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Look for advice for cart upgrade

T

TSWisla

Active Member
Hello, I have a Scoutmaster II with the JMW 9t arm. I use a GCPH phono pre. I have a Sonata on the arm now. Does anyone have any suggestions for a cart around 1K? I was really leaning toward a 2M black, but will this be an improvement? Or should I upgrade my phono pre? Thank you.
 
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Probably

I think your phono stage is plenty good enough. I also think the cartridge is pretty respectable. To bad your turntable does not accept headshells, then you could run both. But, I understand the design and the performance is very good.

I have a few Grados and some fine-line or line contact cartridge/stylus combos. I think the presentation is different. The BLACK should be very detailed and make a substantial amount of bass (most Ortofons do). I suspect it will be an improvement. But, first of all, it'll be different. You'll have to get past the difference in sonics before you can judge "improvement".

Saying that, my Ortofons get more arm time than my Grados. If you can afford it, I say go for it :)

But, maybe you should also look at Clear Audio moving iron (MI) designs? They have some very fine cartridges in the $800 range.
 
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Thank you for the advice. I considered the Clearaudio woods, but they do not mate well with a standard JMW. I also considered the Glider until I read this review http://www.10audio.com/grado_sonata_benz_glider.htm
I was also considering a DV Karat, but I am afraid that my phono stage will not be up to snuff. I read that when increasing the gain for low output carts that it can be noisy, has anyone else experienced that?
 
you could look around on www.needledoctor.com (I am not affiliated with this company in any way) to get an idea of the different cartridges that are available. They have everything from $23 cartridges to $15,000 cartridges.
 
I checked them out. I don't know much about the MC Ortonfons like the Rondo or Cadenza. Does anyone have experience with these?
 
Ortofon Moving Coils are getting good press. There are AK'ers who are lusting after one - Big Bill included.

I suspect your phono stage will support many options. I don't know how well for cartridge below 1 mV, but I'd contact the MFG and ask? they will tell you the Signal to Noise ratio (S/N) for signals at various levels. Just stay above the threshold of the rising slope in the noise curve and you should be OK :)
 
I reccomend the Clearaudio Meastro Moving Magnet for $1000.Sounds as good or in my opinion better than Moving Coil without having to buy special stepup amps ect.The Meastro has balls and it sounds delightfull.
 
TSWisla said:
Hello, I have a Scoutmaster II with the JMW 9t arm. I use a GCPH phono pre. I have a Sonata on the arm now. Does anyone have any suggestions for a cart around 1K? I was really leaning toward a 2M black, but will this be an improvement? Or should I upgrade my phono pre? Thank you.
Click to expand...

Slap a Clearaudio Meastro on and set to GCPH to 47K impedance setting.Adjust gain to 2 o'clock,shake,stir, and wait 25 hours.You will then be in vinyl heaven.
 
I have a DV 17d3 Karat on my VPI Classic. Works and sound fantastic. I think the GCPH is very flexible and has enough gain and load settings that it should be a fine match with just about any DV cartridge.
 
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