Which Cartrudge For My Upcoming Technics 1200 GR 2 Turnable - Looking at Ortofon 2m Black


Note: Sorry about the misspelled Cartridge in title. Wish I could update that. 

 

I have a  Luxman 595 Class A amplifier with Focal N1 speakers. Depending on the recording, it can be on the bright side.  I own about 20 records. 80% of them are electronic mixes from the 90s. The rest are dinosaur jr, mazzy star, and so on. 

I have found memories of playing my grandfathers fisher turntable (with Mitsubushi stereo system) which looked similar to the Technics 1200GR2, so that is the turntable I am going to get. I also have found memories of going to the record store in the 90s (sound warehouse) and they had a Bose 901 VI system (I think... they were very large hung from the cieling) with a turtable that sounded so good. 

The sound I am looking for is *not a audiophile high resolving sound. Instead, I am looking for a energetic sound with power. I do want good audio quality though. 

What I am looking at is the Ortofon 2m Black LVB 250 or the 2m black. I never hear them in person. What is everyones thoughts?

dman777

Are you using the phono in the Luxman and do you want to stick with a MM cart? 

If things are already on the bright side, and you aren’t looking for audiophile sound, I’m sure 2M black is the first place I’d look. 
Something from the Grado Timbre line is around the same price points, and the high output versions should work well with your MM phono. 
 


 

Can your phono stage accommodate Hana ML or MH? That would be my recommendation if you want to keep things smooth and analog sounding. I think the 2M Black may be a bit much. Or try the Hana S low or high output Mk2. 

Yes, I would be using the Luxman and it's phono (it does both MM and MC). I asked AI and it said that it could handle the Hana ML.

@audphile1 When you mentioned that the 2M black may be a bit much... do you mean that it is to resolving and less energy and power? 

I just looked at the 595 specs. It has 100ohm impedance for MC which may potentially make SL or ML sound even more polite than you want. I would stick with MM cartridges with that luxman. 

Don’t rush - do some research. There are several MM Audio Technica models with line contact stylus that you can add to the comparison when researching. In example AT-VM760xSL

Ortofon 2M Black should still remain on the list but read more reviews to get a better idea for all these cartridges sound characteristics. 

I have the 2M Black on the same TT and love it. My phono pre is an older PS Audio GCPH. I have used this setup on a variety of music for 5 yrs and have no itch to change anything.