Phono Cartridges - Your favorites and least favorites?

HiFi Guy said:
Don’t know yet. I have a loaner Darlington Labs MP-7 here and a SU-7 step up amplifier for low output cartridges inbound.

I was impressed with the MM-6- and I wanted to see what their top offerings can do.
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I’m going to be trying a new phono pre myself. I found an older Allnic H-1201 from their US distributor at a little under 1/3rd the new price. Their reviews are very solid and I wanted something with tubes until the Decware is built, figured what the heck?

The Allnic uses an internal SUT, no op-amps, and tubes I’ve never tried before. Plus, at least to me, I think it’s sexy looking. Should get here this weekend. Plus, like my Aria, it has 2 inputs (1 ea mm and mc), so I can feed my Lounge Copla from my AR w/Hana EL to the MM input, and my Rega with SL to the MC. Should be fun.

IMG_0639.jpegIMG_0640.jpeg

Edit: sorry for posting this in the cart thread. I wasn’t paying attention. It had nothing to do with Scotch. Really, I promise. Why are you looking at me like that?
 
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Does anyone have direct experience with the Sumiko Starling that they can share? I came up on a deal where I'm seriously tempted to give this a whirl, albeit it's probably going to send me down a wormhole where I'll need to upgrade my phono stage to go the LOMC route - which will wind up be my next question for potential pairing.
 
DoubleM said:
Does anyone have direct experience with the Sumiko Starling that they can share? I came up on a deal where I'm seriously tempted to give this a whirl, albeit it's probably going to send me down a wormhole where I'll need to upgrade my phono stage to go the LOMC route - which will wind up be my next question for potential pairing.
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I don't have any experience other than to say "iz purdy". What are you currently pairing it with in terms of TT and stage?
 
Mather said:
I don't have any experience other than to say "iz purdy". What are you currently pairing it with in terms of TT and stage?
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I have my StudioDeck so I’m likely in the boat where the cart exceeds it, which I’m not that concerned with at the moment.

The phonostage is the inherent “problem” going after this cart since I have a Lounge LCR Gold which won’t fly with the LOMC, unless I go with a SUT. I’ve wanted to make the jump to a Sutherland 20/20 or Duo if I can swing it.

The slippery slope almost writes itself.
 
DoubleM said:
I have my StudioDeck so I’m likely in the boat where the cart exceeds it, which I’m not that concerned with at the moment.

The phonostage is the inherent “problem” going after this cart since I have a Lounge LCR Gold which won’t fly with the LOMC, unless I go with a SUT. I’ve wanted to make the jump to a Sutherland 20/20 or Duo if I can swing it.

The slippery slope almost writes itself.
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Well said!
 
DoubleM said:
I have my StudioDeck so I’m likely in the boat where the cart exceeds it, which I’m not that concerned with at the moment.

The phonostage is the inherent “problem” going after this cart since I have a Lounge LCR Gold which won’t fly with the LOMC, unless I go with a SUT. I’ve wanted to make the jump to a Sutherland 20/20 or Duo if I can swing it.

The slippery slope almost writes itself.
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The Lounge Copla step-up amp matches the LCR Gold, right?

www.loungeaudio.com

Copla Step-Up for Moving Coil | Lounge Audio

Copla, a moving coil step-up amplifier designed to drive a moving magnet phono pre amp. It is the active electronic equivalent of a step-up transformer (SUT)
www.loungeaudio.com www.loungeaudio.com
 
That it does and part of my original intent since it would also save me some dough but I think I’d like to pivot a bit from the Lounge. While I don’t have any negatives per se I’m interested in some other options.
 
Ordered an elliptical stylus replacement for my Sound Burger, although to be honest I am pretty impressed by the performance of the 3600L's stock conical for casual listening. A perfectly enjoyable cart.
 
Stylus installed and jamming. A genuine and palpable improvement over the stock conical, and the fact that it has a flip-down stylus protector is a nice little Quality-of-Life benefit. Pretty dang nice for spinning while I work on the main floor!

IMG_1745.jpeg
 
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kvetcha said:
Stylus installed and jamming. A genuine and palpable improvement over the stock conical, and the fact that it has a flip-down stylus protector is a nice little Quality-of-Life benefit. Pretty dang nice for spinning while I work on the main floor!

View attachment 178511
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I’m kinda impressed that you could find a good alternate stylus that could be installed.
 
