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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
noromance's avatar
noromance
10,482 posts
 

Note that the Audio Technica cartridge model name is VM760xSL.

The replacement stylus is called VMN60xSL.

Almost every mention above referred to the latter.

mahler123
4,009 posts
 

I don’t listen to vinyl that much but I use the same table as the OP, with the 2M Blue.  I wanted to keep the cost of the pre amp (Cambridge Audio, mm only) and cartridge to no more than half of the table itself.

  There used to be rule of thumb on expenditures: speakers one third /amp one third, source one third.  Of course it was arbitrary and we all do what we want, but makes me wonder.  Do people routinely by cartridges that approach or exceed the cost of the accompanying decks?

dman777 OP
189 posts
 

Just a follow up to this post... I found that the RCA cable was touching the power cord. This generated all kinds of noise artifacts and also to much treble. Since then, I corrected the cord problem. I have to say.... I am really enjoying the Black LVB 250. I had the MP-500 for awhile but ended up sending it back. Although the MP-500 had great holographic qualities,  It didn't have the calarity that the Ortofon has. I feel like I did the Ortofon a injustice so I had to do a follow up with this post. I've been enjoying it quite a bit! 

letch
122 posts
 

It's good to hear the follow up. As you said earlier:

"I thought this would be simple but just like everything in Hi Fi it’s complicated." 

lewm
14,680 posts
 

dman, let's get back to some basic issues.  You said you changed VTA from 1.0 to 0.5, and that helped with brightness.  What does that mean exactly? VTA is not measured in numerical units, normally.  Before that you did not seem to realize that your Luxman 595 is what is called a full function preamplifier, meaning that it has both a linestage and phono section built onto one chassis. You were complaining it was too loud. Once you learned that it has an attenuator (volume control), did you then cure the loudness problem by using the attenuator? Or have you been reporting since then about using your other preamplifier? If you had a dealer set up your vinyl system, it seems they ought to be holding your hand a little bit to get the bugs ironed out. By all means, you should be using your 595 which is way superior to the other preamp/phono you mention. (Forgot the brand name and model.)

So, first explain what you did with VTA. Then I urge you to reinstall the Luxman and use its controls to get the sound pressure level you want.  THEN let us know if you are at least happier.

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