Cartridge recommendation for the working class?

The Nagaoka carts seem to work well with Rega tables, generally. Anybody using one on a Pro-ject turntable?

 

I second this! I also picked up the 120E after using the 100E with headshell and cart. Both very good for the price. The 120E stylus can be had for pretty cheap if you wait and look around. Nice tracker.

The Shure M97xE is a great cart, the stylus eh. It sounds good, but doesn't handle vibration very well. Audio Technica stays in the groove.

 

I agree with the M97xE, although on both my vintage turntables it sounded quite boring. I just picked up a new turntable and it came alive and sounded much better than I remember. AT tracks very well compared to the Shure though.

Three turntables and no matter which one I used the M97xE on, if someone walked by with heavy feet or a slight bump it would skip easily. I can jump pretty hard with AT stylus and it doesn't move.

I also have a sub platform with Vibrpods and it did not help with the Shure and that was with max tracking force.

 

May I jump in to ask if it's possible to exchange the stylus of my AT130E cart with the one of the AT440mlb? Is the cartridge the same?

Also, anbody has a recommendation what cart to use with a Musical Fidelity V90-lps preamp? Budget about 200$.

 

Lots of folks recommending the Shure M97XE.

If you're willing to try the M97XE, you really should consider the M35X too. It's silly cheap, and many people, myself included, think it sounds better than the M97XE.

The M35X & SC35C has similar electrical specifications to the V15VxMR, a more extended treble than the M97XE. If you put one into the Paradox metal body, you can experiment with different stylus too with little financial risk.

So I did this to my Shure SC35C »

 

AT440mlb. $199 @ B&H Photo (free shipping). Great starter audiophile cartridge.

 

Next one I will be getting.

 

seems like a good price on that one....just need to keep telling myself baby steps baby steps.

 

I seen it drop to $150 on amazon sometimes. Not often though.

 

Lol! I got mine at Amazon for $154. However, four months in I accidentally and stupidly bent the stylus and got a replacement at B&H photo for $89.

 

I did that to my new M97xE back in the day the first day I had it, Shure fixed it and sent it back. Pretty cool.

I just need the stylus so eventually I am going to grab one as I can use it with my 120E cart.

 

You nailed it.

 

That brightness goes away at around the 30-40 hour break in point. Then it mellows just right in the highs. I admit it is a bit bass shy but that's because it gives you accurate bass notes with definition as opposed to boomy, rattling bass. The big bonus for me has been the fact that because it goes deep into the groove, it bypasses a lot of previous damage on the surface when listening to VG or less pressings. What used to sound like an annoying, crackly fire now has a pop and a click here and there.

 

Denon DL-110

 

A friend of mine has the 440, wow did I think it was bright too.

StI'll going to try it out cause of its tracking abilities and people say it does mellow.

 

If you shop around you can find a 1042 for less than 500 ( at least the last time I checked) and the 1012 is no slouch if it's set up right, but the 1042 is well worth whatever the upgrade difference is.

 

Following up on this discussion...

I ended up getting another Denon DL-110. It just arrived today and I have yet to install it.

I think I will still try one or two more cartridges mentioned in this thread (Shure M97xE, Audio Technica, or a Nagoaka) at some point. When it came down to it, I chickened out and stuck with something I was familiar with. Besides, it was less than $200 USD including taxes and shipping to my door. Can't beat that price!

Next up... hopefully sooner than later will be a turntable upgrade.

 

Hey bud! I also own the RM 1.3. I was rifling through the thread to make sure you got the DL-110. I think you made the right move. That was my favorite cart that I've had on the table. It was also the first MC cart I had, so maybe that had a bit to do with it.

On the table I've had the DL-110, Sumiko Blue Point No.2, and now the EVO III. While the EVO III is better than the No.2, I still remember the DL-110 being nice overall. I like stupid amounts of detail, which is nice from the EVO III, but the 110 was always smoother.

I've also overhauled the table overtime, so that changes A LOT. The truth of it is, we are limited by the tonearm. Which really stunts the potential performance (to what degree, who knows).

