n00b looking for a budget cartridge

[mrunexpected]

hello. i am a poor college student just getting into, well, "not terrible" audio.

ive taken an interest in vynil a bit ago, and have been buying up interesting records in thrift stores and the like (my home audio headquarters!)

i have also purchased a turntable from a goodwill. its a fischer, looks to be from the 80s. what its missing, however, is a cartridge. which brings to to my questions:

where do i get a cartridge?

what brand/type should i get?

keep in mind, i am on a budget. no $1000 or even $100 stuff for me. i see that the needle doctor place mentioned here has carts for $30. that sounds about what i was thinking of. i dont need perfect sound (yet). i just wanna listen to and enjoy these old records.

i also read that there are some styles of stylus that "read" a slightly different part fo the groove, and can make old crappy records sound good. is that in my price range at all?

thanks!

[adason]

hi

this was my reply a while ago
still would suggest the same

Cartridge recommendations?

ed

[mrunexpected]

ok.... in that case, how do i know this cartridge will fit my turntable?

[adason]

is your turntable having removable or fixed headshel?
all cartidges are fixed to the headshel by two screws
which is called 'standard mount'
so all cartridges in the world would fit
the other way is so called 'P-mount T4P'
which was mostly used by technics and audiotechnica
that uses no screws, it just plugs in, the headshel must be P-mount though
or small adapter is used with standard headshel

and one thing, while some cartridges will pick up more surface noise than others, no cartridge will make old crappy record sound good, only record cleaner will actualy does that
while records get cleaner by playing, too much dirt in the groove will destroy cartridge stylus as well as record

[gary f]

I have bought a Grado black (40$) for my old Phillips turntable. I was very satisfied. But careful if your tonearm is not standard.
The noise dropped a lot compared to the old cartridge. It's a great investment for sure.
F

[Havoc]

Stanton has some reasonable cartridges. (other than their DJ stuff)

[maxro]

Check out the Stanton 500E MkII. It's a nice warm sounding cartridge that should be in your budget. Make sure to look at the elliptical stylus "E" model and not the round "AL" one which is more of a DJ product.

http://www.stantondj.com/v2/prod_500e.asp

Max