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Best cartridge under $100 - vintage Akai TT

I recently acquired a vintage Akai AP-Q80 direct drive TT, fully auto, with a "S" tonearm, standard mount. (My Beogram 4002 crapped out.) It has an ADC Ser-III cart and it just doesn't sound very good. Stylus cantilever looks corroded.
I'm running it into a Proton 1100 pre-amp with nice sounding phono stage for MM or MC.
Cartridges I'm considering:
• Sumiko Pearl
• AT-440MLa
• Ortofon OM-5E, OM-10, OM-20, Red
• Denon DL110 (a little outside my budget)
• Grado - Pick a color

I'll be playing a mix of classical chamber and symphony (CBS Masterworks, digitally remastered), classical guitar. old rock, blues, Dizzy and Miles. (Some are noisy LPs.)

My budget is really at $100, but if I can get something that will do the job at $60... after years as a carpenter, my hearing is not as refined as it used to be. I'm a bit sensitive to upper register harshness.

Any help??
Thanks in advance.
Craig
craig_c
craig_c OP
21 posts
 
johnnyb53
Thanks for the really good info. I know my Akai TT is not high tech. I'll get some lube for the direct drive.
I'm afraid I don't know what constitutes a "higher mass" tone arm as Celtic66 describes. I wish I was in the medium performance technology, like a $400 Pro-Ject turntable, but I'm a photographer looking to spend $2000 on a large format printer. Audio has to take a back page. I need the best bang for the buck. I hope my TT will perform adequately. I will see if I can spring for the DL-110. I see a seller that offers the cartridge for $101.00. It is a stretch in my budget, but may be worth the investment.

Too bad my Beogram 4002 with the MMC 4000 crapped out.

Thanks,
Craig
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
When the time comes, for $400, you're still best off getting a new Technics SL1200 or 1210. You can extract a lot of performance from those and there's an aftermarket guy (http://www.kabusa.com that makes an upgrade path for them.

For now, I strongly recommend the 2M Red or DL-110. Don't worry too much about tonearm mass; yours is probably "medium," which will work well with any of the cartridges we've been talking about here.

I get better performance out of my home-tweaked SL1210M5G with KAB tonearm fluid damper than any Beogram ever imagined.
craig_c OP
21 posts
 
Johnnyb53 - Hey thanks. I really appreciate you good info. The KAB connection is especially helpful. Their website, though so 1993, is full of really great material that is helping me get a better handle on what is happening in the vinyl world.

Craig
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