I've been thinking about getting this cart for my Pioneer PL-630 which goes into a Sansui G9000 but I was reading on AK that I may have issues with capacitance as AT carts typically like a very low capacitance load of 100-200pF. The advice was to find a cart that can tolerate higher capacitance, should I heed that advice and seek out an alternative cart or take a chance on the 540? The whole capacitance thing is new to me so I don't really know what the best course of action is but if anyone has advice or any other cart suggestions that would work with my setup I'd love hear it?
I was running a setup close to yours with a modded lp120, vm540ml and an art DJ pre II converted to DC into a Sony ES reciever and I loved the sound it was making. I just recently bought a Little Bear T11 tube amp and after rolling some tubes I am shocked at how much better and wider the soundstage got. The modded Art DJ is a pretty good sounding cheap preamp. But this T11 is in a whole different league, I highly recommend it if you want to squeeze a little more out of your music. The vm540ml is a great cartridge and still I get a smile when I fire it up and listen to my vinyl. My only gripe is I wish it was about $50 cheaper but I highly recommend it.
Since I know some folks like Pavol S were wondering... So, I have a Pioneer PL 512, and I am using the at440mlb with a vmn40ml stylus now. (I wore down the original stylus on the 440mlb after a good 2.5 years of use.) On my set up, the coupling sounds fantastic! I am totally happy I kept my at440mlb and went with just the stylus replacement. (For instance, my original pressing of Peter Gabriel's So is tracking fantastically...)
I just ordered a 540ML and one of these. To be honest the last AT (150) that I had was wayyyy to bright in my system. But my phono section capacitance was extremely high. I changed my entire phono/amplifier chain since then and right now I'm at ~181Pf. I'm going to put this on my 10.5 arm and see how things sound. M~
After hemming and hawing over whether to get a VM540ML cart or just the stylus for a 440MLa cart that I've had for years, I decided to spring for the whole cartridge a few months ago and affixed it to my main turntable. I'm liking it a lot. I wouldn't say the overall sonic profile is that different from the AT440MLa/b, but I do feel like the highs sound a tiny bit smoother. I have another turntable, in another room, which still has a 440MLa cart (with an MLb stylus), and I have not yet tried the VNM40ML stylus on the 440MLa cart. I'll get around to it at some point (it's kind of a pain in the rear to take the stylus off when you're cart is attached to a Rega tonearm and you can't remove the head shell).
We now have a couple of value priced microline cartridges from AT. The VM540ML and the VM95ML. Compliance wise, which one of these would be the better fit for a Rega arm (RB600) with an effective mass of 11.5 grams? I realize that that the VM540ML has a superior generator. I apologize if this is the wrong place to ask this question.
You are kind of on the border in terms of effective mass. I'm guessing you could go either way but you will probably get a measured RF of around 7-8hz if you go with the 540. The number will be higher if you go for the 95ML, likely 10-12hz. You can always try adding mass to the arm via heavier hardware or a weight plate if necessary with the 95ML. I use the 95ML on a 21g EM and get a measured RF of 9hz. In your situation I would maybe lean toward the 540, but like I said you are on the border.
Thank you! Thank you! Sage advice! I've seen good reviews for both, but am unaware of any reviews pitting the two against each other. I have to say again, that it's so nice to be able to choose between two affordable candidates.
The reason you don't see this is because they are meant for two different types of tonearms. There are some tables/tonearms that could take both with some minor adjustments to headshell/hardware weight. Ideally, the 540 is meant for a lower mass arm, and the 95ML is meant for a medium to medium heavy arm.
I run the 740ML on a 12g tonearm and I have a measured resonance of about 7Hz. The 540 is close to 1.5g lighter than the 740 so it would be just fine on a tonearm around 12g.
When you say "measured" do you mean by the formula or by a test LP? Because the 740ml, spec'd at 10 cu @100Hz, and using a 1.75 multiplier on a 12g tonearm measures 8.3 Hz by the formula --- and I am using 17.5 cu @10Hz (or 1.75 multiplier to come up with the 10Hz number). If we use a 1.5 multiplier, the resonance frequency is 8.96 Hz, and with a rather high 2 multiplier it is 7.76 Hz (though I think 20 cu @ 10 Hz might be a tad high with the 740) How do you come up with 7 hz?
