advertisement


3 Cartridges that have really given you the wow factor - past or present

Miss Ariel

pfm Member
My 3 will probably be

1) Linn Troika - Just so polished.Great mid range - tight bass lines and a sparkling treble coupled with impressive separation.Loved the look of it back in the day and still do....a Legend in its launch and still going strong with re tip services available etc.

2) Hearing a Koetsu Onyx at a show in Brighton on a Oracle and Audio Research SP10 and Krell mono blocks and Magnaplanners in 1984.Just sounded amazing...if I had a lotto win I would splash the cash and get 10 new Koetsu's....dream on !

3) The Decca Supergold - Never heard transients like it.Just such an exciting alive vibrant sound.

Look forward to hearing yours and a bit why you liked them

Cheers :)
 
1. A&R P77, first time an improved tip made me light up after my student Nagaoka MP11
2. Audio Technica ART-1. Gobsmacking at the time. Still think about it with real fondness.
3. vdH Grasshopper IV GLA, beautifully natural sounding timbres and tremendous resolution. No artifice.
 
1. Linn Troika. I'm still using my original one. It's had re-tips and more recently a full rebuild at Goldring. It has a really open sound with sparkling top-end and killer bass! Tracks really well in the Aro too.

2. Denon Dl-103. Mine has been stripped out of the original plastic body and now sits in a metal one. I think it’s a taste of the high end at a cheap price. Mine is on an Audiomods classic; it tracks well and has a really exiting sound. Not the dull fat sound you might expect from an old classic like this!

3. Dynavector XX2MkII. A really smooth sounding cartridge, maybe lacking the top end sparkle of the Troika, but it never really puts a foot wrong.
 
Koetsu Urushi Vermillion (still got). Wrap-around deliciousness.

Benz LP Ebony. Surprising lucidity and dynamism.

Transfiguration Proteus (current player). See-through transparency, speed and neutrality. Has no describable sonic signature.
 
Sumiko Blue Point Special - wow, how can such a highly vaunted MC sound so bad. This was on LP12 / Ittok.

Lyra Clavis DC - exhilarating combination of grace, authority and fluidity mounted on ARO and amplified by DV-P75 in Dr T mode. I should have got it rebuilt by Lyra instead of trading in for a Kleos.

Ortofon 2M Bronze - surprisingly good for the money, with addictive drive and presence mounted on ARO and loaded with 100pF/50kohm on Pioneer C-21.
 
2. Denon Dl-103. Mine has been stripped out of the original plastic body and now sits in a metal one. I think it’s a taste of the high end at a cheap price. Mine is on an Audiomods classic; it tracks well and has a really exiting sound. Not the dull fat sound you might expect from an old classic like this!

Exactly my experience. An exciting, bright sound.
 
The Entre MC-1 was a superb allrounder.

The Goldring 1042 for value for money when it first appeared.

My current incumbent, the AT ART-9 never ceases to make me smile
 
Entre 1 as above,

DL103 as a taste of real MC magic at beer money price,

AT ART1 - instant wow factor 30 odd years ago - must send it back to esco for another re-tip!

And I've still got all 3 (2 of them re-tipped more than once) and don't think I'll be buying anything different.
 
