MM cartridges


I recently picked up a used Merrill table and having an audiomods arm installed. I am interested in installing a MM cartridge only. My choices are Grado reference, Soundsmith Aida, or Decca London super gold. Has anyone tried these cartridges and can offer feedback?
powder1
I'm currently running a 150MLX alongside TK9E, TK7SU, and Ortofon 2M Bronze.
Sounds like you're on the right track. Good luck.
Grado hum -

That can be a problem with their plastic bodies as well, not just the wooden ones Al mentions. Possibly other cartridges can have this problem too but Grados seem to be best known for this potential.

In my experience when hum occurs it is a function of the location of the motor. Tables with the motor under the platter mean it is in closer proximity to the cartridge than those outside the platter so more likely to induce hum.
When I look at current Goldring bodies I wonder why all carts are not built like that.
When my Nagoka MP-200 needs a new stylus I'm going Goldring . Sound the same anyway .

08-06-15: Schubert
Does the AT-150 MLX perform on symphonic music or is it for rockers only like every AT used to be ?
Boy does it ever! I have had an AT150MLX for seven years. It's on its second stylus. I listen to more classical, especially symphonic, than I do pop or rock. I listen frequently to very dynamic pressings of The Planets, Grand Canyon Suite (Ormandy--always on a grand scale), Strauss waltzes (also by Ormandy), opera, Rimsky-Korsakov, Beethoven's Eroica symphony, various renditions of Pictures at an Exhibition, canatas such as Mendelssohn's "Elijah," Mahler, Copland, and the Living Stereo/Analogue Productions' Scherazade by Reiner & Chicago Symphony.

The AT150MLX conveys dynamics that will kick you around the room, yet resolves a surprising amount of subtle detail, especially the inner vocal harmonies in opera and cantata works, "Neptune" of The Planets, the 8-part harmonies in Elijah, tympani whacks, you name it.

It's a bit picky in setup. You do need to know the capacitance of your tonearm and interconnect cable; it wants to see a capacitive load between 100-200 pF. Also, for VTA the headshell should be level.

I use this cart to great satisfaction for everything. I also listen to big band, acoustic jazz, and rock and pop mostly from the '60s to the '80s. For me the AT150MLX does not disappoint.