Phono cartridge sound quality

[Cujet]

I use a Technics 1210 MK5 turntable, it's pretty darn good, but probably not considered audiophile quality. I am currently using a Shure 97x cartridge and it sounds pretty good. However, I'd like something better. Strangely, my cartridge was $99 just a few years ago, and now sells for $370. It's not that good, that's for sure....

Any reasonably priced suggestions?

 

[NO2]

Look at the Grado prestige line. Decent sound and not insanely priced.

 

[oily boyd]

Check out the Ortofon 2M Red

 

[Alfred_B]

Here is what I have Grado Black2. Sounds very good.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Mine is mid 70s vintage. Realistic LAB-440 turntable with a Shure R-1000 cartridge.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I always wondered what those laser turntables sound like. Crazy expensive though!

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Originally Posted by Cujet
I use a Technics 1210 MK5 turntable, it's pretty darn good, but probably not considered audiophile quality. I am currently using a Shure 97x cartridge and it sounds pretty good. However, I'd like something better. Strangely, my cartridge was $99 just a few years ago, and now sells for $370. It's not that good, that's for sure....

Any reasonably priced suggestions?



I have the AT-120 turntable, which is spec'd identically off the Technics line. Fully manual.

This is what I run for a cartridge: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_057VM540ML/Audio-Technica-VM540ML.html?tp=71663
It completely cured sibilance and sounds incredible. I traded in my Ortofon Red for this and it made a huge difference.

But that's just the start. You should align everything with a proper protractor. I have this. It took me an hour to get it right but it's worth it: https://www.amazon.com/Turntable-Ph...ctor+vinyl&qid=1583009746&sr=8-1

And that's not all. Check the weight of the tone arm with one of these to be perfectly dialed in: https://www.amazon.com/Neoteck-Digital-Turntable-Backlight-Cartridge/dp/B01HRJ9NAY/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3JD2B0Q8IVMQG&keywords=turntable+gram+scale&qid=1583009786&sprefix=turntable+gram+s%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-4

But you still have sound issues? Then get one of these and get rid of all the dust on your needle: https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Techni...chnica+gel&qid=1583009820&sr=8-2


Yes I'm weird and extremely snobbish about my vinyl collection. I clean every record that comes in here (new and old) before ever playing them. Makes a world of difference.

 

[Malo83]

Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
I always wondered what those laser turntables sound like. Crazy expensive though!


http://www.elpj.com/

 

[Cujet]

Thanks for all the responses! I do have a scale and protractor. I don't have that specific needle cleaner, although it looks like a great idea. I use my microscope to clean the needle. Seems to work quite well, but it's amazing how imprecise all the parts are under high magnification.

 

[CARJ]

2nd the Ortofon 2M Red. I bought mine with the red Ortofon headshell as well. Makes it plug and play. I'm using it on a AudioTechnica ATLP-1240.

 

[frankbee3]

I never knew there was a laser reader for phonographs. At least one can enjoy records without wearing them out quickly.

This is a neat thread. I am going to dig out my records even though I don't have a turntable any longer.

It time to put some fresh capacitors in my old receiver and start playing records again..

 

[aquariuscsm]

I love buying and playing records. I bought a couple of 45s today. An early non lp 45 by The Zombies circa 1965 and one from a Mineral Wells,Tx garage band circa 1969.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
I love buying and playing records.


Like you, I really enjoy the experience. The sound brings me back to my youth. Plus, I generally listen to an entire album. Not just one song.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted by Cujet
Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
I love buying and playing records.


Like you, I really enjoy the experience. The sound brings me back to my youth. Plus, I generally listen to an entire album. Not just one song.


Absolutely!! Plus having the lp jacket/cover art. My favorite way to buy lps are in the first press mono editions.

 

[bachman]

Haven't played vinyl in years. Audio Technica, Signet moving coil, Shure and Grado were some phono equip I recall having.
I sold mid to higher end audio in my early days of a sales career late 1970's through 1984, just as CD was coming in strong.

Most of what we had in the early 1980's;
Yamaha, Denon, Hafler, McIntosh, Onkyo, Klipsch, Dalhquist, Luxman, Boston Acoustics, Polk, IMF, Phase Technology. Some odds and ends we hand picked but didn't have full line also.
CD music was a hot button for many. The convenience and simplicity was just too good to be true but the golden ear 'philes were Buggin.

I still have some records in safe keeping so the incentive to get a 'player' is still there.

 

[alarmguy]

I miss vinyl, heck I miss CDs too.
This whole in the cloud virtual storage music thing, eh ...

Maybe someday Ill get back to basics. There is something about holding that vinyl in your hands and putting the album on the platter watching it spin. Heck there was even a time you could watch a CD spin.
My last turntable from years ago was a linear tracking (possibly an Akai) with a basic (for lack of better words) Grado cartridge just loved it.

 

[4WD]

Yeah, nostalgia has a good feel.
But, last night they got the fire pit going … I walked up and put my fully charged Bose speaker on the table and said one of you guys put on some music.
Out comes the iPhone and we were in business

 

[Saabist]

I primarily use an Elac-Miracord 40A turntable made in West Germany, the kind with pushbutton controls. It has an aluminum platter that weighs several pounds.

Cartridge is an Audio-Technica but I don't recall the model offhand. It's coupled to a Sansui receiver and KLH speakers. Also have several players from the 1950s-1970s, including an RCA console and several luggage-type record players of various types, many with vacuum-tube electronics.

It's interesting that vinyl has seen something of a resurgence in recent years. That wasn't supposed to happen!

 

[Gillsy]

My last turntable was a Yamaha P750. I had it many years, and I was very happy with it. I tried Pickering, Stanton, and Shure V15, but the best moving magnet cartridge I owned was a Grado G1+. The only moving coil cartridge I owned was a high output NAD. Very fast, and open sound.

 

[alarmguy]

Originally Posted by Saabist
I primarily use an Elac-Miracord 40A turntable made in West Germany, the kind with pushbutton controls. It has an aluminum platter that weighs several pounds.

Cartridge is an Audio-Technica but I don't recall the model offhand. It's coupled to a Sansui receiver and KLH speakers. Also have several players from the 1950s-1970s, including an RCA console and several luggage-type record players of various types, many with vacuum-tube electronics.

It's interesting that vinyl has seen something of a resurgence in recent years. That wasn't supposed to happen!


Sometimes I think, even the young, like my own college graduate daughter are looking for something of value in that fact of stuff that is real. This whole digital thing, its void of the whole feel of something physical. Its just digital numbers, which vinyl its almost like a physical instrument rather then a digital synthesizer.

Anyway, my daughter and her boyfriend, in addition to their digital everyday world buy vinyl for those special artists.

For me, you know, we came out with digital music platforms which sonically technically blew out analog, once that was done, we corrupted digital music into the MP3 format to the point that, good old vinyl in many, many cases sounds better, just like an analog instrument should... )