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Moving Magnet Magic!

Del monaco

Del monaco

Del Monaco
I’ve really only ever used MM carts in my set ups, from Goldring to Clearaudio. My favourite was the Goldring 1042 which had lovely flow and a deep bass. This has now been superseded by the Ortofon 520 Mk2 which adds more depth and detail without sacrificing the liquidity I crave. What have been your favourite MM carts and why?
 
Performer 2 ( Clearaudio ) second cheapest in there present range I think. Great vfm and almost as good as the Decca gold
which has been pleasuring my lugholes for a fair few years. In fact the Performer may even have a bigger soundstage.
 
zeon said:
Performer 2 ( Clearaudio ) second cheapest in there present range I think. Great vfm and almost as good as the Decca gold
which has been pleasuring my lugholes for a fair few years. In fact the Performer may even have a bigger soundstage.
Click to expand...
I used a Clearaudio Concept metal for a while. Great detail but didn’t handle sibilance on vocals well. I still like the ATVM95E. A lovely starter cart that is quite easy to live with.
 
Best I've owned? A toss-up between the Shure V15 III and the ADC ZLM.

Best I've heard? Various iterations of the Decca over the last 60 years. (Though it's not strictly a MM design.)
 
I am a big fan of the old Shures. On 1970's Japanese budget turntables like Pioneer PL12, Sansui SR222 etc the Shure M75EJ or HE was magic in those medium mass arms. Great VFM. Just something "right" about the sound.
 
Moving more upmarket I had a Goldring G1042 for several years which sounded excellent on an SME3009 and even on SME series 3
 
AT100e is my all-time fave: a well-balanced, musical cartridge with enough detail retrieval & hi-fi yada to my ears. Yet, meanwhile, the ATN120eb stylus I bought for it some weeks ago languishes unused in its box because...

I can't bring myself to remove the "temporary" AT3600L from the tonearm! This very inexpensive cartridge - also sold as the Rega Carbon - astonishes me with its infectious musicality. The presentation is full & balanced with a satisfying bass weight, & I haven't been bothered by IGD. It is a low compliance cartridge & I've found that adding a couple of grams of extra mass to the RB300 brings more solidity to the sound. It even manages something of a soundstage. It's had me playing record after record! 🎶💃
 
Happiest memory, too long ago to give precise reasons is of ADC XLM and Elite (EII 500?).
Why the hell did I take notice of the magazine reviews of the Linn K9? I spent so much time trying to convince myself that it was an improvement when in my heart I knew it wasn’t.
 
I’ve ended up quite a fan of MM carts. Current collection:

Nagaoka MP-500.
Shure V15/III (styluses: VN35E, VN35HE, Jico Basie MBR).
Early ‘60s Shure M44-5 (M55E, M44E, M44-7, Jico M55E Nude).
Ortofon 540/II.
Shure M95ED (N95ED).

There is a substantial thread here:

pinkfishmedia.net

What’s the deal with vintage MM cartridges ???

Hi All, What’s the deal with vintage MM cartridges, I see there are a few web sites and vintage audio commentators extoling the virtues of 60’s Moving magnets from the likes of SHURE, Stanton, and Pickering. I have owned some of these devices and to be honest, I found them vailed, dull and very...
pinkfishmedia.net pinkfishmedia.net
 
I haven’t had that many cartridges of either type really but i now use them in all three of my turntables.
My current favourite is AT VM540 ml, great cartridge for the money.
I also like the Goldring 1042.
I think AT95 is a bargain but i havent been that impressed with any of the Linn cartridges that I have heard, at length.
These being Basik, K9.

I still have a Linn Asaka in good condition but I prefer the sound of my 1042 by a long way in my old Axis which I have just set up in a second system.
 
Shure V15's Never felt a need for anything else since I started using them (mumble) years ago! Tragic that the company abandoned making them and their skillset dissipated.
 
Moving magnet has become my cart of choice since hearing the Shure M95EN or was it M97EN.
I heard one with a Lenco and it seemed a perfect match. Nice to hear a full bodied sound and pace.
The Shure M44-7 is also a great, fun cart.

And more recently the Audio Technica 540ML. I think this is destined to become a modern classic
and certainly one of the best value carts ever. I don't think it can be beaten even if it were 3 times the price
be it MC or MM.
 
Hazelberry said:
I can't bring myself to remove the "temporary" AT3600L from the tonearm! This very inexpensive cartridge - also sold as the Rega Carbon - astonishes me with its infectious musicality. The presentation is full & balanced with a satisfying bass weight.
Click to expand...

I prefer the AT3600L to the massively overhyped AT95E (or the even worse Linn K9).

I've heard good things about the new AT-VM95 cartridges though.
 
I’ve also used a few cracking MMs over the years. Notable nods go to:

- Goldring 1042
- Goldring 2500
- Ortofon 2M range
- A&R P77
- Linn Adikt
- Nagaoka MP-500
- MoFi Mastertracker

I also reckon that the Audio Technica AT-110E, AT-95E and AT-3600 sound far better than they have any right to at their price points.

If we’re including Moving Iron then all the B&O MMC cartridges are sterling performers although, obviously, using them on anything other than a B&O deck is completely unacceptable.

However, I still maintain that the king of the MM world is still the Ortofon 2M Black.
 
Beobloke said:
However, I still maintain that the king of the MM world is still the Ortofon 2M Black.
Click to expand...

Interesting, for me it was a clear step backwards from the 540/II. Harder to load, found more surface noise, and had a rather lean and analytical sound. The 540/II has a warmer and more forgiving presentation with no less detail and punch, plus is far lower mass so easier to match to an arm (the 2M Black is absurdly heavy for a high-compliance cart, comically so in the matching headshell). The 5x0 series is much easier to align being mainly square too. The 2M range is just form over function to my mind. A cartridge designed by a marketing department. They really had it nailed with the 5x0 series. Just better all round IMHO.
 
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