The new AT150MLx on my Rega.

This is my report after about 20 hours break in time.---Related equipment is in my sig.

For some back-story, you can visit these two threads:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=203124
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=204539

Well, after living for a year or so in the world of the AT440MLa, then taking a brief jaunt through the land of Grado Gold, I have clearly moved to a bigger, better country; one with wide open spaces, soft, cool air and a gentle breeze; where the sky is almost always blue and you can see for miles in every direction.

It didn’t take much break-in time for the relative glare of the AT-150MLx to subside. It has revealed itself to be extremely silky compared to the 440MLa and the Grado Gold. And I do mean silky---this is not simply smoothness arrived at by rolling off highs or leaving out details. The highs are all there, delivering more detail with better manners than does my Rotel RCD 1070 CDp.

The 150 MLx delivers more openness than I have ever heard in my system. The instruments are rendered each to their own acoustic space. The soundstage extends laterally beyond the speakers, and is projected deep through the rear wall behind. Central images, although not totally holographic, are set out into the room a modest distance in front of the speakers. (You should know that the latter is generally true of my system anyway.)

I'm finding this to be a very revealing cartridge (paired with my very revealing B&W's). It lets me know when an LP is not mastered or pressed well. I think I'm finding it to play favorites. So far, it's favorites have been Bonnie Prince Billy's Master and Everyone and US3's Hand on the Torch. It did not like Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain in the least, and made me suffer for choosing it by rendering Miles' muted trumpet as an instrument of aural discomfort-at least it did at about the 7 hour mark. The 150MLx however presented me with the most comfortable, swinging Love Supreme I have ever had the honor to be bathed in.

So is it the cartridge for me?
It's still early, but it might not be. Why? Well, I share with you as something of a confession that my brief stint with the Grado Gold gave me a hint of what vinyl can do to bypass the head and grip the emotions directly. Even though in my experience, the used Grado Gold that came on my Rega did almost everything “wrong” from a technical perspective (it's too distorted, tracks poorly, and hums), it has some kind of gut wrenching “grip” and "juiciness" that neither of the ATs deliver in my system; some magical quality that makes my body move without consulting my brain first. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but if it doesn’t show up in my AT150MLx in the next week or so, I might just pack it up and move along.

Some of the LPs I have been listening to:
Miles Davis-Sketches of Spain -(Columbia "6-eye" Stereo)
US3-Hand on the Torch (Blue Note pressed in clear blue vinyl)
Steely Dan- Can't buy a Thrill
The Best of Thelonious Monk (on Riverside)
John Coltrane-A Love Supreme
Willie Nelson-Stardust
Van Morrison-Astral Weeks
Biff Rose-Uncle Jesus, Auntie Christ
Bonnie Prince Billy-Master and Everyone

I can't believe I'm the first person responding to this, after everything we've gone through about this in the past week. Oh well, must be the weekend.

Thanks for the pictures, I was hoping you'd get to that. I always thought this was a really sharp-looking cartridge, probably the best looking one that includes a attached stylus guard IMO. Can't go wrong with that added to the minimalist appearance of the Rega.

I almost laughed out loud when you started talking about the spell Grado has cast on you; many of us are right there with you. I've said it a lot lately, but here I am with my Glider, best performer I've heard, and I'm itching to go back to Grado. It's a strange thing, how they manage to screw up a lot of things yet remain practically the most musical cartridges out there, making it so difficult to pull away forever.

Good report. See, we told you it just needed to be broken in a little.

BTW I like your auditioning selections, in particular "Master and Everyone," my favorite from BPB.

Oohh nice! I will someday try one for myself. Thanks for the great review!

Interesting . . . I've got a grado gold and am considering moving to a 150MLx. I've got on turntable with a AT440ML OCC and I just love the sound of that. The grado? Warm and mellow, but a bit rolled off and not forward. Nice and also forgiving, but doesn't stir my passion. Would a 150MLX? Dunno. The 440ML does and they share the same type of stylus, so I guess it's taste dependent.

audiodon657 said:

Interesting . . . I've got a grado gold and am considering moving to a 150MLx. I've got on turntable with a AT440ML OCC and I just love the sound of that. The grado? Warm and mellow, but a bit rolled off and not forward. Nice and also forgiving, but doesn't stir my passion. Would a 150MLX? Dunno. The 440ML does and they share the same type of stylus, so I guess it's taste dependent.

