I have a Michell Cusis cartridge, purchased when I was building my system up cost £1100, its effectively a BENZ MICRO GLIDER S MOVING COIL CARTRIDGE with a different body built by Benz Micro for Michell. A bit of a one off. I have compared it to the Ortofon Blue Rondo, I still have from my last TT, in the Michell Gyrodec/SME IV arm and there is a difference. The Cusis has more detail and better definition. I think the Ortofon was original about a £600 cartridge.
Is the extra £500 difference in cost worth it, I would say yes, would I go to more than around £1000 probably not. I doubt my ears are up to detecting the subtle difference a £2000 cartridge might bring. The other thing is that would a better cartridge highlight the inadequacies of some of my second hand LP purchases, possibly.
I think that a £600-1000 spend on a good cartridge is worth it, but as already said it needs to be put in a reasonable good arm to gain the benefit.
Listening is the act of aural discrimination and dissemination of sound, and accepting you get it wrong sometimes.
Analog Inputs: Pro-Ject Signature 10 TT & arm, Benz Micro LP-S, Michel Cusis MC, Goldring 2500 and Ortofon Rondo Blue cartridges, Hitachi FT5500 mk2 Tuner
Digital:- Marantz SA-KI Pearl CD player, RaspberryPi/HifiBerry Digi+ Pro, Buffalo NAS Drive
Amplification:- AudioValve Sunilda phono stage, Krell KSP-7B pre-amp, Krell KSA-80 power amp
Output: Wilson Benesch Vector speakers, KLH Ultimate One Headphones
Cables: Tellurium Q Ultra Black II RCA & Chord Epic 2 RCA, various speaker leads, & links
I think I am nearing audio nirvana, but don’t tell anyone.
That was my point about mixing recently purchased components with those bought years ago (46 years to be precise). If, as you say, one would have to pay £1,000 today for the TT, then it would seem that I have apportioned roughly equal amount to cartridge, arm and turntable; in line with my opinion that one ought to spend a similar amount on each part of the audio chain.
Barry
Location: London Knightsbridge
Posts: 414
I'm Nari.
I dont think Michell really sold those so quite rare, wonder how you got one of those?, I know a friend who purchased a new orbe and techno arm they refused to sell him the cartridge. You would here a difference with any cartridge £2000, 10k or £500 all have a flavour whether you prefer one or another is a different story.
Most important and used Walker Black Diamond Etsuro Gold, Micro Seiki 8000mk2 Kondo special V12 Tiger Eye, Fidelity Research FR 66 Shindo spu, EMT 927, sme 312 aluminium. Fidelity research fr66, Sme 3012 mk1, Sme V, Ikeda 407 IT Sme Model 30/2/Dynavector 507 Kodo Beat Turntable Airtangent 10B modified Fidelity fr66s Etsuro Cartridge . Kondo Gakuoh Mk1 powers G70 Pre,Audio Tekne TFA-8695PCS pre Audio Tekne TEA 8695 Phono. Lfd Battery Phono Stage heavily custom rebuilt by Dr Richard Bews, Tharx Phono Stage. Lfd Master Dual Biamp power amp, Lfd Anniversary master preamp. Shindo Latour Field Coil. Rockport Cygnus Biamped, Voigt Domestic Corner Horns/ Feastex Fildcoils. LFD Custom silver Ribbons. LFD Diamond Vipor Mk2 interconnects, Lfd Golden Cobra interconnect. Koetsu blue lace mono special order, Koetsu burma jade mono special order.
....rare NOS Kontrapunkt C and best offer too
Bet this"ll be a great cart https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F202417321973
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
Mains - Ultra Pure silver plated un-switched socket-Missing link EPS 500 silver plated plugs-Hi-Fi Tuning gold plated silver ceramic 13 amp fuses
Location: Wales
Posts: 21
I'm Tony.
£400 is my absolute max. Recently bought my third Hana EH for £30+ less than the going price of £384. My previous two Hana's were also acquired for well under the RRP at that time.