The 95ML and 540ml dynamic compliance specs are both an identical 10 cu @100Hz and both are near identical in cartridge weight. Therefore, as far as compliance matching to tonearm for those cartridges - they are virtually the same spec-wise and one is NOT going to measure better on a heavier or lighter arm than the other. They will rate the same, near identical with the difference being minuscule and negligible because the tiny 0.4g difference in cartridge weight. How did you come up with them having different resonant frequencies and thus being a better compliance match for different tonearms??
The VM540ml has arrived along with a my new head band magnifier. I will install the cartridge on Monday and report my initial findings then. M~
Okay it's up and running on my Aries 3 with Classic 1 tonearm. The initial set up done in 30 or so minutes is as follows: Had to add the 3g headshell weight as I'm using the 140g counterweight. I'm going to buy a 120g counterweight. VTF 2g Physical Azimuth setting .7mm on both L/R sides from bottom of record to top of headshell Alignment was done with VPI single point alignment gauge (which I happen to like better than the Feickert alignment gauge) I intend to Feickertrize it later. Arm is slightly tail down almost level. (will play with it later) With the understanding that I like the warm of tubes. > How does it sound with 10 minutes on it compared to the Shure V15V/Jico SAS/Neo? Pretty good actually, the separation is very good and better. The Neo has better dynamics by about 40%, but I needed a cartridge with better separation in my system. So far it's not bright. For reference I'm playing an original George Benson "Breezing" lp. It's very enjoyable. This will be my new daily driver, but I'm going to move up to the 760SLC M~
Agree highly. Both will improve the turntable on speed constancy, and also overall improve your turntable's performance. That and the AT VM 540 ML and you should really have nice record reproduction.
30 hr ,mark ---- This cartridge has really started to open up, the imaging and details coming from the record have greatly improved, with not even a modicum of brightness . I'm going through a stack of old "V-" records 22" in depth and it's sailing right through them with barely any hint of scratches. One thing that I've noticed is that I'm getting minimal to no dust on the stylus, vice before with my Shures I'd have a couple of dust elephants. My caveat is that I'm still breaking in an entirely new set of equipment from the phono cables through the power cord on the integrated amp and the Furman Elite. As I said above this is my new daily driver, but I will be moving up to the 760SLC to gain that last bit of separation. M~
I'm breaking the cart in and running it through its paces. The more I'm using it, the better it sounds. Playing the new Stray Cats album now.
Some experiences as follows: I changed the my alignment from VPI single point to the Baerwold using the Feickert alignment gauge - there wasn't an earth shaking difference. Change the VTA to a tail down (4 turns to the right) and readjusted the azimuth which you must do with the VPI 10.5i arm ( it was off by a .5 mil). Things smoothed out (nothing earth shaking though, it was sounding great already) and I am going to leave it that way for now until I feel like breaking out the microscope. I noticed that the sound is louder (slightly) from the left channel than the left. I spent a week going over my speaker adjustment and locked in the center channel. So, I happy with the way things are for now. I'm really impressed no very with the Wyred4 Sound PH1 and the STI1000 wow! Things are very natural sounding , well as much as can be considering I use Vandersteen speakers. Complaints -- the mounting and adjusting of the cartridge could be so much easier if the screws were able to be threaded into the body. I cringed every-time I made adjustments to the alignment. When I get the 760VM (or Art9) I am going to stick with the VPI single point alignment and make sure that I have the proper screws and nuts on hand, what a PITA! M~
So, today while eating my daily allotment of Great Value Extra Butter Popcorn the spirit said to me. "Dawg" you need to check your stylus SRA", to which I agreed because I never argue while eating popcorn and this is what I came up with. The image quality is great for a ~$30.00 USB rechargeable/microSD card capable device. But being serious since today is Sunday and I don't have a lot time to mess around with things. This is/was a quick test to see if this device works and does, in spades. It's very easy to use, you don't have to stress, you can find them on Ebay "Portal LCD Digital Microscope" 4.3" LCD screen. Here is my first 3 minutes with this device. The image is much sharper in person, the interactions between my cell phone camera and the LCD throws things out of wack a bit. M~