Click to expand...

True, but also extremely setup dependent. A properly set up Gold should not sound rolled off, but at the same time they're not typically thought of as forgiving since they're not very good trackers and don't handle surface noise well, so it could also be a system dependent thing.

Mr Lin,
I will consider the setup. Thanks for that.
I've heard that Grados are very sensitive to rake angle. I've tried thin and 180g records, pads, etc, but it's just not doing it for me.

On the other side of the same coin, the AT440ML I enjoy is on a Thorens 320 with a TP15 Mark IV tonearm. The Grado is on the Thorens 318 with a TP21 tonearm that doesn't have VTA. I bought a second TP16 Mark IV and may mount it on the 318 and then continue the comparison with adjustable VTA.
Don

Brett a said:

I'm finding this to be a very revealing cartridge (paired with my very revealing B&W's). It lets me know when an LP is not mastered or pressed well. I think I'm finding it to play favorites.

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I've posted about my new digital source and assorted amp in the New Modern Day Hi Fi forum... Atoll combo... It does the same thing for me with my CDs... Badly mastered CDs are even worse and well mastered CDs are even better X10.

In that sense, I think I'd very much like the 150MLX on my Systemdek (I'm currently running a 440MLa, which I enjoy very much).

I truly can't believe how much a wider and more defined soundstage can do to your listening pleasure. This is all new territory to me and I'm starting to like it, A LOT...

Thanks Brett for a very enlightening review of your cart!

The best I can put it is "garbage in..garbage out". The best of equipment will always show the recorded or live input's weakness or age. That's why many of us vinyl nuts have more than one cartridge that they can interchange, some will even have 2 TT's set-up. That way they can match the recording to their set-up which is best for their listening pleasure. I have owned and listened to many AT and Ortofon carts and my AT150MLX is my treasure by far. It can be a very forgiving cart in regards to surface noise and no hum. Brett a described it's sound stage beautifly and with only ~20 hrs. on it. It will get even better as it ages the lower freq. response should come out a bit more as mine did. One thing is for sure though as he stated, is that the good engineered recordings sound great with the 150MLX and the piss poor ones sound mediocre just like they were recorded, but I think the 150 does a better job at making it better listening.

Eagle1 said:

...my AT150MLX is my treasure by far. It can be a very forgiving cart in regards to surface noise and no hum.

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I'm very impressed with its "blackness". It performs in a way that makes most (so far) of my records completely free from distracting surface noise/pops/clicks. Nearly as black as my CDp.

Eagle1 said:

The best I can put it is "garbage in..garbage out". That's why many of us vinyl nuts have more than one cartridge that they can interchange, some will even have 2 TT's set-up.

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This of course is one of the guiding principles of this hobby. But I think it's uniquely true that different phono carts have different sonic signatures which adds a deeper layer of preference to the decision on which one to run. I also wonder if the "Grado magic" isn't some kind of ultra-pleasant added distortion.

Brett a said:

I also wonder if the "Grado magic" isn't some kind of ultra-pleasant added distortion.

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I believe that might be true. I know that Sansui did it in some of the older receivers to give them that smooth, warm tube audio sense. They're a pleasure to many ears and all describe them as such.

Good review Barret:thmbsp: And I know exactly what you mean about the Grado "sound", it has had its grips on me, and I really can't get away from it! I also have had similar experiances with AT carts, there way better trackers, and less picky about setup, but they are just so "lifeless" in comparison to Grado's. I have for the moment found a midground with my Sumiko Pearl, but every time I listen to Ellington Indigos (which is quite frequent) I miss that Grado sound something awful! I hope the cart breaks in and gives you some of the sound your looking for, Nick

Brett a said:

I'm very impressed with its "blackness". It performs in a way that makes most (so far) of my records completely free from distracting surface noise/pops/clicks. Nearly as black as my CDp.

