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Asking for members blessings on Nagaoka MP 300 purchase

I’m a tube guy and always have been. But I have assembled a Naim XS and Harbeth C7 system with a Luxman PD 151. My work schedule gets in the way of my listening, so I use this system more than my tube/horn setup. The cartridge purchase is the final step, and this system is complete. Give me the Jack Nicholson TRUTH ( I can handle it) on your Nagaoka opinions. Lets try and keep the thread to this subject only.

fjn04
peter_s
1,439 posts
 

@lewm how do you ensure that the top of the head shell is parallel to the LP surface? Do you put a bubble level on the head shell? Does the extra mass from a bubble level affect the VTA? I have always tried to get the tone arm itself, parallel to the LP, visually… But I’m interested in how you do this with the head shell. 

lewm
14,649 posts
 

I do it by eye at first then tweak VTA once thereafter if SQ seems off (but certainly not for each LP).

knownothing
1,821 posts
 

Update to my original post on the MP300.  I tried a 500 stylus on the 300 body as a  budget upgrade route when exchange rates were optimal and that was better in some ways, more air and sparkle, but lost some of the midrange magic of the 300.  I sold the 300 and replaced it with a 500 and now I have the brand new stylus in the drawer as a spare.  

The 500 sounds marvelous in my system to me.  Positive attributes described above in this thread present in spades.  The 500 is somewhat sensitive to VTA.  In my system it is easy enough to adjust with thiner platter mats for very think LPs.  Not really finding the MP-500 any more sensitive to VTA than an Audio Technica cartridge I owned previously with a microline stylus, and maybe less fussy than I experienced with the MP-300, which I find a little surprising.

kn

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