Phono Cartridges - Your favorites and least favorites?

Angsty said:
I’d guess that it would variable based on tonearm and cartridge.
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Pierre Sprey, of Mapleshade Audio, has always been a big proponent of brass footers and weights and his products follow that thinking. I was a Mapleshade fanboy at one time and still have his maple slabs and brass footers under several pieces of my audio gear. He claimed to have tested all of the Soundsmith screws and found the brass ones to sound best in carefully set up arm/cartridge combos. I was parroting his findings and I did like the brass screws when in the VPI JMW 10.6 arm on a VPI Aries 'table some years ago. I should have attributed his work in my previous post. YMMV.
 
OMC said:
Pierre Sprey, of Mapleshade Audio, has always been a big proponent of brass footers and weights and his products follow that thinking. I was a Mapleshade fanboy at one time and still have his maple slabs and brass footers under several pieces of my audio gear. He claimed to have tested all of the Soundsmith screws and found the brass ones to sound best in carefully set up arm/cartridge combos. I was parroting his findings and I did like the brass screws when in the VPI JMW 10.6 arm on a VPI Aries 'table some years ago. I should have attributed his work in my previous post. YMMV.
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Well weight wise those are the ones I have to get either way sooooo I'm cool with all of this. Also because they'll look badass with the Soundsmith cart.
 
I wondered into a cart thread and there are charts and shit. What the fuck is going on? Is this Audio Science Review? Did I hit the wrong tab on my browser? Is that angry guy gonna yell at me about how nothing is any good in my system?
 
Lee Newman said:
I wondered into a cart thread and there are charts and shit. What the fuck is going on? Is this Audio Science Review? Did I hit the wrong tab on my browser? Is that angry guy gonna yell at me about how nothing is any good in my system?
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Trust me, I don't like it either. It has to do with mass and what weight of cart works on what tonearm.
 
Mather said:
Trust me, I don't like it either. It has to do with mass and what weight of cart works on what tonearm.
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I read it and YOU ARE ALL NUTS, this is supposed to be fun!!!!!!!!!!! (Says the guy who studies the statistics of what he has listened to...)
 
Lee Newman said:
I read it and YOU ARE ALL NUTS, this is supposed to be fun!!!!!!!!!!! (Says the guy who studies the statistics of what he has listened to...)
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Depends on your definition of fun! I admit I’m a gear head - I like the equipment stuff almost as much as I enjoy listening to music on it.

If you have the audacity to ever change a cart from the one you started with, you might be a gear head, too!
 
Lee Newman said:
I mean, I'm not doing that with a cart either. Just saying, your analogy is all kinds of whack unless your garage is all decked out with the latest automotive repair gear.
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I mean it's not, because my house IS decked out with all the latest turntable repair gear. So I CAN change the cart myself so of course it makes sense to check and see what carts actually function with my gear. Especially when you get into MC stuff because certain carts straight up will not work with your system depending on your stage, arm etc. So it takes like 5 minutes to just find the right stats on the product pages, insert them into that chart generator and just confirm that it will actually work. It's pretty easy really.
 
I’m almost blushing to admit how much I am enjoying the humble Ortofon 2M Blue sitting in place of my fancy-schmancy Hana ML on my Luxman table.

Tables matter, not just cartridges. The 2M Blue definitely sounds better than it did on my previous tables, despite the background noise problem I’ve written about on the VPI thread. The noise problem is not distracting when playing a record with the Blue, perhaps because of its higher output than my Nagaoka MP-300.

To my ear, the 2M Blue does not sound better than the Hana, but neither is it embarrassed by it. The Hana has less edge than the Blue - it is more refined. But surprisingly, the Blue has more low-end “thump”, especially with acoustic bass.

I’m not really in a hurry to swap it out, but just enjoying a change of scenery for a bit.
 
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Angsty said:
I’m almost blushing to admit how much I am enjoying the humble Ortofon 2M Blue sitting in place of my fancy-schmancy Hana ML on my Luxman table.

Tables matter, not just cartridges. The 2M Blue definitely sounds better than it did on my previous tables, despite the background noise problem I’ve written about on the VPI thread. The noise problem is not distracting when playing a record with the Blue, perhaps because of its higher output than my Nagaoka MP-300.

To my ear, the 2M Blue does not sound better than the Hana, but neither is it embarrassed by it. The Hana has less edge than the Blue - it is more refined. But surprisingly, the Blue has more low-end “thump”, especially with acoustic bass.

I’m not really in a hurry to swap it out, but just enjoying a change of scenery for a bit.
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I've always liked the Blue! May end up getting some ear time on a Black/LVB at some point in the next few years. They're on my radar to try out.

Interesting takeaway for me here is if I'll think the Hana is too lean in the low end, I've never heard one.
 
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