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Cartridge Options

Mark Davis

Mark Davis

Active Member
I have a Thorens TD-166 MKII with a Magnepan Unitrac I tonearm.

I have been running a Sumiko Pearl on it since 2021.

I have been happy with it but as everything I wonder if I should try something else.

I have noticed no degrading but it is 5 years old. (I know there based on hours used)

I am debating whether to go up a model or two in the Sumiko family or try something different.

I have read good things about Goldring E3 and the Nagaoka MP-110 phono cartridge I am sure there are many others.

Is there any suggestions I should considered, something that would WOW Me?

I am running a Fisher 400 Tube receiver with NLA New Large Advents or a Pioneer SX-980 with Advent 1 Speakers.

Any suggestions appreciated or should I be happy with what I got.

My spend would be under $300 so please don't suggest some of the crazy priced cartridges out there. They are just not in my budget.

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The cartridge choice would depend mainly on the total capacitance presented to your phono stage. Would need to know the tonearm/rca cable capacitance+phono stage input capacitance to help narrow down your choices.
 
jqp said:
The cartridge choice would depend mainly on the total capacitance presented to your phono stage. Would need to know the tonearm/rca cable capacitance+phono stage input capacitance to help narrow down your choices.
Click to expand...
Roughly 160pf as a quick investigation.
 
Mark Davis said:
Is there any suggestions I should considered, something that would WOW Me?
Click to expand...
I am going to vote Shure V15III. WOW!
One of the better MM carts of all time, fits your vintage system, works w/fisher phono AND should work well w/tonearm.
BUT we are going to be tight with budget. ~$220 = used body + JICO VN35E, which is fine. I would prefer to go straight to ~$380 used body + JICO SAS/B

I have not heard advents in a while, but I don't think the Nagaoka sound is the right match.
I like the Goldring sound/idea, but the E3 is a 'tuned AT cartridge', plus AT carts are a better deal, so let's go directly to a VM95ML. Good cart, v.good stylus, AT sound profile probably work well w/tubes & speakers. I still like the Shure w/either stylus, but the VM95ML is a good option.
 
I've been suggesting the Ortofon MC20 lately, as I recently took a chance on one (with an accompanying MCA-76 SUT), and it blew me away (even with my otherwise normal cart being a Sumiko Blue Point No.1 w/ an Ogura line contact tip).

Doing a quick search reveals people tend to like the MC20 on the Unitrac tonearm (see e.g., New respect for the Thorens TD125MkII/Magnapan Unitrac1/ Ortofon MC20 Super rig).

Just planting the seed!
 
You and your Thorens deserve a Low Output Moving Coil cartridge and SUT.

It's sounds FAR better than buying new expensive speakers and a new expensive amplifier.

Dollars VS Performance it's an amazing upgrade.

I resisted even up to the point of a High Output Sumiko Blue Point EVO cartridge.

But moving to LOMC was a revelation!

I even went and tried a 300$ Audio Techinica cartridge because I thought there is NO way someone can make a LOMC Cartridge for 300$ that is any good...

YEAH I was SO wrong, It's has absolutely amazing performance! AT-OC9XEB Killer budget cartridge, Oh and it's dam Tough!

:)
 
One of the best tonearm available for under a grand deserves a nice cartridge.

Johnny_Law said:
I've been suggesting the Ortofon MC20 lately
Click to expand...
As you got the MCA-76 with the cartridge it works well, but the MC-20 has such a low output it needs extra gain to work well with most other SUTs or phono amps. The corresponding Ortofon step up transformer is the STM-72.

More later. I typed in a 6 paragraph response and ak took a dump and flushed what I wrote.
 
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Blue Shadow said:
One of the best tonearm available for under a grand deserves a nice cartridge.


As you got the MCA-76 with the cartridge it works well but the MC-20 has such a low output it needs extra gain to work well. The corresponding Ortofon setup is the e STM-72.

More later. I typed in a 6 paragraph response and ak took a dump and flushed what I wrote.
Click to expand...

Would be interested to hear more, as the MCA-76 was intended by Ortofon to be used with the MC20?

My personal experience is that it plays as loud as I want, and sounds great at all volumes.

The STM-72 (which I also own) being the "lower cost alternative".

From the brochure ...

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Doing a quick search on the topic I see you've posted similar opinions in the past about the gain requirements of the MC20 so I'd love to know more...
 
Johnny_Law said:
I'd love to know more
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Such as?

I use a 50-70dB adjustable phono amp to line level, usually maxed out as that would better balance the channels than a bit less since the gain adjustment is separate for each channel and not ganged.

Yes, I’ve had the Magnepan and MC20 for 46 years, adding more Magnepans, about 5-1/2 and other cartridges of higher output, Dynavectors, MC30 Supers and others including HOMC and MM. plenty of headshells, enough turntables for 4 of the arms but one has a Black Widow on it right now.
 
Blue Shadow said:
Such as?

I use a 50-70dB adjustable phono amp to line level, usually maxed out as that would better balance the channels than a bit less since the gain adjustment is separate for each channel and not ganged.

Yes, I’ve had the Magnepan and MC20 for 46 years, adding more Magnepans, about 5-1/2 and other cartridges of higher output, Dynavectors, MC30 Supers and others.
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Such as why you say the MCA-76 needs a little extra oomph for the MC20 when mine doesn't, at least?

Maybe that has to do with the pre amp you're using? Could that have less gain and that's why you need more gain from your SUT?

Or maybe it's a system sensitivity and listening volume thing?

I'm afraid that you're giving @Mark Davis the impression the MCA-76 won't be suitable per se for an MC20, since the SUT will be an extra expense for him switching to a LOMC, when that's not true.
 
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Johnny_Law said:
Such as why you say the MCA-76 needs a little extra oomph
Click to expand...
I miss wrote it and you probably read what I wrote instead of what I was thinking. I rewrote the post to clear things up, some. Still haven’t added the stuff ak erased from my unsaved post talking about the virtues of the Magnepan.
 
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Johnny_Law said:
I'm afraid that you're giving @Mark Davis the impression the MCA-76 won't be suitable per se for an MC20, since the SUT will be an extra expense for him switching to a LOMC, when that's not true
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Actually as good as the MC20 sounds, I don’t recommend it for this situation because of the expense of the cartridge plus proper amplification as well as finding a good MC20 not needing a retip costing his budget would be difficult. Then with the cartridge and either Ortofon unit to boost its output, you are somewhat limited to a few VLOMC cartridges because the gain from the SUT and pre-preamp is a bit too much for normal LOMCs.

It is great that we have them, they sound very good but are a bit difficult to plug and play other pieces without more gear.
 
www.jico-stylus.com

VN-35E NUDE

Manufacturer : SHURE NUDE Tip is used for this product: The entire tip of a NUDE Stylus is composed of diamond, as opposed to bonded tips. The tip angle and round shape are identical to those of a standard bonded tip, while the diameter size is similar in comparison to the SAS series. #VN-35E...
www.jico-stylus.com www.jico-stylus.com
 
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