Cartridges - $1000

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Alright,
I'll keep it short and sweet.
Best low output (MC or MI or MM) (around .5mV) cartridge. What are your opinions, and I know there will be disagreement.
I am personally leaning towards the Grado Statement Master1. Lets try and keep it under $1000.

What do you all think?

-West
 
I'd skip Grado on Rega arm. I had Sonata on my P9 (RB1000) and it was boring, flat and sybillant. Since it's a contradiction of what most of the people
think of Grado carts I think (and one of the gents I talked to) that GRADO/Rega is a poor match. I liked Benz Glider way more than Grado , heck even old Stanton 6800El was more enjoyable
 
So in terms of sound (warmth, neutral, flat, clarity, etc.) how would you compare these three:

1)
Lyra Dorian MC 0.6mV
2)
Benz Micro ACE SL S Class Low MC 0.4mV
3)
Benz Micro Glider SL S Class MC 0.4mV (Stereophile seems to like the ACE better...)
4)
Grado Statement Mater1 MI 0.5mV (Still 'barely' my first choice)
5)
Soundsmith SMMC1 MI 2.12mV

Thank you all so much for your help.

-West
 
Sorry to interrupt - no cartridge sounded good to me on the rega RB 250.
I had this arm, modded to the fullest, and it stank when compared to either an MG1 air arm, the SME 3009 2 or the SME 3009 3.

To my mind, this arm is a waste of money, at least with ANY of the cartridges I had tried.

I had used only below 500$ cartridges, from ortofon MC 3, X3 MC turbo, X5MC, Shure 500 Ultra, Shure V15VXMR, Goldring 1042, Denon DL 110 and my favourite - Denon DL 103.

This arm seems to revel in picking up all the surface noise - and even finds apparently noise where there is none, prone to high levels of sibilants...

All the other arms I have tried with those systems performed grades better.

The mentioned arms still are running on my TT's, the rega went to ebay - sold at a loss with over 200$ "improvements".
 
I had this arm, modded to the fullest, and it stank when compared to either an MG1 air arm, the SME 3009 2 or the SME 3009 3. To my mind, this arm is a waste of money, at least with ANY of the cartridges I had tried. I had used only below 500$ cartridges, from ortofon MC 3, X3 MC turbo, X5MC, Shure 500 Ultra, Shure V15VXMR, Goldring 1042, Denon DL 110 and my favourite - Denon DL 103. This arm seems to revel in picking up all the surface noise - and even finds apparently noise where there is none, prone to high levels of sibilants...

Thank you for your input. The SME 309 seems like a wonderful arm, but is out of my price range right now. Maybe down the road I will upgrade to it (I'll just have to make a new arm board top, which will be very quick), but for now I'm only going to spend a few hundred on upgrading the Rega. Maybe it will hold me back, but that is just how it's going to be.

Also, I must say I have found it very different in terms of surface noise. I had a new MFSL record, and even with my lowly Bias II cartridge, there was NO surface noise, so I don't think it's the arm...maybe there was something wrong with yours?

-West
 
maybe there was something wrong with yours?


That could well be, but set up was correct, and I compared this arm side by side with the others. I had mine sourced from JA Mitchell.

BTW - I basically built my SME 3009 2 from parts sourced from ebay, and paid about 1/2 this way what the arm usually cost.
My SME 3009 3 cost me 220$ three years ago.
 
Come on now...Let's not bicker with each other. :)

I'm assuming the 309 is a big step up from the 3009.
I also don't see the 3009 on the SME website, do you know if it is still made, or what the replacement is?

To be frank, I've heard a whole lot more about the quality of the Rega arms than the SME ones. But I respect all opinions and observations.

-West
 
whubbard said:

I'm assuming the 309 is a big step up from the 3009.


It is. But it also sounds completely different and the ancient "tone" is completely gone. The main difference is of course the use of proper bearings and to some extent wire. Fixed bearing arms certainly sound very different to knife edges and unipivots - both in tonality and imaging.

Both my Rega and 3012 have been rewired and the improvement is not small. Rewired, the Rega is not that far from much more expensive arms like the Ittok.
 

Attachments

  • arms.jpg
    arms.jpg
    89.5 KB · Views: 532
Dynavectors-these people made the Kiseki Purple Heart, just about the best MC I even used.
But the table needs to be like Linn LP12 or Oracle Delphi to appreciate this level of cartridge.

Otherwise I would stick with $350 cartridge.
Maybe Sumiko has something that works well.
On a Rega 3 even Shure 97xE is fine.
 
whubbard said:
The table is going to be DIY. A Teres clone. Full details here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=139759 (Images at Bottom)

The arm is an RB250, rewired, and with VTAF and new Counterweight. I am going to drill holes along the arm in order to reduce weight.

Thanks,
West


Drilling holes on the armtube and making it lighter will limit your choice of cartridges to few higher compliance,mostly MM.Your VTAF and new counterweight(I assume that is Pete Riggle's too)are nice improvements for the rega.Audio-kraut's comment on certain brightness from rb250 is mostly correct(especially on some turntables including IMO their own P2),although I have heard it on a friend's Thorens TD160HD and with a Benz micro REF3 and the sound of this combination was supremely smooth,refined and musical.So I guess Benz will match it well all it remains is how they will react on your turntable.
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.