Good Stereo cartridge & Stylus - recommendations?

[neil wilkes]

I have a headshell, and a nice old Garrard turntable to bring back into use.
What I do not have isa decent cartridge & stylus, with what is fitted being Stanton DJ stuff.

What's recommended these days, please?
I'll be running into a Cambridge Audio Phono Pre-amp C500 and from there straight to converters via a Midas Venice 320

 

[ChristopherLees]

Goldring 1042 http://www.goldring.co.uk/moving-magnet/cartridge/1042.htm

 

[Quad Linda]

http://www.ortofon.com/products/cartridges

 

[neil wilkes]

http://www.ortofon.com/products/cartridges

But what sort? Moving Coil, Moving magnet? and more importantly, why?
This is the problem - I have forgotten all of this stuff, sad to admit.

 

[ChristopherLees]

does your preamp has a mc input?...I think it's only mm and from memory it's a budget line from 5 years ago.


assuming mm then the goldring will sound nice or an ortofon black I've used/owned both and personally I think you'll get a better boost with the goldring....the ortofon's refinement is more subtle on cheaper turntables but comes into it's own once you start using top line decks, like say a project 10.1..but if you have something cheaper like a technics sL1200 with it's standard tonearm then the goldring will make it more interesting to listen to.it has a lushness to it's sound and a top end to die for when properly set up, which is immediately noticeable even on the cheap stuff, and can really make you want to play your records all night, especially old 1960 decca's....the goldring really makes them sing .The ortofon can sound great too but works best when the gear around it is really good.


mc stages inside budget units tend to sound so so.

 

[Quad Linda]

Neil, since you didn't specify either budget or which model Garrard, I simply provided a link to Ortofon. I like their sound, and was a dealer for many years. Since I've not been in the business for 10 years, much has changed. I haven't auditioned many of the current cartridges. Yet, for 30 years I auditioned many mass market cartridges and audiophile offerings and kept coming back to Ortofon.

I have an MM Ortofon on one system, which I rarely listen to. I think it sounds excellent for MM. For the last 35 years, I've been doing Ortofon MC on my two main systems and the sound is stellar. People say it's a bit zingy in the high end, although I like that. I could hear well up to 19k when I was younger, and now at 58 need a little boost up there. The openness, warmth of midrange and dynamic range of Ortofon MC is spectacular. To me, advanced res. discs and a very well recorded 7 1/2 or 15 ips reel are the only formats even in the ballpark of a well recorded LP through MC. No doubt, you'll need a step up transformer. If you are willing to make that investment, you'll be astounded. If cost and compatibility are the primary factors, Ortofon MM will yield a very pleasing result.

I have a headshell, and a nice old Garrard turntable to bring back into use.
What I do not have isa decent cartridge & stylus, with what is fitted being Stanton DJ stuff.

What's recommended these days, please?
I'll be running into a Cambridge Audio Phono Pre-amp C500 and from there straight to converters via a Midas Venice 320

 

[The Bushmaster]

Shure M-91-ED High Track

 

[neil wilkes]

Okay - thanks guys & gals for this. Apologies for not enough information too, Linda.
Budget? Sensible, but not budget end.
Amp/PreAmp is a Cambridge Audio C500 but with the optional Phono PreAmp board added in. No idea what model it is from memory, and it is an old amp.
The Garrard is a GT-35p and I know what you mean about Ortofon, as I have their stuff on the el-cheapo ProJekt turntable I use (that I want to swap over for the Garrard).

So MM looks like the way forward? That's fine (what is the difference between MM and MC?).
Linda, I hope that is enough infor to home in on a good combination!

Thanks again

 

[MyCuff]

I have a headshell, and a nice old Garrard turntable to bring back into use.
What I do not have isa decent cartridge & stylus, with what is fitted being Stanton DJ stuff.

Neil,
I really like my Denon DL-110. It is a bargain at $130 US. It is quieter on less pristine records than the ortofon cart that came with my Rega TT. The DL-110 and DL-160 are high output moving coil carts so you do not need a special preamp. The very hard to find DL-160 is about $40 more and I would really like one of those. Much cheaper at amazon.com than amazon.co.uk (about half the price).

