It seems that there are Moving Magnet People, Vintage People, some Moving Coil People and very few of the unaffiliated here.
I'm a Moving Coil People, have been for a long time but I very much liked the Grado Sonata and especially the Clearaudio Aurum Beta S. There was a $25 Grado Z something that was much better than either the Shure M93 or 95 back when they were simply what you had with your AR-XA. Tried Ortofon OM 10, then the stylus replacement that made it an OM20 and found both too bright in a Kenwood KD-650. My first moving coil, 1986, was a Talisman Virtuoso DTi (thank you Anthony Cordesman) that was attached to a used ET-II arm and I was a convert.
Since then I've had the aforementioned Sonata (too sweet) and Aurum (just right) but all else moving coils with their greater ability to reach deep into an orchestral score and Rock the Snares.
The list, in more or less chronological order:
Denon DL-103 (as over-rated as last years Cleveland Browns)
Denon DL-103r (not bad)
Dynavector 10x5 (c'mon Art Dudley, the DL-103 and this?)
Benz Micro Ace L (very good and balanced but somewhat bland)
47 Labs McBee (fabulous, enchanting sound but then you wonder if you'll wake up and realize it can't be accurate)
Denon DL-103r with Soundsmith Ruby/CL (very, very good, almost there)
Finally, 5 years ago I lost my mind and spent an unheard of at my house $1,000 on a ZYX R50 Bloom, my current, until last week. Why did I do it? Because I couldn't afford an Airy. It goes high, it goes low, it loses it's treble uptilt (mostly) after break-in, it presents the orchestral instruments I've sat amongst since high school with realism while never losing sight of the forest. And the Who Rock at 100dB's. Last week I received back my Bloom with the Boron Cantilever and ML diamond of the Airy from Soundsmith and it's better in all ways small but the same in all ways large.
