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Need advice from Turntable experts - AT carts compatible with med/high mass tonearms?

ToTo Man

ToTo Man

the band not the dog
I'm not very savvy when it comes to the physics of turntables. I own 2 TTs, a fully automatic DD Denon DP-45F and a manual DD Pioneer PL-550. The Denon has a straight low mass tonearm, while the Pioneer has a rather heavier S-shape tonearm.

I am currently running an Audio Technica AT440ML on the Denon and have been extremely impressed with the results. Yes, it is a little bright, however detail retrieval is excellent and I like the fact that it is gentle on my vinyl (its microline stylus tracks happily at 1.2g.

I'm now looking to upgrade the budget £10 Shure 5x cartridge on the Pioneer and have been considering either the AT95E, AT110E or AT120E. I don't want another AT440ML as I'd like to obtain a slightly different sound and the 440ML has become very expensive recently.

What I'm unsure of however is the respective compatibilities of the AT95E, AT110E and AT120E with the Pioneer in terms of compliance / tonearm mass. Can someone please advise me which one would be most compatible?

FYI - The AT95E weighs 6.5g and tracks at 1.5g-2.5g, the AT110E weighs 7.2g and tracks at 1.0g-2.0g, and the AT120E weighs 6.5g and tracks at 1.0g-1.8g.
 
Do you have any idea what the mass of the Pioneer arm is? It will probably be fine though.
 
To tell you the truth with cartridges at this level it does not matter too much the at110e is ok and is one of the best at this price .Its top end is a bit bright and course.Weight of cartridge vs tone arm mass effects resonance of the set up at 8 to 15 hz.If your phono stage and amp do anything at these frequencies get a better cartridge because to get a better balance in quality terms.
 
Colin J said:
Weight of cartridge vs tone arm mass effects resonance of the set up at 8 to 15 hz.If your phono stage and amp do anything at these frequencies get a better cartridge because to get a better balance in quality terms.
Click to expand...

Colin, can you clarify the above for me please? I'd be using the MM Phono stage of a 1970s Pioneer SX-1250 Receiver. I don't know if it "does" anything at those frequencies but it does have 30Hz high pass filter which can be engaged to eliminate cone excursion from warped LPs?

In addition to listening to vinyl, I might also be recording some vinyl to tape and/or CD, in which case the 30Hz filter is not engageable as it isn't part of the recording circuit.
 
I used to have a 110 on a Rega 2, I never rated it as a combination. Of course I used to tell all my mates that it clearly demonstrated the superiority of vinyl over CD, the truth was my Denon DCD920, late 80s vintage, sounded just as good.

People here rave about the 95E, maybe they are right.
 
When I met with Graham Slee, a really sound bloke, at his home in Barnsley he had a OC9 but really liked his 95E on his Rega Planar 3 and I can understand why a really nice woody sound!

Forgive my imprecise rhetoric.
 
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