Yesterday evening I saw an ad for a VM540ML, new and unused in box (apparently it was a 'wrong' present from his girlfriend), for only $145 so I had to snap it up. Been thinking about swapping my denon dl110 for a VM95ML, but this should be even better.
Is there anybody out there who owns both VM540ML and VM95ML ??? Would be great to know if they sound different...I have a VM540ML and want to buy a backup cartridge...but the VM95ML is cheaper. Any opinions ? Thank you very much !
Why not a back up stylus? If you like the 540. According to AT specifications 95 has less channel separation and it cheeper. That indicates that AT has put less effort in it and the 540 should be of a better quality. So I think it is a move down with the 95. Not only you can have a stylus as backup. You can have a different shape of stylus as backup to the 540. So you will gain knowledge of how two different diamond shapes and their sound difference. Or a exactly same ML stylus that you can swap in and out, when or if you suspect that your daily driver is worn out. Then you will gain knowledge how a worn stylus sounds like and what to listen for.
Makes sense & is what I do: AT150ANV body is used with an assortment of styli: ANV, MLX, SA + 440 MLA/MLB. At some point I will need to replace one or more with with VMN40SL, VMN50SH &/or VMN60SLC. I don't think there's any benefit in purchasing one of the latest VM bodies as the ANV version is probably the highest spec model this MM series has seen.
Thank you very much, but it would be much more interesting to know about audible (!!!) differences between the 540ml and the 95ml...
The 95 is a better match for my tonearm, and it is better than the old 95 in terms of separation, etc. I can't get past the match, because that allows it to be more resolving. I think both of these have the strengths and weaknesses of MM carts, and am guessing, that like the 440 and 150MLX, the 95 is just more midrange centric with a bit less nuance. Still, it works so well with the Rega arms that I'd take the 95 any day.
No, wanted to be clear. I've had many 440s, 150MLX, and both old and new 95s with various styli. The 440 and 150MLX are very similar to the 540—same design, same compliance. I assume the 540 is very similar to those bodies in terms of design and performance. The issue for me was that the resonance was always pushed a bit too low. I find that somewhere around 11Hz is ideal, and that higher compliance is just never perfect.
My AT-VM540ML sounds perfect with the MyGroov Micromega phono preamp...nearly the same frequency range, compared to my AT33PTG-II on the YAMAHA AX-550 phono input.
I suspect the AT33 was a poor match for the Yamaha built-in phono section—not enough gain, wrong loading, etc. No doubt the VM540 sounds much better in the setting you have it.
Yes I understand that only trying to give other angels. But as you may suspect I do not have any experience of the 95. But I gave you a hint of "audible differences".. when you get used to higher channel separation that gives you better and more solid center image. And better separation of the individual instruments in your soundstage. Then you are not probably so interested to going back.. On the other hand if that is properties that you do not care about or not listening after/on. Then you can omit that hint all together.
Separation spec is one thing to consider. Maybe the compliance match is primary, but the new AT95 has better separation than the old. I suspect there's a primary reason the old 95 was so amazingly popular, and that's the frequency response as well as a certain lack of separation. That can sound more cohesive, particularly on recordings that are not so fantastic to start with. You find the old 95 bodies with better separation were often sorted out and sold to other vendors to mark up and rebadge.
In practice the VM95ML has better separation than spec'd. I measured mine @27dB. I know there are other users that measured 30dB. This will depend on the test record used. I use the Ortofon test LP for this purpose.
The audible differences are easy to pick out if you look at frequency response graphs. The 540 is tamed a bit in the highs compared to the previous generation 440s et. al. (but essentially the same cartridge) but there is still some slight top end peaking with a 100pf + 47k load at the preamp and low capacitance cabling. The 95ML is more neutral and has a flatter frequency response. Either should be a fine cart and the choice re: which to buy should be guided by tonearm effective mass and compliance.
Thank you, but I don't trust graphs and stuff alone...more important is what we can hear...and that's what I am asking for...
We can not say that way. If you measure with your settings and equipment and so you will get one value. Then somebody else meassure with other equipment and settings will get other values. And so on... Your measurements is only interesting for YOU in your equipment and setting for comparing your own cartridges. Nothing else. Then there are of course individual cartridge variance also. So that is WHY I said that AT channel separation meassurments between different AT cartridge models is the only COMPARABLE values that we can use. Even meassurments comparison between different companies can diverge. So AT measure the channel separation to: VM540ML 28 dB (1kHz) VM95ML 23 dB (1kHz) And everything else is irrelevant variance that just confuse people.
Graphs can actually be very helpful IMHO/IME. "What we can hear" is very skewed since anything downstream (amp, speakers, room, various musical records, etc.) from the phono preamp (not to mention the preamp itself) is adding quite a bit of coloration. I'd trust a graph from a flat measuring phono preamp output and a test record over most people's opinions on this. Just too many variables otherwise.
The thing with this legacy of AT carts is that they have been tested extensively for frequency response. People now know that to get accurate response you generally keep the capacitance as low as possible (including the cable that leads from the cart to the phono preamp) AND also decrease the resistive load to somewhere in the 28-32K. To flatten the frequency response out takes some time and measurement. What you HEAR with a peaky frequency response may sound like more detail, but it is really spot-lit emphasis that is not part of the original recording. Over time, most come to hear this as a blessing on some recordings and a curse on even more. The 95 line has forever been more accurate in frequency response with less separation and less top/low extension. As others have said, the real payoff is in arm matching, which enables any cartridge to do it's job with minimal destructive influence.
This thread has gotten me interested in trying the 95ML on my Technics 1210GR. I have the VM740ML and while it generally sounds excellent, there are a few records that excite the low 7Hz tonearm resonance. I'd imagine the 95ML with it's lower compliance would be a great match for the 12g Technics arm.
Rega arms are 11.5 g. You can modulate a bit with hardware weight. It isn't the richest sounding cart around by a long shot but it will track some very hot tracks very well.
Whatever cartridges I use on my 1200G, a KAB fluid damper removes or significantly reduces such resonances whenever they were previously present. Among those is an AT150ANV, sometimes fitted with a 440MLa stylus, ie similar in construction to the VM740ML. Quoting the webpage: "....Fluid damping stabilizes this behavior and brings greater stability to the soundstage....stops the stylus from over reacting. That is what is "damped".....It all occurs at frequencies below 10 hz and has no impact whatsoever on audible dynamics...." TD-1000 for SL1210GR. KAB Electro Acoustics http://www.kabusa.com
Depending on what headshell you use you should be able to get a 10hz resonance on that arm, possibly something like 10.5-11hz. Heavier headshell and hardware will bring it down a little. I'm at a 9hz as tested resonance but my arm is a quite a bit heavier than 12g. I have tested another cart from the VM95 series on an 11g arm so I'm familiar with how the series behaves on lighter arms though. You could also try the KAB damper if you haven't already while using the 740.
For sure. A fluid damper will improve performance and allow you to use less well matched cartridges without issue.
I can confirm kab's damper and vm740ml a pleasure every listening. System very simple sm1200 mk2 pm8005 and Dali opticon, but genuine warm and vivid from Bach to Brubeck
