Cartridge choice - not sure what to do - advice please!

[hifi_dave]

Of course, that's my carpet !!! I don't remember you taking that pic with arm in place, it must have been whilst I was making the tenth cup of tea..

By the way, just for you I've bought a pillar drill from E-Bay. Now we can drill that hole...

[Marco]

Hi Dave,

Thing is Marco, that many of these dear old recordings were lovingly digitised with the minimum of messing around and the best of them sound stunning on CD IMO.

No doubt; but not as good as the recordings were on the format on which they were originally released (i.e vinyl)!

The fact is, one cannot obtain greater fidelity to the original than is offered by the original itself...

Therefore, if you'll forgive me, I'll keep my treasured original (almost mint) 1950s recordings on Capitol well away from being "lovingly digitised" - or more accurately, bastardised!!

Marco.

[DSJR]

You're wrong, but since I have no way of proving it I'll beg to differ

[Marco]

Lol - well I don't think I am, so we'll just have to leave it there, me old mucker...

Marco.

[Marco]

Sorry, Dave, I missed this:

Those Nagaoka cartridges are hellishly expensive for the upper models. Did you just buy one blind Marco, or did you get a dem of one or read a decent review of the current range?

They're not hellishly expensive relative to the sound quality they offer - quite the opposite! The MP-150 is the best modern MM cartridge I've heard, bar none, and better in some ways than MCs up to the £300 mark.

A friend has one, so I've listened to it in my system. I've also heard the 110, as I ran one in for Dave K and used it for quite a while until he got hold of his Techy. I've not heard the top models, but based on what the 150 is capable of, I can just imagine how good they are....

Trust me, these are true 'giant-killer' designs!

Trouble is, people are obsessed with the boring 'usual suspects' such as Goldring and Ortofon....

Marco.

[DSJR]

I find the Goldrings hellishly expensive these days, but they are made in the UK still I think and this may have a bearing on the final prices... there's also a hungry middle man between maker and dealer..

I love the Ortofon MM's of old and expect the current ones are at least as good. My M20FL Super is quite a performer still, 30 years on..... Ortofon really do want their pound of flesh these days for almost all their products IMO.

I'd like to hear what the top Nagaoka's do, but I never cared overmuch for the MP11, boron or otherwise, although I do have an MP15 in good order still.

One to try one day.....

[Hypnotoad]

If you want a cartridge with good bass performance, mid range to die for with a detailed but not bright top end, low surface noise and mates well with most arms.

I have one and it absolutely trounced my Denon DL-110, and Goldring 1012GX.

It's the smoothest most detailed cart I have had.

Benz Micro Ace

It's cheaper than the Benz Glider but very similar in sound.

Doesn't have any issues with suspension problems like some of the Dynavector's.

http://www.needledoctor.com/Benz-Ace...2&category=364