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Thread: Are expensive carts worth it?

  1. #1
    Join Date: Nov 2014

    Location: Bedford

    Posts: 61
    I'm Tim.

    Default Are expensive carts worth it?

    Running a denon dl103 with paratrace tip. This sounds really good but wondering what you get if you go up in price to one thousand, two thousand and ultra levels?

    Thanks! Tim

  2. #2
    Join Date: May 2012

    Location: Toulouse, France

    Posts: 6,562
    I'm Kevin.

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    Small gains are to be had with some large price changes in my opinion.
    Kevin

    Too busy enjoying the music....

    European loan coordinator for Graham Slee HiFi system components..

  3. #3
    Join Date: Aug 2017

    Location: Hertfordshire, U.K.

    Posts: 298
    I'm Graham.

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    I think it depends what you have further downstream..
    GrahamS - It's not what you hear that counts, it's what you think you hear........

    Present Kit: NAD 326BEE, NAD C515BEE CD player, JVC QL-7 DD turntable, JVC Tonearm, Shure M97Ve, Audio Technica AT95EX, Pickering V15, JVC Z1E, Wharfedale Diamond 230s, Visual Rio interconnects and My Ears.

  4. #4
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CageyH View Post
    Small gains are to be had with some large price changes in my opinion.
    I agree. The law of diminishing returns hits hard with cartridges as prices go up. Of course, that's not to say proper expensive carts are not worth having.

  5. #5
    Join Date: Nov 2014

    Location: Bedford

    Posts: 61
    I'm Tim.

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    I have high end kit. Focal scala utopias etc. So thanks for the opinions. What have you actually run / compared ?

  6. #6
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    Well I've got a couple of ZYX R100's and I won't be spending more.

  7. #7
    Join Date: Apr 2011

    Location: London

    Posts: 4,419
    I'm Robert.

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    Spooky ! Been meaning to ask the same question to see what folks think.

    Some high end carts are a heck of a lot of money no matter how you look at it and in my experince as you go up there are improvements but after a ceetain point they are small but welcome.

    I loved the 2M Black at around £460 and gradually moved up to it's bigger brother the Cadenza Black, now pushing £1850 plus.

    Do I feel you get £1400 worth of improvement with the Cadenza over the 2MB (to put it in that very simplistic manner)

    Err, to be honest £1400 is a BIG difference / a heck of a lot of dough put that way, so no.

    As has been said, Improvements are small after a certain point but the ask for those small improvements each time can be large (unfortunately)
    Last edited by RobbieGong; 01-06-2018 at 22:09.
    My System:
    Amplification - Sansui AU-alpha 707 DR
    Turntable - Technics SP10 MK2-Technics EPA-250 Tonearm-Yannis Tome 423.5Plus tonearm cable-Eichmann KLEI Absolute Harmony plugs.
    Ortofon Cadenza Black moving coil cartridge-Fritz Gyger S re-tip. Panzerholz plinth.

    CDP - Pioneer PD-91
    Speakers - Spendor D7 on Soundcare SuperSpikes
    QED Silver Spiral speaker cable-airloc banana plugs
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  8. #8
    Join Date: May 2018

    Location: west yorkshire

    Posts: 16
    I'm ADRIAN.

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    RobbieGong
    I would say it depends on how much disposable income you have to spend . If I was Elton John I would not flinch at £2000 for a cartridge.

  9. #9
    Bigman80 Guest

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    Recently, I felt no need to invest much more in a cartridge when I picked up a nearly new Kontrapunkt b (£800ish New).

    A few days ago, a friend of mine came round with an Ortofon Vienna (£2000 new) and an Audio Technica ART7 (£999 new)

    The Audio Technica was very good and in some areas was better. A marginal improvement on the Kontrapunkt. The Vienna however, was a different league. Everything was better. The piano notes had better resonance, the soundstage was massive, the instrument separation was better and as a whole, I was left feeling like the Kontrapunkt had taken a beating and the Kontrapunkt is a fantastic cartridge.

    In my opinion, just because a cartridge is more expensive, won't mean its automatically better. You need to buy smart. Swapping a 2M black for Candenza black will bring refinement and poise but the characteristics will likely be similar due to house sound.
    Last edited by Bigman80; 01-06-2018 at 22:33.

  10. #10
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    To be honest, I know £1000 plus MC's do improve on sound quality, but a considerably more modestly priced item can still offer great music enjoyment.

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