Nagaoka MP-200 cartridge

[rdpx]

I have a NAG MP-200 cartridge, with no stylus.

I am not 100% sure that the cartridge is working perfectly (it's a boring story of an eBay purchase that ended up with me getting a full refund and being sent the empty cartridge for nowt...) and was wondering how I can find out if it is working properly or not before spending cash on a stylus for it?

Seeing as my Jico just died on me I am looking at options for it's replacement!

Similarly, if anyone has anything hanging around that they want to move on, and that might work well on a Thorens TP13A then I'd be interested to hear about it.

Robert
:(

[rdpx]

Hi Robert
I should have an old stylus for MP200 (~400-500 hrs) somewhere in the cupboard - good enough to try if cart works
It's yours if you want , let me know if you're interested, not sure when I could post it ,though
Slav, that would be great I'll send you a PM and pay postage. I was hoping someone might offer to test the cart out if I sent it to them, your offer is very kind and greatly appreciated.
Robert

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

[rdpx]

New/Old Stylus arrived today and everything is sounding great. Huge thanks to Slav, I'm really touched by the generosity and I think this stylus is in good enough condition to last me a fair while.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160923/9c66e7a9b58a5c448f27b7c71fa64b17.jpg

[Macca]

How do you rate it compared to the Shure/Jico? Bit more finesse?

[rdpx]

How do you rate it compared to the Shure/Jico? Bit more finesse?

I find it hard to compare as it's almost a week since i had the Jico working, and I haven't listened to he 200 much yet.
I decided on the Jico originally because I had tried the 200 but it had been plagued with issues, which resulted in me sending it back to the seller, who decided to run the stylus through another Nag cart, and sent the cart back to me. This is why I was not 100% confident that it was a working cartridge, as when I had had it running originally the M75 with an old battered needle pretty much seemed to hold its own against the 200... So I had decided there was some beautiful synergy going on with the TP13A and the Shure, and decided to try it out with the SAS - and I had been very happy with it for a year.

What I did notice was that moving from a Rega Brio 3 to a Croft Integrated some records (notable Billy Bragg & The Smiths) didn't sound that great. I fiddled with the speaker cable phase which improved things, but it still sounded a little too clinical - like being at a soundcheck rather than the gig, if that makes sense? Anyway - Billy Bragg seems to have got his mojo back with the new NP-200, currently got "The Man in the Iron Mask" on and it is sounding fantastic. I'll run some cello suites and perhaps a bit of Rosalyn Tureck through it in a bit.

I'll find out over the next few hours/days/weeks how it stacks up. I tend to measure these things by how much I am listening, and I'm guessing I might be up late this evening.


R
:guitar:

[Macca]

How long and how often you listen is a sure indicator I agree. I like the M75, my neighbour was using one for a while, a 75ED. sounds really right with 70s rock but more 'jangly' stuff sounds a bit 'dead'.

[rdpx]

How do you rate it compared to the Shure/Jico? Bit more finesse?

I have played back a couple of old Mono solo violin records that always sounded stunning with the M75/SAS and they sound really dull.
I think this might be something to do with the Jico claims that the SAS profile is suited to playing these old microgroove records...:

Compatible with wider and deeper grooves (Micro Groove)
Carefully chosen natural octahedron single-crystals are used for the diamond tip. S.A.S. can also be used on records with 30-280 micron grooves in addition to the conventional 30-80 micron groove.

Then again, some solo violin on stereo records also doesn't sound so great, though it is a less marked difference.

I think this is the curse of vinyl, when it is all sounding great then something (expensive) goes wrong. If a replacement SAS was similar to what I paid for it a year ago (£100+/-) I'd happily stump up, but it's shot up to around £230.