aw man that sounds like an amazing time. And with the seasons changing it makes perfect sense to listen and drink some good stuff... or smoke : )
No doubt man. And after picking up this little gem to go with my 540, all of the above are on my list of things to do this fall and winter. Gigs will be few and far between.
That looks awesome, sorry, great, outstanding,marvelous. I think those Audio Technica carts shine, both the 540 and the 740. I still remember when my last Denon DL-110 had an early death after only one month of use, and I didn't listen to music for around 1000 hours that month. That, and that the DL-160 which is the one I used for years had been discontinued made me look for an alternative as I got a full refund for the faulty DL-110. Audio Technica's concept of dual magnets and dual coils caught my atention and then when I read that the then new VM540ML used a different kind of stylus that got deeper into the grooves convinced me to go for it. It turned out one of the best and affordable buying decissions in all my years being a Hi Fi nut.
Cymbals have more presence without being brighter (I could get brighter cymbals just by changing one or two tubes on my EAR 834P clone Phono preamp), they are just a little more prominent or defined within the mix, and bass guitar,that's trickier to explain with my limited knowledge of English,but how bass guitar sounds now it's not something I'd get just by turning the bass knob up.
Thanks for your compliments but I still feel I have so much English to learn, that it still needs to improve a lot. Going back toe the VM740ML, at first I used the same settings as with the 540,same tracking force and antiskate. I've been doing some playing/tweaking and I've found out that setting tracking force down from 2 grams. for the 540 to 1.85 and lowering antiskate a little bit for the 740 made the cart shine. I can now say the VM740ML is a better cart than the VM540Ml,not by a huge difference (because the price difference is not huge either) but the VM740ML sounds with an ease, a wide soundstage and an overall clarity and definition that the 540 has,but only taken a step up. For me paying only 50 Euros more for the 740 is really worthwhile.
I had a bad stylus twice in a row, and the support from Audio-Technica canadian supplier is to deny the replacement, saying that the problem is that they can't be used with a Rega turntable.... I've used two vmn40ml for the past 2 years without a problem.. I'm done with Audio-Technica, time to give Ortofon a go instead. Much easier to get in Canada anyway.
No the first one had a bad suspension and the second one was grinding the vinyl with a terrible scratchy sound ...
I have had around 10 AT styli since 2013 and have yet to receive a bad one. If you got two bad ones in a row, you are either insanely unlucky or it's user error.
After about 14 months of regular use for my VM540ML, and especially having played much more vinyl since March this year, I figured it was about time to change the stylus out. Because I was feeling lazy and I always like the thought that someone who knows what they were doing set it up, I decided to go for a pre-mounted cart on a headshell this time around. Only... why does it look so differently mounted to the one I just took off the TT? Oh. Of course. It’s not set up for the Technics overhang gauge. (Cue me unscrewing it all and spending an hour adjusting stuff, thereby flushing the extra cash for the premounting right down the drain...) We live and learn!
I ordered one mounted also, and also ordered a technics gauge and found it to be off quite a bit, it says 52.5 with head shell but wasn't even close..also checked the ortofon 2m red that came with my table and it was also off.So guess we can't depend on manufactures to do it right..
Yeah I guess not; but also I guess they don’t know you’re going to put it on a Technics TT and they don’t say it’s specially set up for one. An expensive lesson, since I could have bought the replacement stylus on its own for £70 less.
If you're going for the full cart, get the the VM740ML instead. I did around three weeks ago and I don't regret.
From reading this thread, it seems of the new AT lineup, the 540ML is perhaps the AT MM cartridge to go with if you need high compliance. I'd like to get a new MM cartridge for my Pioneer PL-9, which while I don't know the effective mass of the tonearm, the entire thing including the tiny removeable headshell is 'polymer graphite' and it's incredibly thin/light. The table is from 1982, when high compliance carts were all the rage, and was among the higher end of Pioneer consumer offerings, originally coming with a MC cartridge that weighed 3g. I'm looking for something that will track excellently, and be very forgiving of less than perfect records. It's between the 540ML and an Ortofon Super OM 10 body w/an OM30 stylus right now. I'm temporarily using an AT-VM95C (conical) and while it sounds surprisingly good for $35, and really masks imperfections very well, the high end lacks refinement to say the least and I can't see myself being happy with this one in the long run.
I've used both of those, they're both great cartridges. The 540ML tests better. Better separation, better tracking. Better stylus shape. I still like the sound of the Stylus 30, though, I find it very neutral whereas the 540ML can be a little edgy. But I can live with the 540ML no problem. I'm picking nits here. The 540ML is much cheaper, I think, if you use that 15% coupon special and order directly from Audio Technica.
I agree with this. Something not right here. I used to work in the HiFi biz and literally not once saw a faulty AT cart. Just didn't happen.
Get the VM740ML instead. I started this thread when I got my VM540ML and when the moment came for a second stylus change I decided to give the 740 a chance as I got it from Amazon and could return it if I was not convinced by its sound. I think my 740 is broken in already,it sounds much like the 540 but it has more detail highs (not more highs,it's not brighter), tighter and more controlled bass, a little better imaging and an overall more relaxed sound. It suits my sound tastes better than the 540 'though if the 740 wouldn't exist or Audio Technica stopped making it I'd go back to the 540 without thinking about it for a second.
I am still using a AT LP 440b which I believe is the predecessor the VM540ML. Anyone know the difference.