I now realise I went on a really weird, and largely expensively stupid route through cartridges trying to find something I already had. I blame reading hifi magazines, but probably my own fault. In 1978, I heard a Decca London Blue in a Decca International arm, on a Garrard 401, and it was sublime. I had a Thorens 160 at the time, and found an Audiocraft AC300 unipivot arm and bought a Decca Blue, and was happy for a couple of years, I then got a gold, and it was rather more forgiving, but maybe not quite as organic? I then heard a Rega 3, and a Linn LP12 and realised my Thorens wasn't really that good, so I sold it (with the arm - bad move...) and bought a Rega 3, with I think, an A&R P77 and it was certainly easier listening than the Decca with it's marginal tracking - and I was convinced (why?) that the Decca would only work in a unipivot. The P77 was replaced by a Rega R100, then I got an LP12/basik and a K9. This lasted some years though I found that the AT95E stylus was rather better than the Linn one. I then got a Linn Karma when everyone was upgrading to the Troika, and an Ittok when everyone was getting an Ekos. Then Naim launched the ARO, but I wasn't convinced it would outperform my Ittok, but a friend got one, and it did, so I bought an ARO, and through personal contacts got a Lyra Lydian very cheap. I could have had just about any Lyra at an affordable price, but the Lydian, I felt, was the best of the range at the time. I now has a unipivot, so tried my Decca gold again, and it was amazing, but tracking was still a bit 'iffy', so stuck with the Lydian for day to day listening. When it worse out I sent it to Japan for a service, and was offered a Lydian Beta at a price I couldn't refuse. Whilst this was going on I bought the cheapest MC I could find - a Denon DL103. When the Lydian Beta arrived, it was certainly smoother than the DL103, but maybe lacked excitement - more like the Parnassus a friend used, smooth, refined, slightly boring.
As the Beta aged I lost contact with my Lyra supplier, so I started looking at other options, and modified DL-103s seemed to be a thing, so I decided to try the selected and rebodied Zu Denon DL103 - this was amazing - shades of the Decca dynamics with the resolution of the Lyras, I was happy. A wine related 'incident' brought forward a retip, and ESCO offered me their sapphire cantilever and paratrace stylus and I decided this may be the best of all worlds - and it was.

So, to answer the original question:
Best all rounder Zu/Esco/Denon DL-103 - in a Naim ARO - dynamic, detailed, natural.
Most exciting and realistic - I'm currently using My Decca Gold in a Transcriptors Vestigial arm - it's probably not ideal, but music is about fun, excitement, entertainment, rhythm, dynamics and dancing - the Decca does it for me.
Sensible choice - Lyra Lydian - original - the 'better' Lyras are too 'refined' - works well in a range of arms, and maybe if I wanted an easy life I'd have a Rega P9 and Lydian with the ESCO paratrace, but I'd always be thinking the DL103 is 'better'.
 
1) My first Decca - a Maroon bought in 1979
2) My Garrott Bros Decca Gold from 1981 - I bought a new Decca Gold and sent it straight to Oz
3) My Decca C4E bought about 6-7 years ago after a very lengthy search - truly stunning

I've had a fair few cartridges - Supex SD900E, Micro Seiki LC80W, Dyna DV23R, Allaerts MC1B, Denon 103 with ESCO sapphire cantilever/paratrace, ESDCO paratrace retyped Ortofon SL15ELL, ADC QLM36, Ortofon VMS20E, VMS30, M20FL, Garrott P77i, even a NOS Grado FTE+ and more.
 
Lyra Clavis DC - exhilarating combination of grace, authority and fluidity mounted on ARO and amplified by DV-P75 in Dr T mode. I should have got it rebuilt by Lyra instead of trading in for a Kleos.

Surprised, James, as I started off Lyra with the Clavis, then to a Helikon (both on Orbe/Five). The Kleos is at least as good (no, surely better) than the Helikon. Maybe you should have gone up one model to the Titan i (prior to Kleos, though, I think).
 
Surprised, James, as I started off Lyra with the Clavis, then to a Helikon (both on Orbe/Five). The Kleos is at least as good (no, surely better) than the Helikon. Maybe you should have gone up one model to the Titan i (prior to Kleos, though, I think).
Mike, not sure if you had the ordinary bodied Clavis or the naked DC version. I went from Lydian Beta (great entry MC) to Clavis DC (huge jump up) to Kleos (maybe slightly better, but constrained by DV P-75 because it has slightly higher impedance than DC).

Since rediscovering MMs, I don't think I'll be buying another expensive MC anytime soon. I might make an exception for a Hana, which I would like to try.
 
Ortofon SPU Royal N - Fabulous for the money
Ortofon MC A95 - Dynamics , Scale , Pace & Impact
Grado Epoch - Like playing a mastertape

Ortofon 2M Bronze & Ortofon Quniet Red are a steal.
 


advertisement


Back
Top