educate me


Can someone help me or point me in the right direction about phono cartridges? Specifically...if I buy a table (project Expressions3) and it come with a MM cart. do I have to stick with MM or can I move to MC and would I want to? High outout vs Low output, Are there advantages to one over the other. I understand how they work, but sonically speaking what can I expect? Thanks
texron
my dad just gave me his linn lp 12 so i am new to this stuff too i started out with the sumiko blue point special 3 and am very satisfied
If it were only that simple. There are plenty of MM carts that out perform MC at various price points and many overachieving MCs that perform closely to their more expensive counterparts. Dont get sucked in to the "you have to spend a lot of money " mentality. Do your research by reading as many reviews as you can find and visiting forums like this, Vinyl Asylum and Vinyl Engine are also good. You will need to learn to determine tone arm compatability with with various compliances among many other parameters to achieve the best performance for your money. Vinyl requires a lot of time and experimentation when your starting out but that is what makes it fun and you can reap great sonic rewards. Vinyl Engine is populated with a bunch of very knowlegable cheapskates and it (like this one ) is a treasure chest of good practical info.
good luck, Rick
Thanks for the help but if someone could tell me if a TT is dependent on one type of cartridge, or can I switch from MM to MC whenever I feel like it
In short no, the TT will be fine with any cartridge but the tonearm will only be optimum with a cartridge that has a compliance suited to its mass. There are charts for this calculation and some good info is available in the library at the engine. Also the dealer you buy your cart from should be able to advise.
do I have to stick with MM or can I move to MC...?
Technically, there's no reason you couldn't go to an MC.

... and would I want to?
Possibly, but as Tobias and others have tried to advise, it would be an error to move very far up the cartridge hierarchy for the TT and tonearm you're considering. Keep your cartridge budget under $500, maybe under $300 and you'll be fine.

High outout vs Low output, Are there advantages to one over the other. I understand how they work, but sonically speaking what can I expect?
As a rule, LO MC's have shorter/thinner coils on the cantilever vs. their HO cousins. Lower moving mass results in increased speed, responsiveness, HF extension and micro-dynamics. These are all good things and will let you hear more of the music in the grooves, PROVIDED the rest of the system is up to it.

The rig you're considering is not up to the performance levels of most LOMC's, certainly not the expensive ones costing $1K+. What you'd hear if you bought one of those would be the limitations of the table and arm, not more music.

LOMC's also require more amplification from the phono stage to boost the signal voltage up to levels your line stage can deal with. The more amplification you need the higher quality the amplification must be, otherwise you'll hear problems or limitations in the amplification chain instead of better music.

Finally, LOMC's require fairly careful impedance matching. All MM cartridges and most HOMC's are designed for playing into an MM's phono stages 47K ohm load. That is not true of LOMC's, and there is no standard from one to the next.

FWIW, my advice is to stick with MM for this rig. It won't pay you to move much higher. If you must try a LOMC I'd suggest one of the venerable Denon 103 series cartridges. They're about as non-fussy as a LOMC gets.