Seeking Info

[squidboyw]

Brothers and Sisters,

I'm on a quest for info on cartridges. I am looking for a cartridge to supplement or maybe replace my Shelter 501. The Shelter is about 5.5 years old and the suspension has collapsed. I am looking to ship it to Soundsmith for a rebuild, but require a replacement for the time that it takes Peter to do his thing (and my cartridge too).

Recommendations so far include:

Audio Technica OC-9Mk2
Benz Glider (already owned one of these - thought Shelter was better but that was a different table and arm )
Denon DL103 modded by Soundsmith
The Virtuoso Wood cart

I know most vinyl fiends have a favorite cart - what I want from this group, in addition to the cart name/model, would be WHY you think it is so great and what you have it mounted in, and maybe what phono section you use; maybe price range too.

I have a pre-production un-named cart and an Ortofon moving iron coming in on Sat that I'm going to play with for awhile so I have no pressing need to pull the trigger on anything soon. This can and will be a deliberate and considered decision on the new unit.

Let the posting begin.

[poppachubby]

Which Orto are you expecting?

[squidboyw]

Hi Chad,
not sure on the Ortofon moving iron - should be here on Sat and I can tell you then.

[squidboyw]

So there have been several screw-ups (mainly me). It has been so long since I opened the pre-amp to do anything with the phono stage that I just assumed that I could run either an MC OR MM cartridge - WRONG.

Generally I have all of the documentation for my system in one place but when I looked, the manual for the pre and phono stage were missing. I just went ahead and obtained several cartridges (all MM), mounted and aligned them, and began to listen. Sounds like Kaka to me!

After much searching, I finally located the manuals and that is when I discovered the MC only clause in the phono section manual. Packed said MM cartridges up and ship to their rightful owner, then start anew searching for a new cartridge.

After talking to the builder of my table concerning cartridge choices, I narrowed the field down to 3 units:
1) an audio-technica AT33PTG dual moving coil
2) the Benz Micro Glider M2
3) a Zu modified Denon DL103

I have gone with the Zu cartridge based on the various reviews concerning that unit and the fact that it mates well with the Reed arm. It shipped last Friday and should be here within the week.

I think I'm going to be very happy with this arrangement!

[poppachubby]

Congrats. Shame about your hassle. I am going to set up my MMF phono stage using battery power. Ultimate in silence.

http://forums.audioreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6389&stc=1&d=1259436527

[squidboyw]

Well, the Zu cartridge arrived on Monday. I got it mounted and aligned about 7 PM and spent a couple hours listening before I had so shut thing down. Since I replaced the table, arm, and cartridge all at once, I have no idea what to attribute to each individual element within this package.
I have no idea what the break-in period is for this cartridge but as it is, the sound is very engaging. The presentation has a lot of presence, the sound is quite clear, there is space around most of the elements in the sound stage, many small details are in evidence without the sound being overly analytical, and the harmonic overtones that give character to music are present.
A friend of mine has a Geo disc and some other TT setup tools that he is bringing over to check my setup out. I think I am close to where I should be but who knows.
I thought my previous table/arm/ cartridge produced some really good sound but this is even better!
I'm a happy guy!

[squidboyw]

PC,

ti should be interesting to see how you like your MMF phono stage. I have read several reviews of it,all of them used the wall-wart, and they were all positive reviews; yours with the battery should be even better!
Keep us posted as to how this goes.