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That's an impressive thing for a cartridge in that price range to achieve IMO. It's something I've finally gotten to with my analog system, and I love it.

Even though the harshness in the highs wore off after about 20 hours, the AT150MLx still sounds a bit thin for my tastes. I admit I only recently realized that my system is capable of much richer tones than I was used to from my AT440MLa and Rotel RCD 1070 CD player. Now I am on a quest to get that richness in my analog set-up without compromising tracking performance, quietness, detail retrieval and clear, open-to-the sky headroom (rules out Grados)

So I took my story to my local shop and they suggested I borrow their loaner Jolida JD9a phono pre amp. I thought, what the hell, no harm in trying it out (I almost passed).

I’m happy to report that the Jolida brought the warmth and presence that was lacking from the MLx run through my Cambridge 640p.

A few examples of this were on Joni Mitchell’s “Blonde in the Bleachers”, I could hear the wooden body of the piano resonate as she played, not just the keys and strings. On Bonnie Prince Billy’s Master and Everyone, I heard the sounds of his hands coming off the guitar and the tape stop at the end of a gut-wrenching “Joy and Jubilee”-a detail I had never hear before either on LP or CD. Traffic’s “Hidden Treasure” was presented with a three-dimensional fullness I did not know my system was capable of. The congas sounded fully present and occupied their own acoustic space in the mix. Listening to the tambourine in this mix, it was easy to discern when it was hit with a hand or just shaken back-and forth. (I know it’s often easy to hear how a tambourine is being played, but not so much on this recording) Overall, I spent many hours sitting on my couch having physical reactions to music as these people seemed to be in the room with me; the very experience I’ve been chasing.

I was exited to have the Jolida in my set-up for four days. However, I did not buy one when I returned the loaner for two reasons: 1. Not the best timing financially and 2. They didn’t have any in stock. I am now waiting for them to receive shipment and when they do, I suspect I will be right there, cash in hand.

So I'd say the Jolida gives the AT150MLx the warmth and presence that I found in the Grado Gold, but preserves, and dare I say, improves the AT's detail retrial and channel separation.

I’ll write more about the Jolida when/if I get one for my own. Here's a picture of it sitting on top of my amp. (It's pretty massive for a phono amp)

When you do get the Jolida yank the tubes and try some tube rolling....I am presently using reissue Mullards in my Jolida...very nice!

Update

So I've had the AT-150MLx mounted for about one month now and any sense of dissatisfaction has melted away. I assume this is due to a combination of further break-in (I'd estimate I'm at about 50 hours now) and perceptual acclimation.

Every time I drop the needle on a record, I am excited my the massive, 3D soundstage, image clarity and placement and dead-accurate tracking (notches above the super-capable AT440MLa) My concerns about thinness or too much energy in the highs are a thing of the past. I am still waiting for my local shop to get their shipment of Jolids JD9a phono pre-amps, and when they do, I will be there, cash in hand. Because as I said in an earlier post, the Jolida adds to the 150MLx the lush qualities I heard in the otherwise under performing Grado Gold I had.

If you are reading this post because you are considering an AT150MLX, I whole-heartedly recommend it. It has taken my system to a level of performance I did not know it was capable of.

:thmbsp:

Brett a said:

So I've had the AT-150MLx mounted for about one month now and any sense of dissatisfaction has melted away. I assume this is due to a combination of further break-in (I'd estimate I'm at about 50 hours now) and perceptual acclimation.

Every time I drop the needle on a record, I am excited my the massive, 3D soundstage, image clarity and placement and dead-accurate tracking (notches above the super-capable AT440MLa) My concerns about thinness or too much energy in the highs are a thing of the past. I am still waiting for my local shop to get their shipment of Jolids JD9a phono pre-amps, and when they do, I will be there, cash in hand. Because as I said in an earlier post, the Jolida adds to the 150MLx the lush qualities I heard in the otherwise under performing Grado Gold I had.

If you are reading this post because you are considering an AT150MLX, I whole-heartedly recommend it. It has taken my system to a level of performance I did not know it was capable of.