($250)I've had the tonearm rewired, new cartridge clips added, and new female rca jacks installed. That was made a decent difference. Suddenly there was more detail, and the soundstage became clearer. The wire included was super cheap. Cardas all the way.

($129)Then the speedbox is insanely crucial. I had motor rumbling issues from day one. I went through three motors with my dealer. You could hear an audible bummmmmmm. The speedbox tamed my motor. Which is now still. Many issues with pitch and speed were also corrected. Piano notes no longer wavered. The highs cleaned up, and the bass became punchier. Not a trivial upgrade. Go find one used on hifishark.com.

($230)My last upgrade was a custom acrylic platter made by Tizo out of Germany. This too was an awesome upgrade. Not cheap however. (Prepare for stupid audiophile terms) This lifted a veil from the sound. Everything became more life like, and far less dull. Combined with a clamp (which locks all of the instruments in their right place in the soundstage), this was huge. The included platter is fairly light in comparison. Even with the Music Hall cork mat, the MDF platter doesn't come close. It also looks sexy ass hell now.

Overall, with the cart I've paid over $1100 into a $500 table. Take out the cart, it's an $1100 dollar table. I think the performance I get out of it I superb. Once again limited by the tonearm. I don't think there are many $1100 turntables that have the same level of upgraded features. You'd have to jump to $2000 for a VPI, to get the better tonearm, and overall sound upgrade. Over time I was able to stack up those upgrades. Never have I been able to plunk down $1600, let alone $2000+.

Anyway after that mound of text. What I'm really trying to communicate is, I know the table very well. Out of the box, it sounds nice (much better than the garbage Stanton tables I was dicking around with before). The table is capable of a lot of great sound, if you're will to juice it up. But to top your table (as is), you could pay $900. It would be a jump, but really not that grand of one. You would have to really jump to the $1600-2000 to get the jaw dropping, smoke the table sound, as the new one zooms past it.
The question after that is, is the rest of your system even capable of showing it off?

In conclusion, enjoy you new cart! You have a kick ass table. Have fun listening to your albums. Wait for that 100-120 hour mark where that cart really begins to open up. PM me if you have more questions, or want to chat about the RM 1.3.

 

Congrats on the DL-110! Nice price, too. I have one on my rewired Thorens TD-160, and it sounds more stellar with every LP side I play. And it tracks like a champ. It is a worthy cousin to the venerable, retired Denon DL-160.

Enjoy!

Bill

 

In doing some research, I found record companies and manufacturing plants who make "audiophile" records, like QRP, often use the Shure M97xe cartridge mounted to basic tone arms and decent everyman's professional turntables.
If you used a higher-end higher-dollar cartridge and heard more of what was recorded than the manufacturers intended or cared about, I'm sure that the record companies would love to hear from you.

 

Just took delivery of a new M97xE...I don't find it dead sounding at all....and as far as tracking is concerned it tracks any record I've thrown at it like a champ...not hearing any inner groove distortion either. Can't wait for my Jico SAS (R) to arrive that I'm sure will launch this cart into another dimension.

 

Sid Hartha is wise. Or just buy more music.

 

After about 50 hours break in, the M97xe with Jico SAS will hang with $700 carts all day.

 

And based on what I've read here and elsewhere, I don't doubt this... however, it would've literally cost me 2.5x as much as the DL-110 and I wasn't quite ready to make that commitment (hence the thread title )

If I ever come across a sale, I'd certainly love to give it a try!

 

I just got the Nagaoka MP-110H cartridge with a universal headshell straight from Japan and for something that costs $120 USD or so ($200 for us Canucks though), it's one surprisingly smooth sounding cartridge. Great mids and bass reproduction and not at all bright sounding, like say the Ortofon 2M Red. It also reduced surface noise that was previously audible on my Ortofon 2M Bronze and Stanton 681EEE II-S! I will definitely continue to spin more records on a wider variety of genres and give further impressions but so far, it's been quite surprising.