Would I be disappointed going from a 2M Black to a AT VM750SH?

That is after adjustment. The stylus had a little lean from the front.

 

Capacitance load different. The Ortofon's more musical and involving. AT is more clinical, less lively. Bright and detailed. I prefer Ortofon over Audio-Technica (the one AT I love is the old Signet TK5Ea).

 

If he is talking about his scout, it will be hard to beat the GL2500 on that.

Don't mind me though

M~

 

Yeah, might have been, I admit I only ready the last couple of posts! I defer, and agree.

 

A vintage Stanton 981/980 might just be what you are looking for if you switch over to the table with a SME IIIS.

 

Except, it's a MC in terms of RETIP only. Or NOS Genuine. Aftermarket, won't do. Facts are facts. I have a 681 EEE, I switched to Ortofon OM because of the same problem.

 

Good point @McLover a NOS stylus can be hard to come by these days, but I have also had excellent results both with a NOS stylus and a rebuilt stylus from Soundsmith and a cartridge retipping-5 stylus.
If you are looking everyday on ebay you can find really good stuff popping up from time to time.

 

Got it. I had a similar situation with an off-angle cantilever on a Clearaudio Maestro. I originally thought it was just not good at tracking inner grooves. That is when I learned that aligning the cantilever to the protractor was waayyy more important than just aligning the cartridge body

 

I ended up purchasing a second arm wand for my VPI Scout. This allows me to change cartridges quickly while using the same TT and Phono stage.

My third cartridge (The Shure V15) is on a separate TT with a SME IIIS Tonearm a successor to the SME 3009. The SME is a very low mass tonearm that seems to have been tailor made for the low compliance Shure. I just need to figure out a way to run it through the better phono stage.

The other nice thing about multiple cartridges is that you can spread the listening around and the stylus's (stylii? ) last longer

I did have a Clearaudio Maestro Ebony, but it reached a very obvious end of life when the high frequency detail just suddenly dropped off dramatically. Up until then it sounded amazing with certain records. Unfortunately, even with their re-tip exchange policy a new Maestro was going to cost $1,400 (CDN) and I couldn't justify spending that much on a cartridge every 5 years.

 

Regarding capacitance load....

I just switched my TT to phonostage interconnect from a 0.5 m Cardas Golden Ref to a .75 m Golden Ref. This increased the capacitance slightly and smoothed out the high frequency "edge" a little. I have a one metre length Golden Ref that I'm going to try tomorrow and see if this further benefits the sound.

 

This shows how subjective everything is! Your experience is exactly the opposite of mine: my 2M Black is lively indeed, but also very "clinical". No, maybe not exactly "clinical", because lows and mids are juicy and not sterile: it's just that for me it's very splashy, very ringing in the upper registers, very showy, very aggressive in the highs, to the extent of being a bit "tiresome" to my ears with certain recordings (ssssssibilants can be troubling). On the contrary, I have NEVER found the AT 440/540 to be too bright, too lean, too clinical as some say (and many without having ever listened to it): on the contrary, an extremely balanced, fun but smooth and tolerant cartridge. Probably it also has something to do with my phono pre being the excellent Graham Slee Reflex M which has low input capacitance.

 

Note: I don't use 2M because of what you cite. I use OM. I use OM in Concorde by Reloop and in 12g headshells. Tracks excellent, sounds fabulous on my equipment. Meets my needs. 47 ohms, 220 pf is my real world. My phono stages all work into that load. Understand your perspective. Your stage is AT friendly, mine is not. And I need that Aux for other things. I also need rugged and audiophile by stylus change.

 

before any VTA by ear make sure the top of the headshell is level with the platter with the needle in the groove.
put a bubble level on the headshell and adjust VTF to compensate.
Adjust VTA until the bubble reads level then re adjust VTF.
ortofons respond well to a level tonearm starting point and levelling the head shell is the most accurate way to do it.
I have had the black and other ortofon lomc carts and perfectly level works best.

 

Also, make sure that bubble is accurate. If you have a couple, put them on the same surface and see if they read the same.

 

If you want neutral & superlative tracking, the AT is the way to go. If you want exciting, the Ortofon may be a better choice.

 

What is the input capacitance?

 

The current version of the Reflex M, which is what I have, is 100 pF (the very early models were 220 pF. but around 12 years ago Graham Slee reduced it to 100 pF).

 

Jupiterboy-

What did you use to come up with these angles below? Having a Scout- I can adjust azimuth, but I left it alone. I did put the rod in the the top of arm slot and it looked parallel to the LP by my naked eye, BUT who knows how good that is!!! MY chief complaint with my 2M Black is picking up LP Flaws and their noise.

I put up a new thread a few weeks ago about alignment, but I don't believe I got any replies on it.

Thx
Chris

 

I was noticing more noise in one channel and a slight imbalance (which is common for inexpensive cartridges). I used a USB microscope that I use for alignment to look at it, and noticed the surface at the end of the cantilever was slanted. I think they compensated, trying to mount the stylus straight, but I gave the arm tube a very slight counter-clockwise rotation and improved it.

It I had just been aligning the cantilever to the the protractor target, I'd not have even seen this. I'll have to set it back when I change styli. Glad to have the option, though.

I am not familiar with the VPI tool you are using. I simply took a picture with the scope and then drew on it with my native editing software.

 

Can you share what you use for a scope? I've seen references to them, and started to look around on Amazon, but just never pulled the trigger.
Thx!

 

I got this one:

Amazon.com

Also sold as an endoscope. The small size of the thing will get down low, close to the surface, so you can see. Stand works fine with my table height.

 

I aslo have a scout. To set Azimuth I used a highly polished stainless steel plate as a mirror (DO NOT USE WITH MC) and a 20X optical loupe. Looking through through the loupe at the reflection of the stylus, any off-angle from vertical is doubled in the reflection.

For what it's worth I wrote a piece on how I set up my Scout...
Lessons Learned Setting up VPI Scout - VTA interacts with VTF

 

@ Adagio @jupiterboy
Thank you both! Where this rabbit hole will take me...who knows.
Would either the loupe mentioned or the Scope be able to pick up stylus wear?
I'll enjoy the reading you both linked as well as the thrill of the chase!

Chris

 

Not enough power. Not enough lighting control. But it's great for alignment. I struggle to see the stylus tip on the inside of the arc toward the spindle, and if you get that right, the outside is easy.

 

I'll grab one of these USB Scopes soon and see what I can do playing around with the 2M Black. I also have a Hana EH sitting on a Technics SL-1210 that I could play with as well. If I tire of the 2M, I may just find an AT760SLC, but that won't be right away.

Thank you for your help!
Chris