What cartridges are we using?

Nowhere near you guys, but here’s the list:

Shure M97xE new on Dual 1245
Stanton 680EE D680 stylus on Dual sled
Shure M91ED W/generic stylus on Dual sled
Shure M75D no stylus on Dual sled
Shure V15 II no stylus on Dual sled

Royal/Shure RM900E w/M91ED generic stylus on Pioneer PL117D

B&O MMC5 on B&O

B&O MMC20E on B&O
B&O MMC20E
B&O MMC10E w/o nose

Grace F9E on Linn Axis
Linn Asak
Grado Black

Signet TK5Ea on Mitsubishi EC10

I don’t remember the B&O models. Sorry!
 
I don't know if you're trying to be funny , but I'm not laughing

Or....

Maybe you don’t understand or have not experienced the distance between musical instruments while the music is being played. If all vocals and instrumentals seem to be emanating from the same place in your speakers something is not right. Now if you have the vocals and instrumentals in the room with you seemingly coming from different parts of the room....something has been done right. It’s just figuring how to get there past the plug in and play mode of dealing with equipment.

And no.....I’m not pulling your chain !!
 
at present i am using a nos grado GT+, the forerunner to the black on my usb tt. a great value. also i have used the at95e which sounds way better than it should for the money.

others i use frequently on my SOTA Sapphire/MMT are a grace f92, FR1mkIII, ortofon mc200, shure v15Vxmr (never really warmed up to that sound), and others. the ortofon has whetted my whistle for something like a Kb or a cadenza black, if only i could afford one.

the nagoaka cartridges are also calling me. once my system is up and running again, i will fool around with my carts more.
 
You say that frequency response is amazing?! How you decide that frequency response is amazing? With your ears? I think that you are hear more details in sound but not frequency response on this cartridge. Frequency response depends on many other things than your ears can to hear.

Not everyone’s ears are the same....

Not all makes and models of cartridges reproduce the same amount of frequencies....bandwidth. Then not all people can hear the same frequencies. But your right, many people can hear more frequencies than what their cartridges reproduce.
 
Or....

Maybe you don’t understand or have not experienced the distance between musical instruments while the music is being played. If all vocals and instrumentals seem to be emanating from the same place in your speakers something is not right. Now if you have the vocals and instrumentals in the room with you seemingly coming from different parts of the room....something has been done right. It’s just figuring how to get there past the plug in and play mode of dealing with equipment.

And no.....I’m not pulling your chain !!
OK , first of all , I could give a class on how music separation , instruments , vocals , etc. should sound like because that is exactly how my sound room is set up. I have each speaker , ( 6 ) set at exactly 75 DB and my listening room is approx. 350 square feet with speakers in each corner and center. I don't understand how you got from my post comment that I don't understand this. While listening to my music , the room sounds like the band , orchestra , performance is being played " LIVE ' in my room. It's incredible. I will admit , I had my system professionally set up to reach this kind of sound stage. BTW: I am hearing this through Klipsch and Bowers & Wilkins speakers and am not missing a single note. I think I misunderstood your comment and that's where you and I got on the wrong foot. Perhaps? If so , my bad!!!
 
OK , first of all , I could give a class on how music separation , instruments , vocals , etc. should sound like because that is exactly how my sound room is set up. I have each speaker , ( 6 ) set at exactly 75 DB and my listening room is approx. 350 square feet with speakers in each corner and center. I don't understand how you got from my post comment that I don't understand this. While listening to my music , the room sounds like the band , orchestra , performance is being played " LIVE ' in my room. It's incredible. I will admit , I had my system professionally set up to reach this kind of sound stage. BTW: I am hearing this through Klipsch and Bowers & Wilkins speakers and am not missing a single note. I think I misunderstood your comment and that's where you and I got on the wrong foot. Perhaps? If so , my bad!!!
It's incredible how I can be sitting in my favorite chair in my listening room and hear a symbol or percussion tap from one of my speakers that are a good 15 feet away. With this new cartridge , I'm hearing detail from the recordings that I've never heard before because the previous cartridge and styli that I was using ( ADC Series 1 with Micro styli ) couldn't reproduce all of the sounds coming from the recordings with such clarity that my ears can now hear EVERYTHING!! That is what I was trying to explain in my original comment , perhaps I didn't explain what I was trying to say correctly.
 
It's incredible how I can be sitting in my favorite chair in my listening room and hear a symbol or percussion tap from one of my speakers that are a good 15 feet away. With this new cartridge , I'm hearing detail from the recordings that I've never heard before because the previous cartridge and styli that I was using ( ADC Series 1 with Micro styli ) couldn't reproduce all of the sounds coming from the recordings with such clarity that my ears can now hear EVERYTHING!! That is what I was trying to explain in my original comment , perhaps I didn't explain what I was trying to say correctly.
Have you been to a " Live " performance and seen and of course heard the percussionist with those chimes that he will use a wand thing to strike it or tap it to make a nice ring tone sound ( just slightly tap or move the chimes? I can hear those now so clearly that I am enjoying my recordings in a new found way. I hope this is making sense. This is why I said earlier that the frequency response is so precise with this cartridge , however , a member said that this was impossible to hear a frequency response , so , perhaps , when I'm trying to explain something , I'm not using the correct verbiage.
 
