MC Cartridge Opinions

[duderduderini]

Hi
I am looking to upgrade myOrtofon mc20supermkII .. Idont like bright cartridges. Realising this is a purely subjective topic, I would still appreciate opinions and advice. One can look at graphs till the cows come home...
Thanks
Nick

[dmcgown]

Originally posted by duderduderini
Hi
I am looking to upgrade myOrtofon mc20supermkII .. Idont like bright cartridges. Realising this is a purely subjective topic, I would still appreciate opinions and advice. One can look at graphs till the cows come home...
Thanks
Nick

I would seriously look at the Benz line of cartridges. They are the antithesis of tipped up hyper detailed MC sound, instead focusing in on a natural midrange that gets close to the music.

[duderduderini]

I have read many good things re the benz cartridges.. which do you have?
Thanks
Nick

[dmcgown]

Originally posted by duderduderini
I have read many good things re the benz cartridges.. which do you have?
Thanks
Nick

I have a high output Glider, a LO Ruby, and now a LO Ruby 3. I have a friend who has a LO Ace, which he enjoys greatly, and another friend with a L2 (next step up from the Glider) which sounded better than my older Ruby at the time (before I upgraded to a Ruby 3). Also, I have another friend who has a Cardas Heart and Carnegie One, both made by Benz. They all are similar in their characteristics, only increased resolution, better tracking, and lower groove noise as one moves up the line.

David

[gary f]

Benz carts seems interresting, but I would never buy a 500$ cartridge from a company that does not even have a webiste.

Edit: I'm not really serious.

By the way, i'm using a Denon DL-103 and love it. As good as a Kontrapunkt A in my system.

[analog_sa]

Originally posted by dmcgown


I have a friend

I have a friend who never listened to his Glider again after buying a DL-103

[duderduderini]

Hi Fi world describe the dl103 as quite bright?.. This is the trouble isnt it.. the expense of MC and the experimentation required to find the sound one loves.
I have noted a harshness in the mc20 in trumpets, upper register vocals etc... no matter what i try it wont go away. I have also read some mc's have resonances/ peaks that cant be modified.
I may have to go to melbourne and see if there are any hi fi shops with set up decks with a few differing carts on them.. but i dont fancy my chances..
essentially i want an mc which has a flat or slightly falling frequency response not the other way as i have often seen.
Thanks

[Conrad Hoffman]

IMO, your Ortofon is no slouch. Maybe work on the loading and the rest of the system until it sounds right. There's also the issue of the tonearm and the resonant frequency with a particular cartridge. Finally, don't forget alignment- have you got a decent tool for that? I think a lot of things that get blamed on cartridges are really system issues because that cartridge is relying on a host of both electrical and mechanical factors to work correctly.

[duderduderini]

Hi Conrad
I have a thorens td125 mk2.. rega 300b arm. I have the ortofon aligner as well as one called the Once setup guide... I have tried everything i can think of... the only thing maybe is that b+ to the 6sl7/sn7 phono amp is too low by maybe 70V dc... I am scratching my head at this point....

Will keep ploddng
The ortofon i have is old and i was looking to get something else anyways. I am not specifically blaming it but was feeling the pond as to what cartridges are percieved to be smooth and natural...
It seems these days some mc's are to much one way or another for that showroom audition
Nick

[audio-kraut]

By the way, i'm using a Denon DL-103 and love it. As good as a Kontrapunkt A in my system.

I use a denon dl 103 as well - I do not know where this idiotic notion of brightness comes from - it is not borne out by the facts.
I tested it with pinknoise from a test lp (one by floyd toole) and found the reproduction as linear as it gets from 20 Hz to 20 kHz - and with tracking ability of up to +12db testsignal.

I sold both my MM shure ultra 500 as well as the V15V xmr.

I run mine on a td 125 with an mg 1 airbearing arm, as well as on a transcriptor with an sme 3009.