Dumb newbie cartridge question...

[Number9]

Hello, I have an old Dual turntable that I want to hook up. How can I tell if the cartridge is MM or MC? Thank you, Michael

[E-Stat]

Hello, I have an old Dual turntable that I want to hook up. How can I tell if the cartridge is MM or MC? Thank you, Michael

There is a high liklihood that you have a moving magnet cartridge. As virtually all moving coil cartridges cost more than the turntable itself, it would not have made a sensible match. Visually there is little to differentiate them other than the fact that most MM cartridges have removable styli and MC cartridges do not.

Also MC cartridges have lower output, either by a little or for the most part, a lot. They usually require high gain preamps or use of a pre-preamp or head amp.

rw

[92135011]

could you measure the output leads with a meter?
I'm pretty sure most meters go down in the mV.
I'm not sure cuz I sorta...lost my multimeter...

mc is usually <1mV and mm usually around 4-5mV i think

[Woochifer]

Pretty simple. If you plug it into the phono jack on your amp and you can barely hear it with the volume turned all the way up, then you likely have a MC cartridge and need a step-up preamp. Also, aside from their higher output, a MM cartridge also has a user-replaceable stylus assembly. MCs typically require that you take it back for retipping.

[Number9]

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