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Looking to upgrade my stock cartridge

P

plstarn

New Member
Title says it all. Looking to upgrade my stock Technics SL-BD20 P34 phono cartridge for a higher quality one. From what I read, Shure M92E or Ortofon 2M Blue are the best options. Let me know what you think, and what would be your pick.

Kenwood KA-9X amp, Cerwin Vega D5-E speaker mainly playing hip-hop/folk
 
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It looks like your turntable only takes p-mount cartridges, so the Ortofon 2M Blue and AT-VM540ML are out (as they are conventional half-inch mount cartridges). Your options are limited. The Shure M92E remains an option but may not be an improvement over the stock Technics P34 cartridge - also, Shure stopped making cartridges a few years ago and the prices of any remaining stock are highly inflated. You could look into upgrading the stylus of your current cartridge to a third-party hyper-elliptical stylus. Another almost certain upgrade would be the Ortofon OMP20 cartridge (p-mount version of the OM20), if you can find one.
 
Crab33 said:
It looks like your turntable only takes p-mount cartridges, so the Ortofon 2M Blue and AT-VM540ML are out (as they are conventional half-inch mount cartridges). Your options are limited. The Shure M92E remains an option but may not be an improvement over the stock Technics P34 cartridge - also, Shure stopped making cartridges a few years ago and the prices of any remaining stock are highly inflated. You could look into upgrading the stylus of your current cartridge to a third-party hyper-elliptical stylus. Another almost certain upgrade would be the Ortofon OMP20 cartridge (p-mount version of the OM20), if you can find one.
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Found a website that have M92E in stock at discounted price $49.99. Should I then just change the whole table (considering my dust cover foot broke off a couple of days ago) and get something that is 1/2 mount?!
 
That seems what was the normal price of the M92E - I've seen prices several times that here in the UK.

Personally, I think you'd be better off with a turntable that can take half-inch mount cartridges, as then you'd have a much wider choice of cartridges and could also improve on the quality of turntable.
 
Crab33 said:
That seems what was the normal price of the M92E - I've seen prices several times that here in the UK.

Personally, I think you'd be better off with a turntable that can take half-inch mount cartridges, as then you'd have a much wider choice of cartridges and could also improve on the quality of turntable.
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I have to second this advice.

Normally, I hate to say something along the lines of "get a different table" in any of these threads, but I do feel it's the best option for the OP here, as it will open up many more cartridge choices for them.
 
Taketheflame said:
I have to second this advice.

Normally, I hate to say something along the lines of "get a different table" in any of these threads, but I do feel it's the best option for the OP here, as it will open up many more cartridge choices for them.
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Probably will. One of my friend wants to get into records, so might just give him this TT and my old Akai amp (got both for free) and get another TT.
 
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