Nice cartridge, I've had a couple, but not right for the RP10.
Grado... ish
- Thread starter Mr Pig
- Start date
Nice cartridge, I've had a couple, but not right for the RP10.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
They look completely unrelated! Will it fit? I have heard rumours of the internals being pretty much the same tech and design though... £56 IIRC for VMS30.... I look at a 2M Black and similar today and think "Like hell am I paying £500 for a £50 cart!". And Goldring 1042 £325? on yer bike! I can remember them being about £85 ish!
G900IGC was a decent MM that you don't here about these days....
Tony L
Administrator
...way back when £85 was worth £325-ish!
AndrewR
pfm Member
Oops I got that wrong. Was of thinking the OM40 as a 2M Black stylus replacement. About £50 cheaper.
Tony L
Administrator
They are all very closely related, the VMS, OM, 5x0 and 2M all use the same basic technology, though are not interchangeable at all. FWIW I think the 2M was a mis-step, I certainly prefer the earlier 540 to the 2M Black as the capacitance requirements aren’t quite as extreme, the body is lighter (they are high-compliance carts, so this is a bonus) and it is a far easier shape to align accurately. To my ears it tracks better/quieter and has a warmer presentation. It is a shame they no longer make/support the old VMS range, the closely related M20FL was a very good cart as I recall, though the low-mass arms to get the best out of high-compliance MMs are sadly all in the past. I had my M20FL in an AT1120 with damping. Tracked beautifully as I recall. It would be interesting to compare it to a 540, though most of the early VMS-era Ort suspensions have collapsed by now. Even well-stored NOS is not a safe buy apparently.
cantgetnonut
Active Member
I never realized replacing a 2M Black's stylus with another model's stylus was even a possibility. I've always found my Ortofon wanting sonically (spotlights defects of noisy records; not lush enough), so what are the options with regards to non-2M styli? Right now I prefer using a plain Denon 103 and a SUT.
Sorry for the thread hijack, btw.
Sorry for the thread hijack, btw.
AndrewR
pfm Member
Tony L
Administrator
Interesting, I’ll watch that later. There are differences though when it comes to inductance, required capacitance etc, so I’m not entirely sure I’d take that above dem as just being between tip types. I do know I prefer the 540/II (Gyger) to the 2M Black (Shibata), but that is comparing the whole cartridges. I still have my 540/II as a spare.
I agree but it's going to be turntable dependent. I wouldn't argue with someone who felt the opposite.
AndrewR
pfm Member
Which is why on my 47k ohm Schitt Mani I have been experimenting with parallel resistors to lower and optimise the input impedance for the 2M Black.
I have just found that 142k in parallel is the sweet spot for my 2M Black. Any higher and it starts to sound too sharp, any lower and it starts to sound bland.
The Goldilocks zone is really satisfying.
Andrew
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Hazelberry
sister
I didn't realize you had your TT on 14 layers of Mana. That's a LOT of mass for a Rega deck. I presume you've tried it on other, lighter supports? How do the P1 and original 3 sound on it? A fully spiked high mass steel support with a glass shelf killed the dynamics of my 3.
Hazelberry
sister
Sounds like it's smokin'.
AndrewR
pfm Member
A very musically satisfying phono stage. Same for their Vali 2 headphone amp. I am taking a real shine (shiny Schiit) to the brand.
Andrew
JemHayward
pfm Member
Decca?
Goldering 1042 remains a real pleasure. This certainly is counterintutive - but in my experience with the old (35 years or so?) low output Grado's (1.5mV or 2.2 mV =depending on who you believe) is that they don't pick up AC motor hum or at least it's so far down that even with greater gain cranked on -you don't notice it.
Yeah, but it's nothing like a Grado.
Is this in direct comparison to the higher output ones? None of them are shielded so I can't see how a low output one would produce less hum than a higher output one.