Moving from MM to MC

Musical, luscious, non-fatiguing midrange screams "Grado" to me, though they aren't MC and would likely have some hum with your RP8 (being unshielded).

 

I appreciate the validation. I went from a V15xMR to the AT OC-9 II/ML. This spring the suspension died on the old OC-9 and I fretted over upgrading to the OC-9 III or staying with the OC-9 II knowing that I liked latter. I saved my money and installed another OC-9 II/ML and hope to enjoy it for a few more years. It will be disappointing if the OC-9 II goes the way of the VxMR.

 

I've been pretty much exclusively a Grado user for a few years, and recently moved to a Denon DL-103. The Denon has many of the same positive attributes of the Grados, and a few tricks of its own.

 

I never owned an MC cartridge but auditioned the clearaudio mc vs the clearaudio virtuoso v2 mm. The mc was great but it almost sounded too spacious, all music was separated too much to my liking. The virtuoso is sooo tight and luscious that I chose the MM. Maybe later on in life I might revisit though

 

I Have to say I did it, but in the reverse manner . I have used Ortofon mc 30 super (80,s)
Linn Troika, AT 0C9, Dynavector 17d2D, DenonDL 304,( had 2 of these)
Dynavector 10X5 and Finally A Benz Glyder.
When my turntable was awaiting a new plinth i bought a Thorens TD 150. Fitted a Shure V15 MK3 and a Jico stylus.
In all my years this combo is light years better than any MC
.a class a phono stage and for me its the last word.
Be cautious. Expensive is not always better.
3

 

3 cartridges out of 7 are mc. A modded 103r which is used daily and then there's an AT OC9 which led to the ART9 which is used when I can sit still for more than an hour.

 

Truth. I went from the phono stage in my Emotiva XSP-1 to a Vinvent PHO-8- nice improvement and my favorite for $300. Then I moved to a Luxman E-200 purchased in like new condition for half of retail.

That and the A/T is stunning. I'd have to spend stupid money to get a meaningful improvement .

 

I've always found MCs cold and uninvolving, lacking in volume and dynamics, and phasey sounding. They are also more fussy to set up and more likely to mistrack with less than ideal set up.

 

100 or so hours in on my Denon DL-301 Mk II, and I'm a happy convert. I've always been a MM guy (various Shures, a Stanton 881 and most recently an Ortofon 2m blue) but I've never experienced the level of involvement with the music that I'm getting from this Denon. Smooth, dynamic and spacious sound that always make me want to listen into the wee hours.

 

Once the set up is spot on your experience will be enlightened

 

Why are they more fussy? Mechanically or electrically?

I don't want fussy. No IGD and great sound, as easily as possible.

 

There's a little more to dialing one in because you have to take care in matching the cartridge to the preamp, and make sure the preamp has flexible loading options.
Everything else that was mentioned there...cold and uninvolving, lacking in volume and dynamics, phasey sounding, more likely to mistrack....couldn't be farther from the truth IMO.

 

One man's opinion. And I don't think it's about better, but rather the flavour you prefer.

Funny post though!

 

Interesting that I tried a Denon DL-103 on a Rega RB303 into a Cinemag 3440A transformer and into the MX110 and I loved the sound.
Then I tried it on an even heavier arm - the Sony PUA 237 into the same transformer and hated it. Glarey.
Same when I tried it on a Dual arm. So even though the two arms had massive discrepancies with mass (Dual lower than the Rega and the Sony higher than the Rega) the cart didn't work in either.
I went back to a Shure M91 and also the M35X and they worked best in the two arms described. Interesting that any of those carts worked just peachy in the Rega.
Perhaps the coupled counterweight in the Sony?

 

I am curious about the stylus cleaner comment. I have always used LAST liquid cleaner on my Rega carts after every side and have not have issues. What happened? I don't want to ruin my gear!

 

As long as you're careful about only brushing the stylus tip you'll be fine. It has been said that if you brush the tip and the cantilever contact point problems could arise. To be on the safe side I stopped using liquid cleaners.

 

With reference to what Johnny Vinyl said above, using a liquid stylus cleaner can be an issue if one isn't absolutely careful with its application. The problem is that over time the residue of the cleaner can migrate up the cantilever and gum up the internal mechanics of the cartridge.

At one point I had actually stopped listening to LPs for a couple of years because whenever I put an album on the turntable the sound was distinctly dull and uninvolving. I thought that was a bit weird because when I initially got the Rega Exact I thought it sounded a bit bright and forward, although dynamically it sounded pretty good. But that changed over time, and eventually listening to any LP seemed like a chore. Then, I had an had opportunity to bring the turntable in for an inspection and upgrade, and along with a dedicated phono amp I upgraded the cartridge. It was at this time that learned about the issues regarding liquid cleaners. When I got the LP12 back home with the new cartridge the first record I played just startled me. It sounded open, clear, detailed, natural, and real, and compared to the Exact there was no contest. Originally I thought that there was either an issue with the turntable itself or that maybe my system wasn't as good as I assumed (oh sure, an outrageous thought, but hey...).

 

When one "moves", usually a main reason is because you want to live in a nicer place, upgrade from where you have been living. Same reasons I made the pretty big jump to my current MC in my avatar. For me a Nagaoka MP200 is pretty sweet for a MI cart, no complaints, but I just wanted more from my vinyl. Then I upped my phono stage to the Phonomena II and with all those loading options, you almost have to go MC, enter the OC9ML/II. Perfect cartridge to expose someone to the world of MC, pretty much shows you what you are missing. From there I wanted to see how far I could go and the money was key so I put a limit and jumped in with both feet, enter the Lyra Delos.......Analog Heaven

I will never go back to MI/MM.....

 

MCs are just dry, clinical and boring sounding to me period. I like warm, emotive, and involving sound.

 

MC's have some inherent design advantages over MM's -- much lower inductance and impedance meaning the impact of cable and phono stage capacitance loading on frequency response is not a concern for the most part while it's a major concern with MM's; in generally, though not always, MC's have lower effective tip mass which means not only that they can response more quickly to groove modulations but they also stop more quickly (though there are MC with relatively higher tip masses and MMs with relatively lower, so it depends on the specific cart). There are also disadvantages -- generally lower, sometimes a lot lower, outputs, means you need quieter phono stages with more gain or SUT's. But in the end there are great sounding carts of both types, and not so great sounding carts of both types. I went through a couple of popular budget sounding higher output MC, like the Sumiko Bluepoint, and some Denon I think years ago that I can't remember, and was largely dissatisfied and thought they sounded bright and etched, but I'm using an AT33EV low output MC now and it's a great cartridge in every way -- handles vinyl noise brilliantly, beautifully balanced tonally, great dynamics, great detail and air, best tracking cartridge I've ever owned and that's a relatively basic model -- same generator as the 33 PTG, but basic elliptical stylus and aluminum cantilever....

In the end I think the sound you get is more about the specific cartridge, the match to the arm in terms of mass and compliance, and the sufficiency of the phono stage for the output and loading matching, than it is about the type of cartridge design; and things like coil and magnet materials, tip mass, suspension design, coil shielding, etc. play significant roles, not just MM vs. MC vs. MI. I wouldn't put much stock in the old saw that MM's sound lush and MC sound etched or any such sweeping generalizations.