am on the side of the individuals who are helping this interest grow and bring into the fold new members who are to participate for the long haul and make discoveries that are very attractive to be maintained in similar ways to the one’s we all have behind and in yet to be encountered. It is not the easiest of tasks to convince somebody with a curiosity/interest in HiFi, that to invest in a System with a Vinyl LP source is a practice worth pursuing.

It is commonly seen through the content chosen to be added to a Thread, that it is very very easy to send these much-wanted visitors away for good.

@mikelavigne : " attacking the listening opinion credibility, "

Look, my opinion about is that CREDIBILITY can’t be attacked by any one .

Credibility of each one of us in this forum or other internet audio forums is a RESULT of each one of us knowledge/skills/first hand experiences levels.

The credibility/that knoledge levels of any one of us is different because our knowledge levels on specific audio issues could be good one but in many others audio issues is to low knowledge levels. No one knows everything about every audio whole subjects.

So, we are the ones that could " attack " our self when expose our knoledge level in a specific issue where we are not very good and all the time we are exposing that credibility through any single post we write where we show our knowledge level.

Every day is a learning one . As we posted the more our self credibility is too more exposed or in " danger ".

Always are several audiophiles that in some specific MUSIC/audio areas are and have way higher knowledge levels that you or me and to take advantage of their knowledge and skills we have to have an unbiased attitude with a wide open mind.

In certain and specific audio subjects my knowledge levels improved thank’s to read the posts of those better knowledge audiophiles even if as some of them in this forum post things like: " that’s totally false " or " you are way wrong ": well I accepted that if they gave me the explanation about and you know what: i learned and improve that way my knowledge level in that specific issues.

I already told you that in any discussion and depending of each one attitude the game is: win to win . In this " game " there is no place to feelings that I was defeated by.... or they are attacking me......To avoid that we can have our self blog, no I don't do it that way because I like to learn.

That’s my overall way of thinking, problem could be that I’m not polite mainly for my bad english where the words meaning to me are different to other gentlemans meaning.

What’s true in that " no polite " is that if my common sense and knowledge tells me that something is " black " I just can’t post that’s is " grey " or " brown ".

I try not post in threads where in the audio subjects my knowledge levels are to low or totally new for me, so I learn just reading to or I make several questions about till I understand the whole subject. I win with this kind of " actions ".

I don't care about my credibility because this human been characteristic depends only of me.

R.