:thmbsp:

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Thank you Brett. A good read. I recently put a 150MLX on my turntable to replace a Shure V15VxMR. Wider soundstage is what I needed to hear. I have less than ten hours on this new cartridge. You are right about the highs, in my case it is a good thing. the speakers that I use are Morel Renaissance MLB-403.5 and it brings the highs out just fine, it did take a little getting used to. At first I was'nt sure about the 150MLX. As this is replacing a cartridge I was happy with. I changed nothing else (settings on receiver). I started with some jazz and a few LPs strong on vocals. At first I could place the sound directly at the speakers, after a few Lps, let's say the soundstage was taking shape but still strong on one side. took a break set the cartridge up again with the mirror protractor did the weight thing and made sure the anti-skate was right on. I was thinking that maybe being strong on one side the anti-skate might have been a little off. I put on Lp, still strong on one side. I put on Audio Fidelity DFS 7777 demonstration Lp. wow! yep it's all setup right. Played Audio Fidelity AFSD5890 and Bose/Mecury test record for 901 speakers just for the sounds. Yes what I was experiencing was having a wider soundstage. I was thinking I need to move my couch back about 5 feet that I don't have. I am liking the sound as I was also happy with my speakers, I like them even better now. Considering it took the Shure Cart. break in time, I am confident from reading your post's and the ones by others that in time I will be very happy with the 150MLX. Thank you Brett for this thread and the links to the others as I have now made sense as to what is going on with this cart. I made a good choice. AT150MLX :thmbsp:

Setup is: AT150MLX, Sota Moonbeam, Marantz 2325 receiver, Morel Renaissance MLB-403.5 speakers.

Jovinyl said:

Thank you Brett. A good read. I recently put a 150MLX on my turntable to replace a Shure V15VxMR. Wider soundstage is what I needed to hear. I have less than ten hours on this new cartridge.... I am confident from reading your post's and the ones by others that in time I will be very happy with the 150MLX. I made a good choice. :thmbsp:

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Nice :thmbsp:
Mine has really smoothed out since the ten hour mark. I think it'll settle in nicely to your set up.
:yes:

Brett a said:

Nice :thmbsp:
Mine has really smoothed out since the ten hour mark. I think it'll settle in nicely to your set up.
:yes:

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Interesting , I have a AT155LC , similar to the 150 I think ? I noticed everything was deeper and it's more up front and I kept it on for about a month so, have about 50-70 hr's on it (it was NOS never mounted ) And I fell in love with it , but since mounting the grado Green in a spare headshell I have gone back to it as my main cart . The AT does everything better at first listen, I switched back and forth for a week or so , but now the Grado is the one that stays on most of the time . I'm running both on a stock TD160 into an AR-07 int amp , also stock . Bummer for me as I thought that I had arrived and could stop my search for the cart to carry me through the next 5 years . The stylus on the Grado looks like a 2x4 compared to the AT's and was a pia to get dialed in . I would love to find the bastard child of the AT + a grado and then I would be happy. Not ragging on my At but there is just something not complete , same with the Grado , needs a bit of the AT to be my ideal cart . But hey something else to fool with , glad you are liking your 150 .

:thmbsp:

ARJohn said:

Interesting , I have a AT155LC , similar to the 150 I think ? I noticed everything was deeper and it's more up front and I kept it on for about a month so, have about 50-70 hr's on it (it was NOS never mounted ) And I fell in love with it , but since mounting the grado Green in a spare headshell I have gone back to it as my main cart .
:thmbsp:

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I don't know how the 155Lc compares to the 150MLx. But I found the MLx to leave my Grado Gold in the dust-an entirely different league.
But as always, YMMV.
Rock on!
:thmbsp:

Good morning all, most interesting thread. The earlier comments re the synergies between the phono cartridge and phono stage is one of the endearingly annoying things about the whole vinyl playing experience.

I've always believed that the phono stage can make or break any cartridge especially so called better ones. And it's not just entirely a matter of RIAA equalisation specifics.

Cartridge/ phono stage input interface interaction is a relevant issue too. I frequently wish these things didn't exist, but as I've said before they are 'endearingly annoying' :yes: Regards, Felix aka catman.