|
Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
|
|
|
Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
|
In Reply to: RE: what an eye yi yi posted by flood2 on March 11, 2025 at 23:24:21:
I post this long replay , knowing it is not the usual internet brief style, as a kind of talk story, the kind a friend might share.
I am also very happy with a moving magnet cart, although any high output cart is probably a good match for my system. I also like a good moving iron design, because of the potential for lower mass. both types have played well in my system.
I don't play a lot of classical, so the punch of a moving magnet works well on rock and the other uncomplicated grooves I play. plus accurate amplification is a lot less demanding with a high output signal. additionally , I have finally gotten it through my head that although a cart is the voice of the system, without a suitable arm , it's like a race car with cheap tires.
I went with the Beethoven 2m black because of advanced features ,a reputable manufacturer , the nano tube suspension, the boron cantilever, the tip shape, among other things.
I also liked the characteristic MM ability to replace the tip, because I have grown old and the possibility of this cart being my last alignment task , and to just snap in new tips without another alignment, is very appealing to me.
I also waited for a slight and very rare Black Friday price reduction, which was also very motivating.
otherwise I probably would have gone with a cart that allowed for wet cleaning. it also helped that the ortofon site had an arm matching feature that suggested the 2m as a match for my Michell technoarm , although the acceptance of that fact was tough on my ego. I was thinking of going to the rega carts , because the three point mount avoided cartridge alignment issues , but the line is very expensive. I also liked that they used a suspension incorporating a machine that I always forget the name of.
I thought the Beethoven black was the closest I could get to replacing a very nice old shure cart that got destroyed . I started out with a Stanton EEE , attached to a kenwood 550 direct drive, as a package deal. . kenwood was the second line of turntables sold at a local place that made and sold the sumo high powered amps. big amps being a novel idea at the time. I always said kenwood made a heck of a can opener, although the turntable served me well. I ditched it after the shure cart I was using picked up contaminating noise as it passed over the direct drive coils, even though not heard at any usable levels. I am now firmly in the belt drive suspended turntable design camp, and count myself very fortunate to have a nice one. .
I had occasion, back when I was a sailor, to get into New York City once in a while , where I could get a succession of the top shure cartridges as they came out , for a modest price, from the crazy uncle store, " you have a crazy uncle in the stereo business" was the slogan, something like that.
it was a lucky break for me that shure used mass marketing, instead of the "audio salons" of the day, which had a significantly different business model , and prices. one time I came to the store, they had the shure v15 carts stacked up high in the window, with at least a couple of cases more, maybe 500 plus, stacked on the floor by the counter . I remember getting a top of the line shure cart for around a hundred bucks . the New York electronics district was very competitive at the time.
As is does, time passed , and I had grown somewhat disenchanted with ordering replacement styli from Japan, although it worked out ok . I lost enthusiasm when I ordered two tips , with the idea of using one to compare against the other, to check for wear on the tip being used. but when I got them and checked them for performance , one sounded clearly better than the other. Leading to my lasting concern about quality control. of course the beryllium foil cantilever was now aluminum, but the brush construction was a good distance from OEM. even though I no longer used the brush, the difference in quality was cause for concern.
So an OEM tip situation looked good to me, provided quality control was high. thus my question about your experience with ortofon carts, which I have never used.
with the new cart, I return back to my primary system building strategy, of replacing only the weak link , which always takes ma a good long while . next up is amplification , a complicated and costly decision , as my speakers are supposed to run with at least 200 watts. I might stick with what I have , mid fi amplification works well.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- much gratitude for the calming reply. - beach cruiser 23:26:11 03/14/25 (0)
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
