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Cartridge for Revolver TT with Mission arm

Bob Edwards

Bob Edwards

pfm Member
All -

Thanks for your input re turntables in a thread I started quite a while ago. Life is funny - I wound up with two tables - a Revolver with a Mission 774LC arm and a Grado Gold2 cartridge, and a current Rega P6 with Ania. I know you'll all be SHOCKED to read that the Rega is much better. ;)

The problem with the Revolver is obviously the cartridge - with the Grado Gold2 it sounds overly warm and rather "thuddy" in the bass. To quote Rick Duplisea of the Audio Alternative in Ft. Collins, CO, where I used to work, it sounds rather "Dull, lifeless, and boring." When I heard Revolvers in the past, they usually had Linn Basiks (ouch!), K5s, or some variant of an Audio Technica.

So the question: What would be a good but relatively inexpensive cartridge to replace the Grado with? Something like the AT VM95ML or VM540ML? Is the 540ML worth it over the 95ML? Or is one of the Ortofons worth looking at? Etc.

Given the arrival of the Rega, I'd prefer to keep the cartridge for the Revolver on the budgetary side, so the AT VM95ML is appealing at $169. Phono stage is a Schiit Mani (hey, it's $129 brand new and does MM and MC), rest of the system is Exposure 3010S2 pre and monos into MA GX300s.

Thanks in advance!
 
May be a bit out of budget but a Goldring Eroica works well with a Mission arm. Used it with original Mission 774 and 774SM.
 
https://www.audio-technica.com/de-de/cartridges/line-series/at-vm95-series/at-vm95ml

Exactly, the VM95ML is what I would get if you can.
Up to 1000 hours if you don't crash it..and if it's worn & you wanna sell,
just spend it a brand new tip from the lower spec, they all fit.

I also like the Denon DL-110, but your arm is light-ish with 7 grams, think the Denon is an MC,
so..might not be optimal. Not saying it cannot work, but I think MM is a safer bet..

I also like NAGs, but they also prefer mid to mid-heavy arms by tendency.

And..it's commonly known Mission arms LOVE red coloured carts.. :)
 
I have an AT-OC5 MC on my Revolver and its sound very nice indeed given the relative "budget" of the set-up.
Not sure if they are still on general sale these days - but worth a search around.
 
Bairnstorm said:
May be a bit out of budget but a Goldring Eroica works well with a Mission arm. Used it with original Mission 774 and 774SM.
Click to expand...
774LC is a cheap Jelco OEM. Certainly well made, but not exactly worthy of a $999.99 MC (at least that is what they are asking for Eroica LX over here in Canada these days).

Sounds great with budget audio-technica MMs, though. I've an early issue SEE Revolver/Mission 774LC with AT95E on here that sounds really enjoyable, despite the standard elliptical tip not offering the last word in groove tracing ability. I landed this one very cheaply, as the previous owner had mistakenly identified the tonearm as a broken uni-pivot. Turns out that someone had loosened off the horizontal bearings so much so that the outer set screw had completely disengaged from the corresponding ball race; leaving the arm seeming like a uni-pivot with no, er...pivot point. After careful adjustment, I bunged on an AT95E, thinking that I'd sell it on, only to find it a very enjoyable listen.

As to how far I'd go cartridge wise; were this my only deck, I suspect AT-VM95ML would be the limit.

@Bob Edwards,

Although not officially published, Schiit Mani has been reported to provide 100pF input loading capacitance. A-T MM cartridges tend to do well into such loading, especially so, when combined with the low parallel capacitance of the original Jelco lead.
 
Last edited:
Operajulian said:
I have an AT-OC5 MC on my Revolver and its sound very nice indeed given the relative "budget" of the set-up.
Not sure if they are still on general sale these days - but worth a search around.
Click to expand...
The long running AT-OC5 and OC3 have finally been laid to rest, Julian.

Or, have they?

Coincidentally, the OC9 series has been recently enlarged to include AT-OC9XEB with AT-OC3 like specs, and with AT-OC9XEN being very AT-OC5 like; both in the chunkier body (now with threaded inserts).

 
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