Club cartridge recommendation

[Netlist]

In my DJ-days, the Stanton 500 was the most widely spread entry level workhorse cartridge.
What would I recommend a club today?
They now have the Concorde style stuff giving them constant problems on their 1200’s, mostly due to poor build quality of the contacts. I’m sure some of you will know exactly what I mean.
So what would be a good P-mount cartridge these days?
The guys play Soul, Funk, R&B,… and do no scratching at all.
It needs to survive the rough nightlife for a while though.

/Hugo

[d to the g]

Originally Posted by Netlist

In my DJ-days, the Stanton 500 was the most widely spread entry level workhorse cartridge.
What would I recommend a club today?
They now have the Concorde style stuff giving them constant problems on their 1200’s, mostly due to poor build quality of the contacts. I’m sure some of you will know exactly what I mean.
So what would be a good P-mount cartridge these days?
The guys play Soul, Funk, R&B,… and do no scratching at all.
It needs to survive the rough nightlife for a while though.

/Hugo

Skip the p-mount, go with the m44. Great tracking and solid bass output.

[jsn]

Definitely have a look at the Shure M44G. It's not as beefy as the M447, but I think it sounds better, and it doesn't sound like you need the tracking and high downforce of the M447.

While the M44G has a suggested downforce of 1.5g, I have run the M44G with the counterweight all the way in just like an M447 and it doesn't mind the obscene downforce a bit. So you won't have to worry about DJs cranking the counterweight in for skippy records or bad technique or whatever.

Plus the needles are replaceable, so if one gets trashed, you are only out $25 or less.

jsn

[Netlist]

Thanks guys, I will check out that M44. It is indeed amazing how some tips survive the abuse. If the M44 is one of them and it sounds reasonably good, it'll be a winner.

Any other rivals to compare?

[Panicos K]

ortofon have a huge range of DJ cartridges

[Robbie42]

Hi,

I design and build club sound systems for a living (since the disco era). I recommend the Grado DJ200i (typical Grado sound, warm and smooth), the Audio Technica ATP2XN ( a bit brighter), or the Ortofon Arkiv ( heavy bass kick, and zippy top end). If they back-cue gently, and absolutely DO NOT scratch, in the hifi world, there are a few models VERY suitable for club / disco; Denon DL110 homc( all - around beautiful sounding cart), Audio Technica AT440Ml (somewhat more fast, and VERY detailled), and the Ortofon 2N Blue (warm, euphonic, very "pretty sounding"). All of the aforementioned cartridges work very well in the standard Technics SL1200 arm and headshell. Stay away from all current Stanton and/or Shure dj/disco carts, the Shures are terrible sounding, very dark and boomy with no definition, and in Stanton's case, quality control has gone to ****, unit-to-unit variability is huge. Hope this helps !

[sl1200ltd]

Hi, why not try the Ortofon OM series instead of the Concorde series.