Woochifer
03-11-2005, 05:32 PM
My Sumiko Black Pearl was a regrettable purchase a few years ago. It's finally showing signs of wear and I'm ready to replace it. The Sumiko's not a bad cartridge, just boring and uninvolving. A fat sounding midrange, with rolled off highs and not a lot of punch in the bass. Question is what do I replace it with? I'm looking at a budget limit of $200, and the turntable that I use is a Dual CS5000.
Up until I got the Sumiko, I had gone with Ortofon's OM series for almost 20 years, and only replaced the stylus every couple of years or so when it wore out. I knew there were better cartridges out there, but I was always more than satisfied with the OM series' performance and felt that it never got the run that it deserves for what it delivers (that changed last year when The Absolute Sound put the OM20 and 30 on its best buy list). And for the price, I thought the Ortofons were a great value and very easy to upgrade (you just step up to a higher line stylus and the upgrade's done). Unfortunately, all of the stores in my area stopped carrying Ortofon, and the going prices on the OM20 more than doubled from $80 to $195. I also decided against getting another replacement stylus because the cartridge body was 15 years old and showing signs of wear. In came the Sumiko cart, and it's been downhill since then.
Up to this point, I had been looking at the Grado Prestige series cartridges, and not considering the OM series. Maybe it's just me, but paying $195 for a cartridge that I used to pay $80 for just did not sit well with me. If I was going to shell out that much, it might as well be for something different.
But, now apparently someone got the message, because the Needle Doctor (and a couple of other vendors that I've seen) recently rolled back the Ortofon cartridge prices. The OM20 now goes for $110, while the OM30 that I thought about upgrading to on many an occasion is going for $160.
Even more intriguing though, Ortofon's high output MC cartridges got reduced as well. Their venerable X3-MC, which uses the same fine line elliptical needle as the OM30, has been reduced to $195, while the X5-MC is going for $230. A friend of mine had a X3-MC on his rig several years ago, and it sounded quite nice.
These choices each have tradeoffs associated with them, and this is how I see things stacking up.
Grado Prestige series:
POSITIVES: very well regarded for the performance value, available everywhere, known for prowess in the midrange.
CONCERNS: issues with interference and noise with some turntables, particularly older AR decks (which my Dual turntable imitates and supposedly has had similar issues with Grado cartridges), not known for the best detail in the highs.
Ortofon OM series:
POSITIVES: known commodity, my turntable's adjustable VTA headshell is defaulted to the OM series, low mass works well with my tonearm, excellent detail in the highs, upgrade to the OM30 is also within price range
CONCERNS: somewhat thin sound in the midrange (OM20), OM20 would be a zero sum gain over what I had a few years ago -- would like to upgrade the sound if possible, replacement stylus not readily available except by mail order.
Ortofon X3-MC and X5-MC
POSITIVES: nice sounding high output MC cartridges, X5-MC uses one of Ortofon's best needle designs, price is now comparable to the OM series (which is MM).
CONCERNS: concern that the 2.5 mV output is too low (the cartridges I've used on my turntable output at 4 mV, and the output already sounds low with my receiver's phono input), heard that some MC cartridges are more susceptible to picking up interference, MCs reportedly not ideal for use with a low mass tonearm (which my turntable has), stylus replacement requires retipping and reinstalling.
Anyway, that's my current thinking. Any thoughts?
Up until I got the Sumiko, I had gone with Ortofon's OM series for almost 20 years, and only replaced the stylus every couple of years or so when it wore out. I knew there were better cartridges out there, but I was always more than satisfied with the OM series' performance and felt that it never got the run that it deserves for what it delivers (that changed last year when The Absolute Sound put the OM20 and 30 on its best buy list). And for the price, I thought the Ortofons were a great value and very easy to upgrade (you just step up to a higher line stylus and the upgrade's done). Unfortunately, all of the stores in my area stopped carrying Ortofon, and the going prices on the OM20 more than doubled from $80 to $195. I also decided against getting another replacement stylus because the cartridge body was 15 years old and showing signs of wear. In came the Sumiko cart, and it's been downhill since then.
Up to this point, I had been looking at the Grado Prestige series cartridges, and not considering the OM series. Maybe it's just me, but paying $195 for a cartridge that I used to pay $80 for just did not sit well with me. If I was going to shell out that much, it might as well be for something different.
But, now apparently someone got the message, because the Needle Doctor (and a couple of other vendors that I've seen) recently rolled back the Ortofon cartridge prices. The OM20 now goes for $110, while the OM30 that I thought about upgrading to on many an occasion is going for $160.
Even more intriguing though, Ortofon's high output MC cartridges got reduced as well. Their venerable X3-MC, which uses the same fine line elliptical needle as the OM30, has been reduced to $195, while the X5-MC is going for $230. A friend of mine had a X3-MC on his rig several years ago, and it sounded quite nice.
These choices each have tradeoffs associated with them, and this is how I see things stacking up.
Grado Prestige series:
POSITIVES: very well regarded for the performance value, available everywhere, known for prowess in the midrange.
CONCERNS: issues with interference and noise with some turntables, particularly older AR decks (which my Dual turntable imitates and supposedly has had similar issues with Grado cartridges), not known for the best detail in the highs.
Ortofon OM series:
POSITIVES: known commodity, my turntable's adjustable VTA headshell is defaulted to the OM series, low mass works well with my tonearm, excellent detail in the highs, upgrade to the OM30 is also within price range
CONCERNS: somewhat thin sound in the midrange (OM20), OM20 would be a zero sum gain over what I had a few years ago -- would like to upgrade the sound if possible, replacement stylus not readily available except by mail order.
Ortofon X3-MC and X5-MC
POSITIVES: nice sounding high output MC cartridges, X5-MC uses one of Ortofon's best needle designs, price is now comparable to the OM series (which is MM).
CONCERNS: concern that the 2.5 mV output is too low (the cartridges I've used on my turntable output at 4 mV, and the output already sounds low with my receiver's phono input), heard that some MC cartridges are more susceptible to picking up interference, MCs reportedly not ideal for use with a low mass tonearm (which my turntable has), stylus replacement requires retipping and reinstalling.
Anyway, that's my current thinking. Any thoughts?