Mike

 

[Quad Linda]

First, ProJect is a fine turntable. At the risk of offending you, unless Garrard has distributed TT's in the UK that didn't make it to the US, ProJect is a better turntable than anything Garrard ever made. The ProJect toneamr is very high quality for a reasonable price. My recommendation would be to continue to use the ProJect and upgrade the cartridge.

What is the difference between MM and MC? On MM, the magnet structure is attached to the back end of the cantilever and is positioned within (not physically attached) coils of wire. On MC, the coils are attached to the back end of the cantilever and positioned within (again not attached) the magnet structure. The weight differential makes MC far more responsive, better tracing the exact groove and revealing more of the subtle nuances.

The ProJect's tonearm should work nicely with any reasonably priced MC cartridge. Some are high output and require no additional transformer, head amp or pre-pre amp. Ortofon makes both high and low output MC, as well as MM.

MM Cartridge:


MC Cartridges reverse the magnet and coil positions.

 

[kap'n krunch]

As I pointed out in another thread regarding speakers..
whatever Linda sez!
It's just like whatever Neil sez regarding DVD-A authoring, equipment, software, etc.; whan a pro talks, people SHOULD listen...
besides , it's the technology of the obvious (now branded the Kaizen quality technology...Lean, Six Sigma, etc)..

Now, my .02 EUR cents worth...

I have TWO Technics SL.QL1s Linear tracking turntable (one is in storage)....
I do not have nearly as nice equipment as you guys do, but I DID learn something the hard way fairly recently...if you have a decent midrange TT (Like mine), what REALLY makes a difference is a GOOD stylus.
So my reasoning was "hey, if it's Ortofon they use to cut the records, it should make sense to get one"
So I did.
Since I can only use a P-Mount one for my kind of TT , and it IS available for normal TTs, I chose the "entry level" OM-10, but when I upgraded to the OM-20 stylus (160 USD- twice what I paid for my TT), I was FLOORED!

Linda is right too, it IS a tad brighter than other stylii, but I LIKE IT.. and it's an MM kind ...

 

[0tto]

here is link to the retailer, specialized in TT cartridges only.
selection is really impressive in both, brands/models and prices.

http://stylus.export-japan.com/index.php?osCsid=4

and one more:

http://www.lpgear.com/category/OPC.html

 

[Quad Linda]

Mon Kapitan is correct. The two areas of your system that will yield the greatest results per $$ invested (Pounds Sterling for you, Neil) are the phono cartridge and speakers.

 

[kap'n krunch]

I usually get mine from needledoctor.com ....

 

[Quad Linda]

I don't do drugs. I shoot up with a phonograph needle. :yikes

 

[ChristopherLees]

here's a video of the garrard gt-35....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfz6d8hJf-Q

from the looks of the tonearm I would only put a mm on it

and probably wouldn't go past $100 on the budget ... conclusion cheap ortofon

 

[geoffcb]

I use Ortofon 2M (Moving magnet), specifically the 2M Black. But the 2M Blue or Bronze are good value. I use:

http://www.zum-shop.de/Cartridges--HiFi-Manufacturer-Ortofon_c32-317-319_x1.htm

Geoff

 

[neil wilkes]

That's interesting. Thank you indeed for that - but may I ask what is so much better about the 2M Black one to justify such a price hike? What will it do sonically, or is it something else?
Please excuse ignorance here - this is a genuine search for knowledge (and a cartridge/stylus)

 

[ChristopherLees]

the better cartridges sound better and have far more refinement...smoother, dynamic.lots of things, but on the turntable you describe,with the tonearm that comes with it, and the preamp you have to plug into, you'd be hard pressed to tell much of a difference between a 2M Black,blue, bronze or red.

 

[geoffcb]

That's interesting. Thank you indeed for that - but may I ask what is so much better about the 2M Black one to justify such a price hike? What will it do sonically, or is it something else?
Please excuse ignorance here - this is a genuine search for knowledge (and a cartridge/stylus)

The 2M has a Shibata stylus, developed for the CD4 quad records in 1972. It has a greater groove contact area (and therefore exerts less pressure) and contacts a little lower in the groove. Its high frequency response is better, and I believe overall it has less harmonic distortion. I just got it because it was the best offered, but also, you do need a good turntable, arm and phono pre-amp to bring out the best. That's why I said that a cheaper 2M will sound good with a reasonable setup.

This might be a worst case scenario, but this video is interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smtj1qT1m28