Needles & Grooves

@HiFi Guy correct me if I am recollecting inaccurately but when seeking out an upgrade to my grado black about a year ago I mentioned wanting forgiveness for records in less then ideal condition or pressing quality and "not ortofon" was your response.

That’s good advice, wherever it came from.

While I don't agree with the Ort Black hate on here, I do agree with this... They are NOT forgiving, none of the Ort 2Ms are.

I had an AT440mla years back (I think they’re discontinued?). That was a nice cart on poor pressings

I have such limited experience but the VM95ML shocked me with how much better it sounded in the prefaced situations.

@Mather You nailed it. I want to enjoy all of my records, not just the “good” ones. Ortofon to Grado is 180 degrees different. To me Grados (on the right table) sound less like “stereo” and more like “music”. The Gold3 is a stupid value and compared to other manufacturers- underpriced. $755 here for a 2m Black is robbery. They are $550 in Germany.

@HiFi Guy yeah I understand the pricing issue for sure. They are expensive, $800 in Canada... but I only paid half that, so for me it was worth it.

I have a $400 cartridge that I'm very happy with on a $600 table... Mind you, that's early 2000's prices for my table - it goes over $1000 used these days. What sort of cartridge:turntable price ratios do people normally do? I mean in the end, it's all about what you are using it for and what you like.

@Mather you have a “guy” I just mentioned that so people know there are alternatives to getting the shaft here.

@Turbo there isn’t really any magic math. I’ve got a $2k table and a $260 cartridge. It sounds great. I can’t say I’m not tempted by $1-2k cartridges. I am. But IMHO one is better running a good table with a less expensive cartridge than a budget table with an expensive one. I’m hearing towards the best of what my cartridge can do. A nice cartridge can’t make up for a cheap table.

I hear you - it took me a long time to land on the cartridge I'm now using. Lots of trial and error. I quite liked the low end Nagaokas on my Technics 1210 but they produced these annoying random static discharges so I had to find something else. The Ortofon was too bright to my ear. I ended up with an AT150, which I love on this table.

I'm puzzled by pics that show nice audiophile vinyl being played on a decent TT and cartridge with marginal speaker systems. That's the one that blows my mind.

What do you have against speakers made out of Doobie Brothers albums

I’m not trying to be disrespectful but do others find it odd when people have multi thousand dollar tables

I guess it's all in the ears and if one feels audible results > monetary investment. If so then it's worth it to the individual.

Especially because cost is always relative to income level. Some people have a set of interconnects that cost multiple times my entire setup.

@LeSamourai uhh what’s our definition of “multi”?

*eyes guillotine nervously*

Money isn’t everything, but to counter @LeSamourai ’s comment, I don’t comprehend those who have really nice collections but a $99 Audio Technica LP60. Vinyl can kill CD/Streaming/whatever in regards to sound quality, but a CD easily kills vinyl played on that thing.

@Dylanfan253 Cost has nothing to do with income level. It’s all about priorities. I would (and have) eaten Mac and cheese and hotdogs to divert money towards whatever. There’s been many times where my system was worth more than my car. And that’s ok, I get more enjoyment from music than driving.

I meant more in regards to you can't spend money you don't have.