Moving coil with a bit less leading edge

Some really excellent and insightful comments above. But, no one is trying to defend unrealistically bright and aggressive cartridges. Lew, they certainly do exist; way too many of them. I think that the point that Doug, Pete, myself and others are making is that contrary to what appears to be the OP's goal (based on the original post), adding a cartridge that, by design, blunts the leading edge and tames the high frequencies is usually a recipe for failure. Better to think about the system as a whole and go for as much realism as possible every step of the way, particulary in those components closest to the source.

I get the gist of what you're saying, Lino. Personal tastes notwithstanding, when it comes to reproduced music you make good sense, and so do Doug and Pete. What I took issue with previously were Doug's comments about having so sit in better seats or better halls to avoid hearing sound as rounded. Perhaps there was some confusion or misreading centering around the term rounded. Based on my elaboration above, I hope I have corrected that.

If the brain is rejecting something, there must be something artificial about it that one is too sensitive to. No amount of live music listening at any chair can fix that IMO.

Frogman,
Thanks for clarifying. You said it simply and clearly, and without any annoying overshoot/ringing on the leading edge. ;)

Opus88,

I didn't know what halls you frequent, so thanks for clarifying. I haven't been to the Musikverein or Concertgebouw, unfortunately, but like most classical buffs I have many recordings made there. Their renowned "warmth" is quite audible in the rich harmonics and long decays, yet I don't hear any rounding at all, plenty of clean, crisp leading edges. I think we suffered a vocabulary malfunction. :)

As Frogman said, your OP did seem to be seeking a bandaid approach. It was that which I was urging against. By finding the VTA adjustment problem you actutally did what I'd recommended: identifed the source of the problem. Good job!

Doug

P.S. On any arm with a threaded VTA/SRA tower, it's advisable to make adjustments by taking the arm below where you want to end up, then move it back UP to the desired setting. This takes up the backlash in the threads and assures that the arm is actually at the setting you want. This was discussed several years ago on my "TriPlanar Tips" thread but it applies to any arm with a similar design.

Thanks for your suggestion, Doug. In sincerity, you've always been a reliable source for valuable information.