Ilikevinyl
Cool Breeze
Sounds the best loaded at 300-400 Ohm. What do you have your 301 loaded at?
Moderate price MC cart suggestions
- Thread starter oldvinyldude
- Start date
Sounds the best loaded at 300-400 Ohm. What do you have your 301 loaded at?
MCM_Fan
AK Subscriber
Right now, 470 ohms. I'm going to try it here for about a week and a half until my brain and ears get used too how it sounds at 470, and then try it at 550 and 330 to see which I prefer.
I found both my 304 and DL-S1 sounded best loaded at 400, I found it lost some detail at 500 so you might be right in the ballpark at 470.
Audiofreak71
MCM_Fan
AK Subscriber
My phono stage impedance is variable from 50 ohms to 550 ohms, so I can fine tune it until it sounds best. I figured 470 ohms is a good starting point and will tweak it up or down from there.
That’s the best way , experimenting as to which ohms setting sounds best on your system . All systems are different as you know so my setup with say a 301 might sound great at 300 when your setup with the same cart may sound best at 400. Either way the 300 series denon’s are a great sounding and value Lomc carts.
Audiofreak71
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1+ Would rather spend $300 on a used $600+ used cart then $300 on a new $300 cartridge. Shop all the usual suspects and you'll find something nice for your $300.
MCM_Fan
AK Subscriber
I just paid $125 shipped for a DL-301 MKII with less than 100 hours on it.
cafe latte
Addicted Member
My 2c is buy a used Denon dl103, get the Dif you can but it is not super important which model. Get one with either tip missing or snapped stylus and get it retipped. I retipped one I bought after hearing how good customers 103 can sound after a retip. I gave mine a boron cantilever with nude microridge, it sounds gorgeous.
Chris
Chris
I'm running the (stock, supplied) Ortofon Quintet Blue m/c cartridge on my E.A.T. C-Major TT. The 9" carbon fiber arm with integral aluminum headshell is rated at 14.5gr weight. It's a 0.5Mv output, nude elliptical stylus.
It seems to be a really nice mating. Retail is $500, so 1/4 of what I paid for the whole TT with cartridge.
It seems to be a really nice mating. Retail is $500, so 1/4 of what I paid for the whole TT with cartridge.
scottyh777
Super Member
I just installed one of these yesterday>OC9XEB.It is superb for it's price or any price.I did have the Nude Elliptical version in this series but smashed the stylus.So, actually stepped down in price.Very happy with the purchase
Hey Scotty, can i get your impressions of the at-vm95sh versus the at-oc9xeb? As I saw in your sweet two-tonearm setup thread, you must be one of very few people who has ever been able to do a true A/B comparison.
I have the vm95sh, and have been eyeing the oc9xeb as a step into the world of moving coils. Would you say it's worthwhile?
I have the vm95sh, and have been eyeing the oc9xeb as a step into the world of moving coils. Would you say it's worthwhile?
Macaroonie
Super Member
You may be waiting awhile for a response from him as he hasn’t been on this site since July of last year. As far as the AT carts go for stepping into MC carts imo it’s a solid move, I owned the AT33PTG/ii and it was an excellent cart that held its own against carts I have costed much more.
Audiofreak71
@cafe latte
Hi Chris,
That sounds like a really interesting option but I don't know much about retipping.
Does the cantilever come with the coils attached or do you somehow reuse the
original coils? Fascinating that it is even possible to do such a job.
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Check out both Soundsmith and VAS. Peter at Soundsmith & Steve at VAS are terrific for retipping service. Steve (and Zu Audio) sell modified DL103 carts so you do not need to find a used one.
Contact Joseph at cartridge_retipping-5 on the auction site. He does great work and is extremely close to you. Maybe you could even meet the legend in person.
The modified 103 he did for me is the only cart I have kept while upgrading over time to some really nice cartridges.
ctjetta
It's not a perfect world
Funny this thread should just re-emerge. I was moments ago perusing the offerings of cartridge_retipping-5 and there are quite a few DL-103s already refurbished- potted/epoxied, various upgraded styli and one with a sapphire cantilever. Plus other interesting cartridge options. I wish I was in the market myself.
EDIT: The previous post came in as I was typing this. Serendipity?
EDIT: The previous post came in as I was typing this. Serendipity?
ghamilton
Super Member
Save your money and do this....
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/line-series/at-vm95-series
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/line-series/at-vm95-series
Interesting that Steve (VAS) and Joseph (eBay) are both in Cliffwood, NJ. Must be the center of the retipping universe. Makes one wonder.......................?
Joseph in West Hartford CT.