Angsty said:
I’m kinda impressed that you could find a good alternate stylus that could be installed.
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It’s running an AT-3600L! Lots of aftermarket options out there. TurntableNeedles sells high tracking force variants that are designed for the dynamically balanced tonearms on entry level players.
 
Note: Not an audiophile!!
Current set up: audio technica lp3 w/at-vm95e, with an Andover audio spinbase. I don’t really have the room for anything else at the moment.

Looking to upgrade to something that tracks better. Here is what I’m looking at.

$149 AT-VM95ML stylus
$159 Ortofon Red and cartridge. (From the few pages I’ve read here, seems like this one is a not great)
$299 Ortofon Blue and cartridge

Other options include upgrading the turntable as well. Here is what i found on TTL that is mid range.

$349 Music hall MMF 1.5 w/a Ortofon silver
$449 Music hall MMF 1.5 w/Ortofon blue

My wife thinks I should get something great regardless of (reasonable) cost. I tell her that’s not necessary with my speaker set up.

Most of the other reasonably priced (to me) turntables either come with the same at-vm95e that I currently have or one that I’ve never heard of
 
DevonJD said:
Note: Not an audiophile!!
Current set up: audio technica lp3 w/at-vm95e, with an Andover audio spinbase. I don’t really have the room for anything else at the moment.

Looking to upgrade to something that tracks better. Here is what I’m looking at.

$149 AT-VM95ML stylus
$159 Ortofon Red and cartridge. (From the few pages I’ve read here, seems like this one is a not great)
$299 Ortofon Blue and cartridge

Other options include upgrading the turntable as well. Here is what i found on TTL that is mid range.

$349 Music hall MMF 1.5 w/a Ortofon silver
$449 Music hall MMF 1.5 w/Ortofon blue

My wife thinks I should get something great regardless of (reasonable) cost. I tell her that’s not necessary with my speaker set up.

Most of the other reasonably priced (to me) turntables either come with the same at-vm95e that I currently have or one that I’ve never heard of
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If the choices you’ve listed-

The ML stylus is a solid upgrade. If you want something a bit warmer sounding, get the SH stylus instead.

I think the stylus upgrade is the way to go. No need to change cartridges entirely. It’s a simple swap. A cartridge swap isn’t for most new to the hobby.
 
HiFi Guy said:
If the choices you’ve listed-

The ML stylus is a solid upgrade. If you want something a bit warmer sounding, get the SH stylus instead.

I think the stylus upgrade is the way to go. No need to change cartridges entirely. It’s a simple swap. A cartridge swap isn’t for most new to the hobby.
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Going to order the 95ML cartridge/headshell . Turns out I may have been goofin for the last 4years or so by using the AT-VM95E stylus on an AT-VM91R cartridge. Whoopsie
 
As @HiFi Guy noted, changing the entire cartridge is a much bigger job than just changing the stylus.

Edit: Another alternative would be to consider an elliptical stylus upgrade from LP Gear.

www.lpgear.com

LP Gear CFN3600LE Upgrade for Audio-Techica ATN91R stylus

Check out the deal on LP Gear CFN3600LE Upgrade for Audio-Techica ATN91R stylus at LP Gear
www.lpgear.com www.lpgear.com
 
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Just finished mounting the SAE 1000LT @HiFi Guy sold me on a friend’s Rega P1. The cartridge is so light that we had to 3D print a headshell weight to get enough tracking force, but apart from that it went smoothly, and the cart seems like a good height match for the RB110 tonearm. Sounds great! It’s replacing my former 2M Bronze.
 
New cartridge ordered. A quintet black s. I’d noticed the prices had gone up to €1000 on this and one local must have still had old stock because they had it at €830 so I jumped while I could. Will keep the Hana SL running till the end of this year and then will be mounting this one! Excited!
 
Joe Mac said:
New cartridge ordered. A quintet black s. I’d noticed the prices had gone up to €1000 on this and one local must have still had old stock because they had it at €830 so I jumped while I could. Will keep the Hana SL running till the end of this year and then will be mounting this one! Excited!
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You’ll like it!
 
Probably getting near new cart time and am interested in whether anyone has any experience (or has even A/B) with any of these.

im currently using an Audio Technica VM740ML which I like and could just grab a new stylus for but also thinking

Audio Technica VM750SH
Hana EH or
Hana SH

needs to work with my phono and I don’t have the funds for a cart and a SUT
 
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