Let's talk.... Cartridges and Styli

So I have been running my Dads old Philips automatic turn table for a little while, currently I have the 2M blue stylus and the 2m Red cart.

I am aware of differences within shape and perhaps material of the stylus, but the inner workings of a cartridge are beyond me.

My question would be, how do you figure out if it's worth upgrading? I've been using a 2M blue for about 2 years, and recently just replaced the stylus. Would it be beneficial to upgrade to something like a black or bronze? What about the turn table itself determines if that would be a logical upgrade? Would a separate phono stage make more sense as an upgrade?

Don't get me wrong, I'm running through a Pioneer SA-1000 as my phono stage right now, and it really does sound great. This is more of a curiosity/future thought thread.

Thanks in advance!

 

I'd upgrade the TT first and leave the rest alone for now.

 

So when you upgrade a turn table what exactly are you improving? Say the platter retains a perfect speed, perfectly quiet at max volume, and everything is set up as it should be. What would a new turn table bring?

 

no platter retains perfect speed. no arm is perfect, the bearings arent perfect, theres chatter in its movement (albeit small the movement in a needle is tiny!). theres vibration transfer through the plinth, platter, and arm. and thats just the big things.

 

It might maintain perfect speed, but perfectly quiet at max volume doesn't mean too much. As you move up in cartridges, especially in MC carts, the cart should be detecting more and more detail, and this includes micro vibrations from your TT. It might suddenly make an previously quite table appear to have an audible rumble.
Another factor is arm dampening and smoothness. All those parts have friction, and friction creates noise. The job of the TT is to keep all of that noise away from the record, while spinning it at perfect speed.

Even if rumbles or tracking issues aren't audible, there is an element that isn't really audible, but it effects imaging, dynamics and other elements of the sound. This is why a fully functional cart (like your 2M Blue) can sound much better on a high end table vs an entry level table. Both might meet the same "spec" that you described above, but the mechanical silence and precision of parts on a higher end table add up to an audible result in the music.