OK , first of all , I could give a class on how music separation , instruments , vocals , etc. should sound like because that is exactly how my sound room is set up. I have each speaker , ( 6 ) set at exactly 75 DB and my listening room is approx. 350 square feet with speakers in each corner and center. I don't understand how you got from my post comment that I don't understand this. While listening to my music , the room sounds like the band , orchestra , performance is being played " LIVE ' in my room. It's incredible. I will admit , I had my system professionally set up to reach this kind of sound stage. BTW: I am hearing this through Klipsch and Bowers & Wilkins speakers and am not missing a single note. I think I misunderstood your comment and that's where you and I got on the wrong foot. Perhaps? If so , my bad!!!

No problem....

I was just thinking about how the cartridge by design reproduces certain frequencies and how not all cartridges regenerate the same frequencies. Which would cause a huge difference in sound quality. So many people just swap out cartridges until they stumble on to a sound of their liking. I prefer a cartridge with a spread from 15hz to 45hKz for better lifelike tonal qualities. If I’m disturbing you, my bag.....
 
Benz Micro Ace (LO)
Denon DL-103
Stanton 680EE
Yamaha MC-7
Ortofon M20E S
Nice cartridges , I used to have a Stanton 681 EEE , loved it and wish I still had it. Sold it with the table that I had at the time , it was my very first set up when I was 16 years old.
 
No problem....

I was just thinking about how the cartridge by design reproduces certain frequencies and how not all cartridges regenerate the same frequencies. Which would cause a huge difference in sound quality. So many people just swap out cartridges until they stumble on to a sound of their liking. I prefer a cartridge with a spread from 15hz to 45hKz for better lifelike tonal qualities. If I’m disturbing you, my bag.....
No , you're not disturbing me , you are being very articulate and accurate in your responses and I happen to like that. So , you agree with me that the frequency from a good quality cartridge can indeed be heard and be differentiated from one cartridge to another?
 
Have you been to a " Live " performance and seen and of course heard the percussionist with those chimes that he will use a wand thing to strike it or tap it to make a nice ring tone sound ( just slightly tap or move the chimes? I can hear those now so clearly that I am enjoying my recordings in a new found way. I hope this is making sense. This is why I said earlier that the frequency response is so precise with this cartridge , however , a member said that this was impossible to hear a frequency response , so , perhaps , when I'm trying to explain something , I'm not using the correct verbiage.

No your correct, being able to identify frequencies as in the proper key of a song should be played is an accurate description of the proper frequency response. Those that are listening to a song in the wrong key...note are experiencing improper frequency response as the cartridge is supposed to replicate the proper frequencies. But that is depending on how an amplifier section amplifies...
 
No , you're not disturbing me , you are being very articulate and accurate in your responses and I happen to like that. So , you agree with me that the frequency from a good quality cartridge can indeed be heard and be differentiated from one cartridge to another?

Absolutely...
 
I have 3 archiving cartridges:
Shure M97xe
Audio Technica AT-95e with a 3rd-party 3x7 stylus.
Stanton 500 with an aftermarket 78 rpm stylus (can't remember the dimensions offhand). This cart's headed for retirement. I'll probably replace it with another Audio Technica cartridge.
 
Last edited:
I have 3 archiving cartridges:
Shure M97xe
Audio Technica AT-95e with a 3rd-party 3x7 stylus.
Stanton 500 with an aftermarket 78 rpm stylus (can't remember the dimensions offhand). This cart's headed for retirement. I'll probably replacement with another Audio Technica cartridge.
If you go with the Audio technical , I strongly recommend the VM740ML because you can swap out the styli with a shibata or special line contact styli if you choose. I'm extremely pleased with mine and I researched this to " Death " before making my decision. $329.00 well spent.
 
If you go with the Audio technical , I strongly recommend the VM740ML because you can swap out the styli with a shibata or special line contact styli if you choose. I'm extremely pleased with mine and I researched this to " Death " before making my decision. $329.00 well spent.
Thanks for the recommendation, but I've already picked out what I'm likely to get.;)
 
Last edited:
Can I ask you which cart you have experienced has the best sound ??
Absolutely!! The Audio Technica VM740ML that I just purchased and had mounted last Saturday. I have approximately 10 hours run time so far and I have been told that it takes up to 50 hours for optimum break in time. The VM740ML has an aluminum alloy tapered pipe cantilever and housing and this is a huge importance because this material reduces the vibration that the styli picks up while in the record groove and thusly transferring up through the cantilever and housing of the cartridge into the tone arm , etc. The styli is a Micro line and I like it a lot so far. The VM740ML alloys you to interchange the styli with a shibata or special line contact styli and this is another reason why I chose this cartridge. I did some extensive research before choosing this cartridge because it fell in the $300 - $500 price point and I wanted to get the most cartridge that I could in this price point. I should mention that my Denon AVR 3300 has a phono pre amp input which only allows a moving magnet cartridge and so I wasn't able to choose a moving coil.
 
Back
Top Bottom