Phono Cartridges - Your favorites and least favorites?

Got the SAE1000E hooked up on my Thorens + LX-LPS. Think I’ve got it aligned properly although it’s as far forward as it can be on the arm. Set it to 1.85g tracking.

Do I need to use any of the loading plugs in the LXLPS? I never could figure out when to use them…also it’s a MC cart right? But seems to match the MM specs on the LXLPS so was confused a bit…
 
MikeH said:
Got the SAE1000E hooked up on my Thorens + LX-LPS. Think I’ve got it aligned properly although it’s as far forward as it can be on the arm. Set it to 1.85g tracking.

Do I need to use any of the loading plugs in the LXLPS? I never could figure out when to use them…also it’s a MC cart right? But seems to match the MM specs on the LXLPS so was confused a bit…
Click to expand...

No. It’s a high output MC that uses the same impedance, 47K, as an MM so your fine to just use it with exactly the same settings as an MM.
 
Got mine today. I have the 1000E model, along with Grado Gold3 w/8mz and Mofi Ultratracker cartridges. All are on their own headshells, running on a SL1200 mkII, then to a Sutherland Insight.

The SAE out if the box is clearly better than both of them. The SAE has better, deeper bass than the Grado, which was the previous bass king in the stable. The Grado sounds constricted, like it has a box around the sound, not letting anything beyond it. The Ultratracker is a technically proficient cartridge, but its just sooo boring. Zero personality or emotion. It's the Spock of carts.

Next to the Technics is my Ultradeck, fitted with my Hana SL and running into my Manley Chinook. Both front ends meet up in my preamp. With this setup, I can run double LPs at the same time, and flip between preamp inputs and hotswap carts to compare the above carts to the Hana SL setup. My SoundSmith Zephyr is on its way for a retip.

In comparing the Hana against SAE, Grado and Mofi, the Hana clearly wins for transparency, depth, and detail. The SAE kinda dominates the Hana in soundstage width though, and it only has about 2 hours on it. Its immersive. It'll be very interesting to see if its even better than the Zephyr in that respect. The SAE isn't as refined as the Hana, but just as emotionally engaging. @HiFi Guy mentioned the SAE could be like a Grado on steroids, and that totally syncs with all of my comparisons so far. It shares that warmth and oomph Grados have, but adds on the soundstaging prowess.

Thanks for the heads up on this deal, @HiFi Guy!

tl,dr
Incredible bargain, ordered a second one20221118_174858.jpg20221118_175035.jpg20221118_180140.jpg
 
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AnthonyI said:
FOMO, ya, F**KING FOMO!! 🤪

Here we go ;)
View attachment 157875

@kvetcha , unfortunately the other mounting screws I had were all shorter, sorry my friend.
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I went on a 6 hour bender after installing the SAE yesterday, been feeling under the weather so it lent itself well to the process, lol. While I still want to give it some time and form a more rounded opinion, I can say this much, it's the bargain of the century right out of the box. I don't know how @HiFi Guy sniffs these things out, but I bought a second one before going to bed last night.

On a slight side note, this kind of keeps reinforcing the "Bang for your Buck" theory when it comes to cartridges, they are out there and not only that, with very minimal compromises, if any, to be made in the sound quality. You may have to accept loosing a little bit of this, for a little more of that, but hardly anything that's going to leave you lacking.

Right now I can say that the mids and highs seem better on the SAE than the Otello, which I still hold in high regard for quality, cost, sound and overall goodness. I want to let the SAE simmer a while, but really felt that more people need to know about this cart due, if nothing else, it's price point.

I would have been hard pressed to believe that my "Go to" stable of cartridges would have consisted of a Soundsmith Otello, SAE 1000E, Grado Opus3 and Goldring E3. All of which are can't lose in my opinion.

Go pick up the SAE if you haven't.
 
Splunders said:
Got mine today. I have the 1000E model, along with Grado Gold3 w/8mz and Mofi Ultratracker cartridges. All are on their own headshells, running on a SL1200 mkII, then to a Sutherland Insight.

The SAE out if the box is clearly better than both of them. The SAE has better, deeper bass than the Grado, which was the previous bass king in the stable. The Grado sounds constricted, like it has a box around the sound, not letting anything beyond it. The Ultratracker is a technically proficient cartridge, but its just sooo boring. Zero personality or emotion. It's the Spock of carts.

Next to the Technics is my Ultradeck, fitted with my Hana SL and running into my Manley Chinook. Both front ends meet up in my preamp. With this setup, I can run double LPs at the same time, and flip between preamp inputs and hotswap carts to compare the above carts to the Hana SL setup. My SoundSmith Zephyr is on its way for a retip.

In comparing the Hana against SAE, Grado and Mofi, the Hana clearly wins for transparency, depth, and detail. The SAE kinda dominates the Hana in soundstage width though, and it only has about 2 hours on it. Its immersive. It'll be very interesting to see if its even better than the Zephyr in that respect. The SAE isn't as refined as the Hana, but just as emotionally engaging. @HiFi Guy mentioned the SAE could be like a Grado on steroids, and that totally syncs with all of my comparisons so far. It shares that warmth and oomph Grados have, but adds on the soundstaging prowess.

Thanks for the heads up on this deal, @HiFi Guy!

tl,dr
Incredible bargain, ordered a second oneView attachment 157900View attachment 157901View attachment 157902
Click to expand...
I’m curious about how it compares to the Hana once it has 10-12 hours on it. Break in makes a huge difference.
 
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